Any advice?

I would like to get into mapping. Any advice? c:

 

About 6 years ago I was much like yourself. A young, strapping lad who had an interest in history, political science and... geography! For me, cartography was a mysterious place, a mountain top much like "The Throat of the World", where one could find inner-peace... nirvana. Creating maps is many things. An art, a science, a lifestyle, perhaps even a religion. So I embarked on my journey to make maps. I went to my Social Studies teacher with a crudely drawn map, missing a key and with the Mercator projection and said "Mr. Callahan, I want to make maps."
"Yes son," he replied in his gruff voice, as if he was speaking through his matured, gray stubble, "I've been waiting for this day." I

From there, my life was permanently changed. Maps became everything. My girlfriend broke up with me. God, Country and Family all came second. Friends disappeared behind piles of atlases and cartographer's manuals. I could draw a map of the world from memory - in 1444. I played video games just to get my map on - grand strategy, civilization, military simulators, flight simulators - anything to spend more time with maps. Maps were love, maps were life.

Soon I was making my own maps. Alternate history, imaginary kingdoms and empires, you name it - I've mapped it. I could create realistic mountain ranges and underwater trenches - all using the tools presented to a modern cartographer. I went to a special high school for gifted cartographers. I spent days and nights working to the top of my class to show all how much of a mapper I was.

But my worlds became too much, I realized that if I continued, they would consume me beyond repentance. I was surrounded with people who loved maps just like me, but I knew none of them. Sure I could create a map detailing the class as if they were ancient city states, but did I know them? The answer was no. It was almost too late. Graduation was approaching, and I was unable to pull myself away from compass, pen and paper. I was giving a speech on graduation day, as I was valedictorian of the class. I decided to stick it out for one more month and give the speech of the ages to the people assembled.

Fast forward one month. I stood at a podium in front of a crowd of literally dozens. I stammered out a few opening lines, a joke and a reference to a time a teacher forgot to add a key to a map (hah!). But then I spotted him. Mr. Callahan, on his motorcycle at the edge of the field. He smiled at me, and unfurled my first map. He held it up. I saw that it was in Mercator projection, and broke down crying. I knew that I had to sacrifice myself for the good of the world. Mercator had to go. No longer were we sailing the seas by starlight, no longer did african slaves need to buy american cotton for english factories. I stepped down from the podium, and pulled out a piece of paper. I began madly scribbling a map of the Earth, the most important thing to a cartographer. Teachers, professors, administrators and guest speakers came over to see what I had created. It was a better map, a more accurate one. The likes of which the world had never seen. I asked for a ball, and one of the member's of the school basketball team, "The Winkel-Tripels!" tossed over his ball for casual holding. I wrapped my map around the ball, and behold, the greatest map every created.

TL;DR: Use Globes.

 

I'm assuming you will start with Hammer Editor? Because if yes, that's the best editor to start with. It seems very complicated, but it really isn't for me it's more simpler than any newer editors, such as the cryengine sdk. Watch the most basic videos for hammer, just follow the steps after a few videos it will just hit you Hammer seems complicated only if you don't know the very basics.
Once you got that down, start with very simple and small maps just for yourself, and work from there. Make sure all the projects are fun for you so you enjoy it as you learn. Look at other people's maps, play some games and just take a good amount of time looking around levels, look for tricks the level designers use and just the overall way a level should look and feel, look for small details. If you get into bigger projects, reference can help a lot, you can practice creating real buildings from your town or just from the internet, although the buildings you know can be much more fun to create.
Also, once you get into bigger projects plan ahead, paper and pencil. Learn how to optimize, do that as early as possible it's one of the most important (not very fun) parts of mapping, but you'll thank your self later. Then there is trying not to quit on the projects, work on the map when you feel like you want to and try to develop a schedule to map at least a few times a week, it's just like learning an instrument. Anyway, if it's for you, you'll love it, if not there are plenty of awesome things out there to try and learn. Good Luck.