I think we are pretty much all agreed that the patch map should be a node and line diagram where each node is a patch and each line shows a connection between adjacent patches so species can move between them.
Moreover the idea was brought up for having different icons for each biome, which I think is a nice idea.
The main question is around what sort of map to have. I guess it’s the general map problem of trying to project a 3D world into 2D in a reasonable way. Options:
A 2D top down map as if you were looking from above. Something like this.
A 2D side on map as if you are looking at the ocean from the side. Something like this.
Some sort of cylindrical map which can be rotated?
A more unusual top down projection, maybe like this.
Something else?
I think the issues for choosing between them are things like, is it important to have connections which wrap around the whole planet? If so how do you represent that. How important is it that patches which are close in depth should be close on the map? How important is it that patches which are close in longitude should be close on the map? Does it matter if there are line crossings or lots of line crossings? Enforcing that no lines cross will restrict the things that can be represented quite a lot.
I think in general any node and line graph in 3D can be projected in to 2D so you can represent any patch layout with any map.