Horus Heresy Map Project

screenshot of an interactive map set in the warhammer 40,000 universe that shows a timeline of events during and leading to the horus heresy

The idea

In 2016 I was reading the latest book in the Horus Heresy series, struggling to work out where each group was in the galaxy. From this I had an idea to create a map that would show the passage of time and the movements of these groups.

I envisioned a timeline at the bottom of my computer screen that as you scrolled along it, events popped up with arrows that indicated movement of particular characters or groups across the galaxy to new events. Each planet, character or group was represented by a dot and hovering over these dots would give information on that location or person at that particular moment in time.

Since then the map has evolved and six years later, although it has deviated from my original idea, it is complete.

View the Map

How it was made

The blog posts below describe the progress of the project.

Final version of the 40k map23rd January 2022
There’s a new version of the 40k map up. This version includes changes to the interface, and a few more… Read more: Final version of the 40k map
Over 6500 locations4th February 2021
I’ve just uploaded a new version of the 40k map with around 800 more locations, taking the total to over… Read more: Over 6500 locations
Small Map Update17th January 2021
I’ve just published a small change to the Warhammer map project. Performance These changes should hopefully improve its performance slightly.… Read more: Small Map Update
Warhammer Map Update – Timeline28th December 2020
I’ve updated my Warhammer 40k map to finally fulfil the purpose I created it for: to display a timeline of… Read more: Warhammer Map Update – Timeline
Small Map Update29th April 2020
I’ve just published two small changes to my interactive map project. The changes came from an email I received from… Read more: Small Map Update
Warhammer 40K Map Update3rd March 2020
A large amount of time has passed since my last update, but I have an update to my interactive Warhammer… Read more: Warhammer 40K Map Update
Warhammer 40K Map Progress17th March 2018
After a long period with little change, over this past week I’ve made much more progress on the design and… Read more: Warhammer 40K Map Progress
Tiny map update10th March 2018
It’s been a while since I posted any progress with my interactive map. I’ve been adjusting it every now and… Read more: Tiny map update
Warhammer 40,000 Map using Leaflet14th February 2017
For the past two weeks or so I’ve been working on a new version of my interactive Warhammer 40,000 map.… Read more: Warhammer 40,000 Map using Leaflet
Interactive Map Project – A Working Stage 1 Prototype3rd February 2016
Well, I have no idea what I was doing half of the time, but I have a working prototype of… Read more: Interactive Map Project – A Working Stage 1 Prototype
Interactive Map Project – Planet List22nd January 2016
So, from last week I’ve managed to do naff all coding other than minor tweaks to what I already have.… Read more: Interactive Map Project – Planet List
Interactive Map Project – Experiments14th January 2016
So I started Googling for interactive maps and how to code them today. I think within about 4 links I’d… Read more: Interactive Map Project – Experiments
Interactive Map Project – Idea12th January 2016
In one of my frequent failing to sleep moments the other night, I revisited an idea I’d had a while… Read more: Interactive Map Project – Idea