EVS-Islands

One Day's Traffic From 28-Countries Plus the US

I've been at this island blogging business for going on three years. Other blogs have millions of viewers (Strange Maps) in a relatively short time. Whereas other blogs explore highly specialized topics (GIS Java Script Troubleshooting Thoughts) and consequently service a much smaller audience. It turns out that people throughout the world like islands. Maybe not for the reasons I like them, but they enjoy them for their reasons. I strive to ensure my site's content is consistent, easy-to-read, visually appealing and interesting. I am passionate about my work on islands and allow that passion to come across in my posts.

If I'm doing a good job at maintaining my site's integrity, my readership should be growing - and it is! An average day attracts upwards of 120 page views. When NASA highlights an island (Nukuororo Atoll) my readership spikes to 200 plus page views a day. A year ago, I was thrilled to have 30 page views a day.

What impresses me most is where my readers come from. On a typical day (last Wednesday) people from 28 countries visited my site to look at islands. Many are regular readers, some are first time viewers. They literally come from almost all countries throughout the world. My latest reader's country count is at 188 countries. I love it that people in Mongolia find my island posts interesting.

Bloggers, take heart. What we share is appreciated by like-minded souls scattered throughout the world. Give your readers consistently good product and they will continue to visit. Also it helps to have your posts show up on the first page of a typical Google search and almost all of my island posts do.

Enjoy!

Posted by Mr Minton at 5/05/2008 04:16:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Cook Islands - Landsat ETM+ Coverage

I have been very busy digitizing islands. In fact, I have just completed digitizing over 3,000 large and small islands making up the western portion of the Solomon Islands. I'm currently digitizing island shorelines in Papua New Guinea. All of this work is being done at EVS precision - using Landsat ETM+ base imagery and digitizing shorelines at a scale between 1:25,000 up to 1:50,000. Some of you have reminded me that because Landsat ETM+ is typically 14.5-meter resolution that digitizing at the scale I work at is overkill. After spending close to 3-years working with 14.5-meter resolution imagery, the maps I am able to produce work quite well. I wouldn't want to sail into a lagoon using only ETM+ imagery, but I could do excellent advance planning and rough navigation using maps derived from this imagery. I know my maps are often far superior in shoreline validity when compared to some of the very old nautical charts still in use today.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about green dots on a deep black sea. In between work on the Solomons and Papua New Guinea, I completed EVS precision mapping of the Cook Islands. The first image in this post struck me. It took seven Landsat ETM+ mosaics to cover the Cook Islands. If you study the above image at full size, almost all of these very small islands are impossible to see. Yet, they enable countries, like New Zealand, to claims (EEZ) enormous chunks of liquid real estate. These very small islands play a significant role in the distribution of world resources. Interesting.

Cook Islands - Marplot Map with 25-km Ocean Masks

The Marplot map of the Cook Islands shows their distribution more clearly. They are scattered about within a peculiarly shaped border, that is if one finds rectangles peculiar. Actually, their EEZs would spill outside of their international border. I'm not sure if the border serves to limit their 200-NM EEZs. If that is the case, too bad for New Zealand and the Cook islanders.

Penrhyn Atoll CW - Landsat S-04-05_2000 Image (1:125,000)

Just to confirm that there are islands located in this broad expanse of black ocean, here is one of them, Penrhyn Atoll. It has a classic atoll shape with a lagoon full of near surface coral heads. I have not researched Penrhyn as I was in a digitizing mode when I worked on it, not in an investigative one.

Penrhyn Atoll CW - EVS Precison Island Polygon Map (1:125,000)

This is my EVS precision map of Penrhyn Atoll. It is a solid shoreline depiction. My customary mapping effort of an atoll would include a number of additional layers of information - reefs, beaches, vegetation. As my client requires only shorelines, I digitizied and mapped the island's above-water shoreline and portion of it's awash reef. Again, it is a solid shoreline mapping effort and one that I will revisit to complete the other layers of information I would typically map.

I am still here, just not able to post as often as I would like. When I finish my paying mapping project (Whoopee!), I will share many, many, many more islands. Until then...

Enjoy!

Labels: Cook Islands, digitize, EVS Precision, Landsat ETM+, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/30/2008 08:22:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It has been a few days since my last post, but it has been a very busy few days. I am working on a paying island mapping project. The client ( who shall remain anonymous) wants the eastern Pacific islands mapped at EVS precision (using Landsat ETM+ as base imagery). For the past four days I've been mapping the Solomon Islands. All I have to do is create a shoreline polygon for each island. If you've ever studied the Landsat imagery for this part of the world there a lots of clouds. Clouds are a royal pain to the shoreline digitizer. However, I am an enterprising soul and am using Landsat 1990 imagery to try and skirt the cloud issue. It works! Now for the challenge associated with this project. I have 1,000s of islands to digitize, label, add elevation contours and bathymetry, create urban polygons and label, and all of this within two to four weeks. This is what I wished for and now I have it. I will work many many many hours on this project and get paid a few thousand for my efforts (it's never enough). But am I complaining. No, not at all. This is what I want to do - make EVS precision maps of islands. At the end of this project I will have completed EVS precision mapping for the eastern Pacific. That is quite an accomplishment. So my "For Hire" shingle is out. Any more takers? Enjoy!

Labels: EVS Precision, Landsat ETM+, Landsat WRS, Pacific Ocean

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/22/2008 08:48:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Titan's Methane Seas - Radar Swaths PIA 10008 Modified

Reviewing my RSS science links, I came across an article describing Titan's liquid methane seas that were imaged by the Cassini spacecraft. The article contained a link to the base image of these seas, PIA10008. Studying these seas, I noticed what looked like islands. There they were swimming in a methane sea. Not one or two, but an entire archipelago of islands scatter about the sea. I figured I would construct a map of the islands. To begin my extraterrestrial island mapping project, I downloaded the base image, PIA10008. I was able to determine the appropriate lat/lon grid and this allowed me to georectify the base image. Using Global Mapper v9.01 software, my favorite digitizing software, I created vector shorelines for the islands within the methane sea. A few days later, I went ahead and digitized the entire shoreline of this unnamed methane sea.

Titan's Unnamed Methane Sea

I selected a funky mustard color for the land and pretty blue for the sea and rivers. The resulting map was posted and then the world came to view my creation. I have made so many maps of islands that I failed to appreciate just what I had fashioned - a first map of an extraterrestrial sea and islands. I feel I've made more satisfying maps of islands, but this other worldly depiction is still widely viewed, vigorously discussed and enjoyed by thousands of readers.

Life is swell when you are able to create something appreciated by an audience of first time visitors to your website. I am pleased that my efforts have fired the imagination of island lovers throughout the world.

Enjoy!

Labels: Cassini, Global Mapper, NASA, Titan

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/18/2008 06:50:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

View Larger Map

Gough Island - Landsat S-29-40_2000 (1:65,000)

Gough Island - EVS Precision Map with 50 Meter Contours (1:65,000)

Gough Island, a dependency of Saint Helena Island, is located in the distant south Atlantic. Today, South Africa maintains a weather station on the southeastern tip of the island. This is a blustery portion of the Atlantic and the island is subject to weather extremes. For more detailed information follow this link.

I actually digitized the island shoreline last summer. I wanted to fancy the map up, but had other chores to do. Now that I fancy my maps with Marplot, I finished this map tonite, April 15th - Tax Day. Taxes are a drag, but my map is nice.

Enjoy!

Labels: Atlantic, EVS Precision, Global Mapper, Landsat ETM+, Marplot

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/16/2008 12:34:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This video has nothing to do with islands, mapping, GIS or any of the other subjects I discuss here. It does have to do with a major breakthrough in the area of cancer treatment. It aired this past Sunday evening on 60 Minutes. If the device created by John Kanzius does what he hopes, we could have the ultimate cure for any type of cancer in as little time as 4-years (when human trials will begin). Let's hope so!

Labels: 60 Minutes, cancer, John Kanzius

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/15/2008 11:08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Lukuga River - Entire River Overview Landsat S-35-05_2000 (1:1,000,000)

I am done! To manually digitize a river is a challenge. Lots and lots of twists and turns make up the river's shoreline, as well as water-inundated areas. One frequently must decide where the river shore ends and the river begins. After one completes the river shore, then comes the islands. The Lukuga River has almost 1,000 island polygons. The majority of this polygons are very small, but the conscientious map maker digitizes every visible feature that might possible belong to a certain layer. Let's take a look at what I was able to accomplish.

Lukuga River - Entire River Overview EVS Precision Map with 100-Meter Contours (1:1,000,000)

At this scale the effort might not look very impressive. However, having digitized this east-west flowing African river and it's many islands, it is an impressive effort. I've added SRTM generated 100-meter contours. Lake Tanganyika makes up the eastern edge and the Lualaba River is the western edge. Now for a few close-ups.

Lualaba and Lukuga Confluence - Landsat S-35-05_2000 (1:50,000)

Lualaba and Lukuga Confluence - 3D View Landsat S-35-05_2000 (1:50,000)

Lualaba and Lukuga Confluence - EVS Precision Map (1:50,000)

This series of images show the confluence of these two rivers. The Lukuga has meandered over relatively flat westward sloping terrain for about 200 kilometers before joining the Lualaba. The large island at the western end of the Lukuga is a water inundated feature that was a challenge to digitize. Water and land quite often blend making digitizing difficult.

Lake Tanganyika and Lukuga Confluence - 3D View Landsat S-35-05_2000 (1:250,000)

Lake Tanganyika and Lukuga Confluence - EVS Precision Map with100-Meter Contours (1:250,000)

These images show the Lukuga flowing from Lake Tanganyika through the town of Kemba. The Landsat image shows agricultural lands throughout this area. The river then courses through a cleft between the hills to the west.

I'm going to go ahead and post this. I have one more series of images to include, but I'll add them when I return after a date with my wife. I hope you all find this effort interesting. I, myself, find it extremely satisfying. This river is mapped at EVS precision, manual digitizing from Landsat ETM+ 14.5-meter resolution base imagery.

Enjoy!

Labels: EVS Precision, Global Mapper, Landsat ETM+, Lualaba River, Lukuga River, riverine islands

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/13/2008 12:12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post