EVS-Islands

Delos Island - Map (1:25,000)

I come from a time when the best map a person could purchase for those journeys of exploration into places like Yosemite Park were 1:24,000 scale USGS Topographic maps. They were great at depicting visible sites and those sites far beyond the horizon. My shoreline maps are typically very boring. They do show a well-tracked shoreline, but so what.

This post contains a series of Delos Island shoreline maps. Delos is the birthplace of Apollo and the "navel" of Greece. It is an island full of ancient sites. Explore it with the 1-meter imagery available on Google Earth. It is a treat.

My first map is of Delos Island at 1:25,000 scale. This is the scale typically used for large-scale national mapping efforts. Their shorelines are good, but mine are better. My Delos shorelines are extremely precise in comparison to other Delos shorelines (WVS, PGS, EVS), as mine have been digitized using GE 1-meter imagery. Let's explore further.

Delos Island - Map (1:12,500)

This is the scale one might see in a professional publication to depict the locations of a series of archeological sites being discussed. It allows for site names and very brief comments. It is a good intermediate scale.

Delos Island - Map (1:6,250)

This scale would allow for more detailed discussion of sites of interest. I, personally, would prefer to work at a larger scale to deal with individual sites. Perhaps the next map scale.

Delos Island - Map (1:3,125)

At this scale individual sites can be depicted, often in their entirety. It is a solid scale that can be used to discuss very precise locational information.

Delos Island - Map (1:1,563)

This scale is also excellent for the discussion of individual sites. What impresses me is the site details that can be depicted at this scale.

Delos Island - GE Image (1:1,563)

This GE image of the harbor on Delos Island is indicative of the degree of resolution that can be realized with 1-meter imagery. When working with 1-meter imagery, I typically digitized at 1:780. All of the features are clearly discernable, thus easy to digitize. The challenge is digitizing a shoreline battered by waves that is defined by fractured rocks above and below water. Within the next 5-years 1-meter imagery will be the norm. The satellites are in orbit snapping flicks. Companies like GE, Microsoft and NASA will, hopefully, keep the imagery coming. And the mapping that will be routinely accomplished will eclipse our current efforts dramatically.

What I like about this specific series of Delos maps is that they all came from the same map file. It is merely a matter of zooming in and the user gets a more detailed image. This Delos shoreline map file becomes imprecise at between 1:400 down to 1:200. The shorelines look clunky. However, above these seldom used scales the shorelines are excellent.

Posted by Mr Minton on Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 7/26/2006 09:22:00 AM | Permalink