EVS-Islands

Set These People Free! They got shoved off of their island back around the turn of last century, because they wanted the British, New Zealand and Australian interests to stop extracting phosphate, derived from bird guano, from their island. They got the old colonial wham-doozie! A contract that they didn't understand, a deal that gave away their island resource for next to nothing, a forced evacuation and after their island had been brutally plundered and not repaired, they were allowed to return. Just recently the courts awarded them $10 million for the past injustices - a mere pitance for all that they have been subjected to. There are a couple of web sites that tell their story: Abara Banaba, Wikipedia article and streaming video of a fly over of the island by Greenpeace.

The map was digitized within Google Earth using DigitalGlobe imagery and ultimately constructed in Marplot. I spent the last six to eight hours working on this relatively small island, but I learned alot while working on it. It is my first island I attempted to digitize all visible buildings. I think I did an excellent job.

What got me started on this particular island was the British Hydrographic Office Catalog of Nautical Charts. They publish a 1:50,000 scale chart (HO 979) of the island proper. This seems to me to be too large scaled to be of real use. In addition, they have a chart showing harbor details at 1:12,000 scale. I personally like my 1:3,125 view of the harbor. Also their chart was originally constructed in 1884 and updated in 1964. My data is from DigitalGlobe imagery gathered in the last couple of years. However, their charts are designed to be used by boaters, mine are not. I make maps, very nice maps, but just maps.

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I added a fourth image, a Marplot map at 1:20,000. The colors have been changed, a text box with appropriate credits is added, a nifty North Arrow and contours at 5-m intervals. I like the new look. One can soften colors too much. The colors used on this map are a bit bolder to draw attention to the features they depict.

Enjoy!

Labels: British Hydrographic Office, DigitalGlobe, digitize, Google Earth, nautical charts

Posted by Mr Minton on Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 3/27/2008 02:40:00 PM | Permalink