GIS Communication; Lab 3 - Terrain Visualization

     Wow, it's already been 3 weeks. How does the time go so fast? Welcome to the discussion on terrain visualization. The two different aspects of this visualization that were the focus of this week are contours and hillshading. The purpose of hillshading is to help convey and understand the 3 dimensional aspects of a region. This is predominately achieved by creating a surface with known elevation, be it a digital elevation model, triangulated irregular network, or digital surface model. A hillshade is also created by applying an illumination source on a scene. Normally this source is simulating the sun from a particular azimuth and elevation. The direction of illumination then casts shadows and illuminates the features or topography based on the direction it originated. There are multiple techniques to apply hillshading, from a traditional singular direction, to multi-directional, which is designed to compile multiple views into one scene. 

The map example below is a culmination of multiple different objectives. I utilized a multidirectional hillshade on a TIN of Yellowstone National Park. Overall, I think the multidirectional technique better highlights ridges and valleys oriented in multiple directions than the traditional unidirectional hillshade. That is the underlying layer in the map below. The colors of the main map are based off of a Land Cover Classification for the park. Multiple types of trees and vegetation are identified by their respective color. Non-forested and water covered areas are also identified. The classified raster was provided with more class break outs than are presented here. For clarity I combined like classes of trees, and then adjusted the colors to reflect the areas things were present. The smallest distinct areas have a brighter color to make them still identifiable, and the lower amount of those regions still keeps them fairly mid ground in the visual hierarchy. This Land Cover layer then gets a level of transparency to let the underlying hillshade show through. This combination gives us a more useful look at the topography and gain more meaning into the distribution of land cover classes. 

I think one thing to be aware of is that the greens may not be the best green for their particular vegetation type. But given that they are still revolving around some evergreens and then some seasonal greens I think it is more appropriate to have the majority of the vegetation in like color. Water is of course water colored, blue, which is useful. So what do you think?

v/r

Brandon

Communicating GIS, Lab 2 - Coordinates and Projections

 Greetings and hello! 

This week we are looking at the effects of different projection methods and systems on map making. First, for those without a GIS background, what is a projection? A projection is a method for transforming the spherical earth into a flat or two-dimensional map. Different projections have different purposes in that they are designed to maintain some aspect of the earth. These aspects include accurate distances, angles, shapes, or areas. Most projections focus on one or two of these aspects, but when talking about multiple, there are usually smaller distortions in all aspects. 

The overall purpose of this weeks lab was to look at these distortions through different example projections, apply common coordinate systems, and experiment with different projection options. This culminated in creating the Grid & Graticule map below. I utilized Nevada based on where I am currently living. Using it as a study area, I found a Nevada specific projection when encompasses the entirety of the state. 

Interestingly, Nevada has its own projection, called the Nevada State Reference System (NSRS) of 2007. This is a UTM projection and aligns with UTM Zone 12N because the East – West boundary lines of Nevada correspond with that UTM Zone.This is a better choice than the State Plane system because Nevada has 3 State Plane Zones. They are the East, West, and Central zones. For a full state presentation as seen below, UTM Zone 12N is appropriate. There are two datum options that could be utilized however. The NSRS is as of 2007, but there is a UTM 12N with NAD 1983 or 2011 options. I elected to go with the state-specific option for the subsequent map. 

Note the multitude of intersecting lines in this map. What are they? The blue lines represent the Projected Coordinate System and are displayed as a "measured grid." That is a grid that shows measurements on the map based on the values associated with the coordiante system. In this case they are in Meters to go along with the UTM zone. The tan lines on the other hand are for the Geographic Coordinates, and represent a 1 degree interval and are referenced in terms of latitude and longitude. 

While this was a specific application of a projection and grid/graticule, the rest of this lab looked at everything from different whole world presentations to regional specifics. While this hasnt been the first of my GIS classes to look at projections I think this has been the most indepth manipulation and the best overall understanding of how to use them. For that, its an invaluable lab.

v/r

Brandon

GIS Communications, Typography Lab 1

 Greetings! 

Welcome back to the GIS Journey as we kick off our time in GIS 6005 - Communications. Lab 1 focuses on cartography, the basic map elements, and typography. This is an excellent refresher from some of the early GIS courses, and gives renewed focus on the map design principles, and typographic styling. I think that typography is one of the ways to truly define your presentation style. While I dont think I have fully come close to fully defining mine yet, the exercises highlighted below are certainly a step in that direction. Overall, the purpose of the below were to explore techniques for manual and dynamic labeling, and implementing effective design choices. Those design choices need to enable the map to be legible, have visual contrast, deliberate hierarchy, solid figure-ground relationships, and ultimately - balance. 

To that end, the two examples below focus on utilizing a hierarchy to the labeled elements through use of size changes, bolding, italics, font color differences, and positioning. By being able to separate out differences in feature category or feature hierarchy we can help build a more effective map, and this lends to improved visual balance. 

This first example looks at San Francisco and highlights a number of different types of features throughout the city and around it. There are only 16 labeled features on this map, but there is still a deliberate difference in the hierarchy and presentation of the different labels. 

This second example looks at Mexico and balances 3 different types of labels across the whole country. Prominent cities, rivers, and state names are all on display. This is a much more busy map by design, but still, deliberate design choices were applied to each of the label types. From differences in text size, bolding, color and contour differences, the tree types all stand out in different ways. The rivers flow near or along each of their respective rivers. The Cities are tied to representing points, and the states are overall smaller but centered to the max extent able. 

While I think this is still really busy of a scene, I did refine a lot of the goals on placement. With more time I think there could be a good deal of streamlining of the river labels, but for now, it was a great exercise in remember how to manipulate these elements in Arc GIS Pro. 

Thank you! 

v/r

Brandon