Although there was a time that I'd have been all over it, I haven't sat down to churn out new home-grown maps for this new 17x20 map size. Somehow,
it's not real appealing to stamp out new versions of the same old 10x33 geo boards. Not that it shouldn't be done, but it don't necessarily get the old creative juices flowing.
BUUUT, during a break at work, something did occur to me. The 17x20 aspect ratio is semi close to a rotated half-board (10x17). Therefore, a lot of the board ideas we've seen before, the ones that kind of peter out after one half-board, would work pretty well with this new aspect ratio.
For example - you can do a reasonable quasi-circular Big Hill on a map like this - it doesn't have to be overly ellipsoidal. You can do wider villages than before, and have the whole thing look more natural because you don't hit the narrow edge of the map as quickly as before. And like Charlie Kibler showed, you can have rivers do something more interesting than go straight.
So while I don't think this new board shape will necessarily result in new types of boards, I do think we'll be able to put out more realistic versions of the same old types of boards, and that's a Good Thing.