Middle-earth basemap (middle-earth.json) - credits and terms of use
===================================================================

middle-earth.json is the basemap of the "middle-earth" map style on
movingpolygons.com. It is an adaptation of the ME-GIS shapefiles.

Credits
-------
- GIS files: the ME-DEM project, which set out to build a digital elevation
  model of Tolkien's Middle-earth. The layers were made by the forum users
  monks and SeerBlue and are published by jvangeld:
  https://github.com/jvangeld/ME-GIS
- Middle-earth, its geography, places and names are the creation of
  J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Middle-earth are
  (c) The Tolkien Estate; the names are trademarks of Middle-earth
  Enterprises.

Moving Polygons is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Tolkien Estate,
Middle-earth Enterprises, HarperCollins, Warner Bros., or the ME-DEM team.

Terms
-----
The ME-GIS repository carries no open license. Its README says: "If you want
to use the data, just ask. We typically approve most personal and
educational uses." We asked, and the maintainer (andrewheiss) agreed on
2026-10-26: https://github.com/andrewheiss/ME-GIS/issues/33
We use it on these terms, for free, non-commercial fan maps only:

- NonCommercial: middle-earth.json and every map drawn on the
  "middle-earth" style may never be used commercially. They can never be
  sold, used in advertising, or offered as part of a paid product or service.
- Attribution: the credit to the ME-DEM project and to the Tolkien Estate
  must stay visible on the map and in its exports.
- No redistribution of middle-earth.json outside movingpolygons.com.

Changes made to the source
--------------------------
Made by scripts/basemap/build_middle_earth_basemap.py in the Moving Polygons
repository:
- everything the source marks as invented for the Middle-earth Role Playing
  game (ORIGIN = "MERP": places, rivers, roads, forests, lakes) is dropped,
  and so are the MERP contours of the far east and south;
- land rebuilt from the coastline lines on a 500 m raster, traced and
  simplified; coast and offshore ripple lines derived from it;
- mountains and hills turned into ink symbol points from the contour lines
  and the Hills layer; forests into tree points; clearings removed;
- names fixed (typos, duplicates, English names as on Tolkien's maps);
- coordinates moved to made-up lon/lat around 0/0 at true scale
  (1 ME-GIS km is about one of Tolkien's miles).