EVS-Islands

Pukaruha Atoll is off the beaten path. It lies at the eastern limits of the Tuamotus. At the northern end of the main motu is a village. An airstrip is located in the middle of the main motu.

Now for the real scoop. Artistically this is my best map and most detailed. It is constructed of close to 1,000 unique polygons making up the various layers of infornmation. I used Digital Globe imagery found in Google Earth to construct this map. The imagery is 1-meter resolution and I mapped the hell out of it! The project took about 20 hours.

Frequent visitors know that I primarily work off of Landsat ETM+ 2000 mosaic imagery. This island and it's neighbor are not covered in the available Landsat imagery. I am sure that it was a fluke that this mosaic was not made available to the public. However, I wanted to map it. So I checked out the imagery on Google Earth and found this Digital Globe base imagery.

The resulting map work is exquisite. My work on the lagoon's reef is a work of art and it is accurate.

For those of you that just want to see my latest project, this is it.

For those of you that appreciate a gorgeous map, this is it as well.

view Pukaruha Atoll on Google Maps

Enjoy!

Labels: atoll, EVS, Global Mapper, island, Landsat, map, Marplot, Pacific, Polynesia, Tuamotus

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/06/2007 06:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Solomon Islands 8.0 Earthquake

An 8.0 earthquake is bad enough, but to live on the edge of a diving tectonic plate that is continually moving is rough. I know. San Diego is not diving, but it is sliding north. The area that underwent the 8.0 earthquake with the resulting tsunami is a geologic timebomb. And it went off!

The image shows the 8.0 epicenter plotted on the left panel. The right panel shows 5.0 earthquakes and above. This is a very active earthquake area. An 8.0 earthquake will happen again in the region.

view Solomon Islands on Google Maps

Labels: earthquakes

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/03/2007 08:23:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Eiao Island - Landsat ETM+ and Digital Globe Hi-Res

From Landsat (left panel) to Digital Globe Hi-Res (right panel).

Eiao Island - Marplot Map Original and Improved

From EVS precision shoreline extracted from a cloud-obscured Landsat ETM+ image to EVS precision shoreline extracted from a cloud-free Digital Globe Hi-Res image.

HAPPY ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

EVS-ISLANDS

At 1415 April 2, 2007 my blogsite became one year old. It consists of 296 posts covering a wide variety of topics, most providing details of islands scattered throughout the world.

My mapping skills have improved. I began mapping shorelines only. Yet, I quickly moved to including more and more details. Now, my maps contain upwards of 16-layers of information.

Anytime I mapped a high island, elevation contours were beyond my expertise. Now, using SRTM elevation data and Global Mapper contour-creation module, my maps include elevation contours.

My visitors keep coming back, just under 20,000 this first year. They come from GIS and "arm-chair-traveller" backgrounds. They come from the energy, education, environmental, governmental and private sectors of society. They live in over 152 countries. And they view 100+ pages a day. They seldom criticize and often encourage. Occassionally, they ask to use my data and I always say, "Yes.".

I look forward to another year filled with many more discoveries.

Thanks for your support!

view Eiao Island on Google Maps

Enjoy!

Labels: Digital Globe, EVS, Global Mapper, island, Landsat, map, SRTM

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/03/2007 06:31:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Dar es Salaam - Left Panel (1:12,500) / Right Panel (1:6,250)

I create Enhanced Vector Shorelines (EVS) from images at scales between 1:12,500 to 1:6,250. A solid representation of the shoreline can be determined. There are features that one cannot distinguish, but the shoreline is not one of those. However, if one wanted to digitize a shoreline with a very high degree of confidence, hi-res imagery is needed.

Dar es Salaam - Digital Globe Image From Google Earth (1:12,500)

Using the above imagery, shoreline questions are quickly resolved. Where Landsat ETM+ (first image) is free for the downloading, Digital Globe Hi-Res imagery is partially free. If you want to make maps with their Google sponsered images, you can as long as your work is not-for-profit. If you want to earn a buck, you will need to make arrangements with DG. If you require unique imagery, the cost is between $400 up to $1,500. Them is some big bucks for us little folks.

I understand their need to control their images. DG had to pay lots of up-front money before they could begin marketing their products. And their traditional customer base of government, military and big businesses, all with deep pockets, find their prices reasonable. But, how about us little folks?

I have found that the folks at DG are gracious and will work hard to find a way to accomodate your request. And their supply of hi-res images to Google Earth is unprecidented. But, again, wouldn't it be nice to make a buck off of a map produced from their Google Earth sponsered images? Yes, it would!

view Dar Es Salaam TZ on Google Maps

Enjoy!

Labels: Digital Globe, digitize, EVS, Landsat, mapping

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/02/2007 06:16:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Dar es Salaam - VMAP Layers (1:2,000,000)

I spent yesterday working with VMAP data. VMAP is the new Digital Chart of the World (DCW). It contains layers of information in vector format. The entire world is contained in 4 files V0eur, V0noa, V0sas and V0soa. Global Mapper brings in all or individual layers of information. I decided that I wanted my World Shoreline map to contain some of these layers. I reformatted and loaded: Global Bathymetry, Elevation lines (contours), airfields (almost 10,000) and metro area polygons that delineate populated areas.

Dar es Salaam - VMAP Layers (1-1,000,000)

This is the classic scale for the DCW, now called VMAP. This scale is able to accomodate a number of layers of information: World Vector Shoreline, airfields, metro areas, roads (green), railroads (red), name labels and water/land contours.

Dar es Salaam - VMAP Layers with Prototype Global Shoreline (1:125,000)

This is Dar es Salaam at 1-inch : 2-miles. More name labels show up at this level of zoom. The PGS consists of great detail and gaps due to reputed cloud cover. It makes me want to digitize a shoreline to EVS precision.

The additional layers of data are informative. They bring my World Shoreline map up to about 5-gigabytes in size with over 190-layers of unique information.

If you would like to know how I worked the VMAP data, drop me a line and I'll explain.

Now I remember what I wanted to tell you. This whole project began with a look at Europa Technologies' $5,595 one-year license Global Discovery, their premier digital world reference map. This mapping package consists of a number of DCW layers - free information that Europa Technologies repackage and sell. More power to them! I won't buy their mapping package, but if there are consumers that require it, sell it to them. Or those consumers can do like I did and make their own World Map. It takes time and very little money (Global Mapper @ $199). And it's easy!

Enjoy!

Labels: Europa Technologies, EVS, Global Discovery., PGS, VMAP, WVS

Posted by Mr Minton at 4/01/2007 04:07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post