Albany in the Haze
Grass, Smoothing Shapefiles, Polygonizing Raster Data
I’ve been working on doing some new Google Maps for my blog with QGIS. Here are some areas I’ve been exploring that I thought might be useful to the mappers of the world.
Simplification and Smoothing of Shapefiles
Sometimes we need a simplified version of a vector, to have a smaller file size and get rid of unnecessary details. Many tools do this in a very rough way, and miss the adjacency and sometimes the topological correctness of polygons. GRASS is the ideal tool for this: being a topological GIS, adjacency and correctness are preserved even at very high simplification levels. In our case, we have a vector resulting from a raster, thus showing a “saw” pattern at borders.
Applying a simplification results in straight lines:
GRASS ‣ v.generalize [Maximal tolerance value: 30 m]
We can also do the reverse, and make a layer more complex, smoothing out sharp corners:
GRASS ‣ v.generalize [method: chaiken]
This v.generalize tutorial also has many helpful tips on the various options of the library to get better smoothing results and reduce file sizes. It’s fantastic how much of the power of GRASS has been integrated into Quantum GIS.
Converting Raster Data Into Stepped Vectors
In QGIS 3.4.1, there is a Reclassify by table tool which is located under Processing toolbox -> Raster analysis -> Reclassify by table.
After reclassify the data, you can use Vectorize tool to convert the raster into vector data. The Vectorize tool exists in both QGIS 2.18 and 3.4.
This is very helpful for converting a raster image within a certain area into a polygon for creating a Google Map or other map.
Bitcoin power plant is turning a 12,000-year-old glacial lake into a hot tub | Ars Technica
The fossil fuel power plant that a private equity firm revived to mine bitcoin is at it again. Not content to just pollute the atmosphere in pursuit of a volatile crypto asset with little real-world utility, this experiment in free marketeering is also dumping tens of millions of gallons of hot water into glacial Seneca Lake in upstate New York.
“The lake is so warm you feel like you’re in a hot tub,” Abi Buddington, who lives near the Greenidge power plant, told NBC News.
Further Reading Private-equity firm revives zombie fossil-fuel power plant to mine bitcoin In the past, nearby residents weren’t necessarily enamored with the idea of a pollution-spewing power plant warming their deep, cold water lake, but at least the electricity produced by the plant was powering their homes. Today, they’re lucky if a small fraction does. Most of the time, the turbines are burning natural gas solely to mint profits for the private equity firm Atlas Holdings by mining bitcoin.
Basically, they are using an old baseload power plant that kept voltage from sagging in NYSEG's northern most territory, and now using it as a peaker plant, with energy going to the server farm when demand is low. Is Greenridge neccessary to keep the lights on all of the time in the Northern Finger Lakes? Probably not, as it didn't operate for a while, although you could see scenarios on hot summer days when the voltage would sag, as much of the area is wired through rural 115kV lines that can only carry so much current.
Leonard Hill Truck Trail
Ride to Virginia/West Virginia (with Bowden Cave, Elkins WV & Oakland MD)
Our best Day Odyssey Series vid to date! Not to be missed! Features classic vid scenes! Plenty of fall color too! Shouldn't build it up too much, though, in case my next one's better!
Watch this piecemeal, or all at once! Either way, it'll be well worth it!
We use our 1986 route from Baltimore to West Virginia, the one used on our first ride to Cass ever! We won't see Cass in this vid, but plenty of other RR spots to be had!
We begin on I-95 and head south to the DC area before picking up route 66 (NOT the classic one!) to Strasburg VA where we gain VA 55. Had a little trouble getting the camera to focus early on, but stick with the vid-it gets better!
VA/WV 55 is a fantastic mountain route! I edited in scenes from my 1986 vid (sorry for the somewhat obtrusive background music-no YT back then!) to show how things were then-and to show my first impressions of this route! Also one can see the differences in home video-then and now!
We'll pass through quaint towns along the way like Wardensville, Moorefield and Petersburg. We'll also check out points of interest like Champe Rocks, Seneca Rocks (affected by the gov't shutdown!), Harper's Country Store, Bowden Cave, and Elkins.
I've been through many of these small mountain towns.
