80s War Room Map

Those war rooms are always the best. Dark places with military brass shouting orders to techs who clack away at keyboards. Walls of maps shining with a nostalgic phosphorescent glow.

How to Make an 80s War Room Map Ah those 80s movies that made us squirm with the real threat of automation run amok but then heave a sigh of relief when the kid teaches the computer that the only way to win a global thermonuclear exchange is to not get into one. Those war rooms are always the best. Ah those 80s movies that made us squirm with the real threat of automation run amok but then heave a sigh of relief when the kid teaches the computer that the only way to win a global conflict is to not get into one.

Those war rooms are always the best. Dark places with military brass shouting orders to techs who clack away at keyboards. Walls of maps shining with a nostalgic phosphorescent.

A cartographic take on 80s movie war room maps. This is a concept map. It is inspired by the aesthetic of the movie Wargames (1983) and the DOS games I used to play as a kid.

Made with QGIS and Illustrator. The linework is from Daniel Huffman's Project Linework (Times Approximate). I borrowed some ideas from John Nelson's War Room Maps tutorial, although this wasn't made with ESRI software.

For the text copy I decided to use Google Gemini. Good grief, I love these beautiful old vector war room maps from 1980s movies, but what gives them that distinct visual aesthetic? Some of the things that I recognize are really basic vector. The war room in season 6 episode of What We Do in the Shadows, " Nandor's Army " needed many maps and blueprints, but the largest by far was the map of New Hampshire pictured above.

A highly detailed control room, based on the 1983 movie War Games, filled with vintage computers and large, glooming maps on digital screens. The room is dimly lit, with a cool blue hue. People of various descents and genders are briskly walking around, analyzing fluctuating numbers on the computer screens and discussing strategies.

An array of buttons, switches, and dials are present, glowing. Had a blast recreating and playing around with this 80's style war room map thanks to another great tutorial by John Nelson! I just love the vintage vibes. How to find (and style!) detailed water polygons for your map I often struggle to find high resolution polygons for things that tend to change, like water, urban, ice, whatever.

Here's how you can wrangle some up-to-date, detailed, water polygons for your small or medium scale maps (plus five different ways you can style them up).