Detailed map of imaginary city took teenager seven years to draw and create

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Meet an impressive teenage boy who has spent the last seven years creating a map of a fantasy city and even wrote travel guides and history books about it, in a short video package.

Jake Daniels-Shipsmith, 14, has been drawing out a map since he was seven years old - and has finally completed it! Impressive video (click to play above) shows Jake with his 3x1m map - which is of an entirely fictional city he dreamed up.

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The map is made up of nine pieces of A3 paper, reaches three-metres-long and one-metre-wide and is a testament to Jake's love of history and geography. The city of Ty-taniam, pronounced "titanium", has several sections which span different historical time periods, including a Tudor town, a Roman city and Medieval villages.

As he got older, Jake stopped working on the map regularly until about a week ago when he decided to finish the piece and completed it over the weekend.

Jake, a secondary school student from Bedminster, Bristol, said: "I can't even really remember why I started it to be honest. I just remember it was something I really enjoyed doing in my free half hour before leaving for school in the morning.

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Jake Daniels-Shipsmith with his incredible city map which he has been working on for seven years.Jake Daniels-Shipsmith with his incredible city map which he has been working on for seven years.
Jake Daniels-Shipsmith with his incredible city map which he has been working on for seven years. | Tom Wren / SWNS

"It made me happy to finally complete the map, just because it had been going for so long that I wanted to see it all finished."

Alongside the map, Jake has written travel guides and history books for the various areas. He also created a Certificate of Completion which he drew up for himself once it was done. There are also specific themed establishments throughout Ty-taniam which refer to the time in which Jake was drawing out the map.

Places named after Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II

Jake said: "I have a pub called the Jubilee Inn which I drew when it was Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee. I also have a Charles III park after he was crowned as king. Some of the books that go with the map as well are tour guides for tourists to Ty-taniam but others are history books for the town itself."

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Jake's favourite areas of the city include the Tudor area of Chattemdown and the water-side town of Shipton. He said: "I really like the Tudor centre of Ty-taniam called Chattemdown, but the oldest area of the city is the Roman town in the north.

A zoo and rowing lake

Jake's parents, Jonathan Shipsmith, 52, and James Daniels, 52, have also contributed to the map, as well as Jake's twin sister Leonie and some of his primary school classmates. Jake said: "My dad (Jonathan) added a rowing lake, my dad (James) drew on a harborside and some beach details. My sister ended up doing a café in the middle of the water because she thought it was land. Some of my classmates added to it as well- one of them drew a zoo!".

Aside from these contributions, Jake's parents said 99.9% of the map was done by Jake himself and that they're immensely proud of his creativity and imagination.

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