{"id":1764,"date":"2025-11-29T12:26:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T16:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/?p=1764"},"modified":"2025-11-29T12:26:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T16:26:30","slug":"revisiting-bible-vibe-cartography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/2025\/11\/revisiting-bible-vibe-cartography\/","title":{"rendered":"Revisiting Bible “Vibe Cartography”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In April, I had GPT-4o create a bunch of maps of the Holy Land<\/a> based on an existing public-domain map<\/a>. My chief complaint at the time was that GPT-4o “falls apart on the details”—it gives the right macro features but hallucinates micro features (such as omitting specific hills and valleys and creating nonexistent rivers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nano Banana Pro changes that<\/a>. It preserves features both big and small and doesn’t alter the location of features you give it, which means that you can hand it a map, have it transform the look, and then export it back out of Nano Banana with the correct georeferencing. You can completely change the appearance of a map and just swap it out for your purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, I started with the same public-domain map but had Nano Banana Pro extend it so that it would have the same 2:3 aspect ratio as the GPT-4o images. It did a phenomenal job. If you’ve heard of the “jagged frontier<\/a>” of AI, this work is an example of “sometimes it’s amazing.” There’s no reason why it should be so good at creating a map this accurate. But here we are. (You can download the 4K version of the generated image<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then I ran the same prompts on Nano Banana Pro that I used for the earlier GPT-4o images. The results preserve all the details but apply the appropriate style. While the Nano Banana Pro images are more accurate, I feel like the GPT-4o images were, on the whole, more aesthetically pleasing for the same prompt. On the other hand, the NBP images followed the prompts way better. Only a few of the more heavily stylized NBP images inserted the nonexistent river between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GPT-4o
Compare the “shattered crystal” look between GPT-4o and Nano Banana Pro. GPT-4o is more conceptual, while Nano Banana Pro is more literal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"For
Compare the “painter’s impression” look between GPT-4o and Nano Banana Pro. To my eye, the GPT-4o one captures Impressionism better.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Below are some of my favorite Nano Banana Pro images. The first two recreate the Shaded Blender<\/a> look that’s so hot right now. The second two show how NBP can change up the style while preserving details. I especially love how the last one makes the Mediterranean Sea feel vaguely threatening, which captures ancient Israelites’ feelings toward it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Strategy<\/a> \"Shadow-Only<\/a> \"Byzantine<\/a> \"Sacred<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can view all 200+ Nano Banana Pro-generated images here<\/a>. The older GPT-4o images remain available<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In April, I had GPT-4o create a bunch of maps of the Holy Land based on an existing public-domain map. My chief complaint at the time was that GPT-4o “falls apart on the details”—it gives the right macro features but hallucinates micro features (such as omitting specific hills and valleys and creating nonexistent rivers). Nano […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34,20,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1764"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openbible.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}