How So Many Of The World’s People Live In So Little Of Its Space – The Washington Post.
Mapping
After the map is displayed on screen, a composer must be set up with adjusted grids and proper centering
Every map requires that the composer to be set up prior to being set into a PDF file. The map has to be focused on the desired location and the scale has to be set. Additionally, many maps require the grid to be adjusted from 45 seconds, to an appropriate grid based on the scale. Occasionally elements must be changed to allow the map to fit. I have a vertical and horizontal template set, which can assist in this process. FInally, the map title has to be set.
Making Maps Is Not an Automated Process
Each map requires creating the topographic lines and hillshades, which uses a script and software like ogr2ogr and gdal_contour. The process is somewhat automated, although I still have to manually invoke the script, then appropiately style the contour lines and hillshade (background that makes the mountains pop out). The brightness and contrast of each hillshade must be manually adjusted, to ensure it does not appear blocky or overly dramatic. Each map requires a separate set of contour lines, based on what topographic map they are originally derived from.
Making Maps in QGIS
Somebody was asking about the program I use to make maps. I use Quantum GIS (see http://www.qgis.org) for more about this program, along with many different publicly avaliable data sources from NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, OpenStreetMap, the US Geological Survey, among others. You can see some of the layers that go into my maps on the right side.
Understanding And Accessing Landsat Data.
I downloaded this video from Youtube and will watch this movie over the weekend.
If You’re On The Beach, This Map Shows You What’s Across The Ocean.
Inside The Secret World Of Russia’s Cold War Mapmakers.
The Soviets made better maps of many American cities in the 1970s and 1980s then the USGS did. Pretty fascinating.