Shadoe
Sage
I was speaking in a more general sense. I move so often, I find that most places are pretty much the same when you first get there. They all have basically the same stuff. I'm betting that most places in a fantasy setting are the same. Granted, they probably wouldn't have the same exact things (there's the bank, there's the high school, there's the McDonald's), but they would have their own same things (there's the hostelry, there's the inn, there's the hanging tree).For the most part you're absolutely right. But I personally find the aerial shots more useful because of the specific stories I'm writing. Neither of them would have cities that look like any kind of city in existence today. In one, I need to rely on my imagination more than anything else. In the other I need to rely on research and recreations. In both works there's a heavy chance of warfare (in the first, it would depend on how the series progresses, in the second it's almost a certainty) and I need to understand how they looked from the air. The aerial layout and the formation of the walls are all designed strategically for a military advantage. So that's what I find interesting.
Either in fantasy or reality, I do like to look at cities from the air. The layout of them is interesting. The town I'm in now, for instance, has twin rivers (it's called "Two Rivers," in fact). The city down the way (Manitowoc) also has two rivers. But one has a single river off the lake that comes in for a block or two then splits at right angles. I can't think that's natural. The Manitowoc rivers begin as one off the lake, which then twists and turns and then splits into two and then seems to want to braid itself.