- 1). Determine your purpose and subject. If you are studying a historical military action, gather information on topography and military presence. Remember that landforms, particularly those near bodies of water, can change over centuries. Acquire maps from the time in question, or those that speculatively project back. You may need to work using verbal descriptions and modern maps and photographs.
- 2). Familiarize yourself with the military organization and equipment of the era and group you are studying. Mapping movements of Alexander the Great's phalanxes will need a different set of reference symbols and legend than detailing battalions at the Battle of the Bulge.
- 3). Draw your map from scratch or begin with a preprinted topographic map and add military elements. Trace or copy the underlying geographic elements so you can edit out features not necessary to your description.
- 4). List the military and physical aspects you wish to feature before sketching them in to avoid overlap. Add color after line. Include and cross-check a clear legend.
- 5). Use common military map symbols and colors. Use blue to indicate friendly forces and red to mark enemy forces. A dotted box marks an artillery unit while a crossed box marks the location of an infantry unit.
- 6). Include common map features, such as contour lines, benchmarks, quadrants, scale, latitude, longitude, and true, magnetic and grid directions.
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