Map Creation

Introduction

For this week’s lab we started the complex task of creating a good map for our navigation exercises in the weeks to come. While making a map might sound like a simple and straightforward task there are a lot of tasks that go into the process. We need this map to fulfill a few requirements: be accurate enough to aid in our navigation, and to hold all necessary topographical elements to prove useful.

 

Gathering the Data

The first part of this exercise was to get a pace count in the real world to know how to best model our digital world in the GIS. To attain a pace count, as a class we measured out a 100 meter long line on which we measured our pace counts three times. We then found the average of each pace count (mine was 64). This knowledge comes into play later in our navigation exercise to help us measure distance without using any tools other than our own legs.

After our pace count had been determined we worked in the Lab to create a good map in our GIS. For the sake of time and efficiency our professor was kind enough to provide the necessary data, but for the purpose of this write up, I will detail where we could obtain this data had it not been provided. Our professor provided a geodatabase that contained a few aerial images of our study area, the Priory here in Eau Claire. These images could be obtained from a clip of aerial photos we have on the ArcGIS server here on campus, or from the USGS server. The geodatabase also contained 2foot contour line DEM and a 5foot contour line DEM. The 2foot contour lines come from a survey that UWEC undertook when the property was purchased. The 5foot contour lines were taken from a USGS DEM server. The geodatabase also contained a few simple shapefiles that outlined our study area.

Map Creation

Even though we were given all this packaged data, it does not simply just make a nice map without any effort. I chose to use the 5foot contour lines and make them thicker than they originally were, as well as apply a maroon color so they wouldn’t stick out too much, but still be discernable from the background. I then took an aerial image of the study area and put it behind the contour lines. I set this aerial photo to a transparency of 45% so it wouldn’t be the main focus of the map, but still remain readable. We decided to add a grid system to the map so that we could have a solid frame of reference that would fit with our coordinate system. We used the UTM grids and made the numbers a bit clearer along the edges so they wouldn’t overlap at the 20 meter intervals we selected. After adding a few necessary cartographic elements, north arrow, data sources, map author, key, and watermark, our maps were finished and ready to aid in our navigation process.

Had we not been provided with all the necessary data there would have been a few extra steps needed to be taken to create these maps. Each larger image would need to be clipped and projected or reprojected in our chosen coordinate system (UTM 15N) before we could begin to utilize it.

Map Selection

As a group we met and decided to use my map for the main purpose of navigation during our outdoor exercise. However, we also decided to have Brandon Schleicher’s 2foot contour map as another frame of reference. His map gave more detail about elevation changes and terrain information. We chose my map as a main navigation tool because it was clean, easy to read, and gave a good balance of all the information without having any one element be overpowering.

Final Maps

5Foot Countour Lines. Overlaid on Aerial Photos

2Foot Contour Lines. Overlaid on a DEM showing terrain areas