Looking for a place to hike in the central Bluegrass? Check out this old-school style interactive map: https://www.outragegis.com/maps/bluegrass/
Experimenting with Geolocation API
July 22, 2022 by Leave a Comment
We have a lot of great raster base map services available in Kentucky and I wanted to access them for my current location when I use my mobile device in the field. While there are many ways to make a mobile map, I wanted use Leaflet JS and build a custom geolocation service using the Geolocation API. Some desired features for the web page:
- The interface should be just the map, with a single button to access the controls
- Location services should record a track of previous locations with distance covered
- Location coordinates should be averaged over a sample period to help with accuracy
- Other information for the current location should be offered on the page, e.g., hourly weather forecasts.
Map cound found here: https://outrageGIS.com/location
The below screen capture shows the control panel for selecting base map and enabling the the location services. It also gratuitously adds content from the last three posts to this forum. (Practicing with Tailwind CSS for potential site redesign.)
Please feel to add your comments and tell how it works on your mobile device. It has tested on Chrome and Safari mobile browsers.
Some caveats.
- The tracking feature is tuned to walking. If you drive or bike, the track will more generalized the faster you travel.
- Of course, you’ll need to enable location for the page :). I promise that nothing is used or saved from your session. This is a completely client-side app.
- If you refresh your browser, the page is reset and your track is lost. Working on a local database option to save the track.
- This page requires an online connection. Working on an offline version, too.
Above is an screen capture of the Kentucky Topo map for the state. Other base maps include, lidar-derived surface models and current GOES-16 imagery.
Screen capture of track mapping on a mobile device
Weather archive updates
June 6, 2022 by Leave a Comment
We collect imagery from national park webcams in the Great Smokies and Mammoth Cave parks and then make animated gifs of those webcam images. In 2011, I penciled this quick note:
110629 Nice time-lapse photography for all cameras and satellite. Make movie?
Beginning in 2012, we started archiving these animations.
New webcam added to animation archive
Turns out, we had Mammoth Cave working for the entire 2021 year, but didn’t have them accessible via a web page. With a little grep and sed action, the gifs were added to the default page for the Great Smokies archive. Visit the interface here.
We plan on having at least the last year covered in the archive. At 60 GB a year now with HD cameras, it can get expensive hosting multiple years. I do have the years back to 2012 stored offline.
New Red River Gorge map
May 28, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Over the past spring, we’ve been revamping our popular map for the Red River Gorge. The map should be available in early June. One of the additions is a new Bird’s Eye View map that user lidar elevation data and Blender 3d modeling software. You can view a zoomable image with this link
2020 Census data
February 28, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Time to explore the data on a map. The experiment is show block group data for select demographic data, which was used for redistricting. This interactive presentation is a test of concept to show population density. Eventually, an UI element will be added to symbolize block groups by precent population in self-identified racial group – as defined in Census categories.
Custom shaded relief maps
October 2, 2021 by Leave a Comment
After a few weeks fiddling with the Blender 3D application to make smooth shaded reliefs, I decided to create raster tilesets that could be used with web mapping applications for a unique look. While the shading is not as accurate as multidirectional shading techniques used in GDAL and ArcGIS Pro, it makes a more artistic rendering.
To view a web page with samples, check out boydx.github.io/hugo-maps and also learn about the New Maps Plus program at the University of Kentucky).
Examples
Eating a PB&J by oak tree
January 2, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Having fun with lidar
Lexington has a awesome fall event called, Paint by Nature, which encourages folks to create artwork around notable trees in the city. These trees aren’t necessarily the largest or showiest in their area, but are highly suitable plantings for their ecological settings.
While I didn’t make a submission, I did map the trees and used various lidar sources to visualize them. Visit this 3D visualization powered with Potree point cloud renderer. A growing list of similar visualizations can be found here.
Map of trees
Visit the trees in the Paint by Nature program on this page.
Sheltowee Trace elevation profile
July 6, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Working on the 2020 update of the Sheltowee Trace maps using high-resolution DEMs derived from lidar point clouds. An elevation profile was created by sampling elevation every 264 feet along the 343-mile trail. This profile shows the proposed extension from Burnt Mill bridge to Rugby.
The resolution is high enough to see the indentation of wider trail beds, which helps verify GPS data.
The updated trail maps should be at the printer by mid-July.
Woodland Art Fair time!
August 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Come down to the Kentucky Art Market and Woodland Art Fair this Saturday and Sunday, Â August 17 and 18, 2019. We have new t-shirts of the Red River Gorge.
The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or thereabouts.
Our booth location and coordinates are shown on the below map. We’ll be between Troublesome and Difficulty Creeks, at least spirit! Find us on the Woodland Christian Church side of the fair at the shady bottom of the hill.
Toward a scenic trail index
August 12, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Over the years we’ve pursued some measure that reveals the character of 900+ miles of trail here. Often we talk about a trail’s length or steepness with other dimensions gleaned from the base map. In this experiment, we are creating zones at discreet locations along trails and estimating the character of that location.
Over 14,000 polygons are shown on this 3D Mapbox map. The color indicates the type of scenery and height shows how much relief is the area. Future additions to this map include adding a searching tool and summary statistics for each trail.
Red River Gorge t-shirt
July 10, 2019 by 4 Comments
Looking for a new fashion statement?
We’ve printed a map of the Red River Gorge on a 100%-cotton, heavy-weight t-shirt.
This double-sided t-shirt will be first available at the Kentucky Art Market, which is adjacent to the Woodland Arts Fair. This August 2019.
West Sixth Farm trail map
June 16, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Took an afternoon to GPS map the trail network at the West Sixth farm outside of Frankfort, Kentucky. You can download the map here https://www.westsixth.com/farmtrailmap.
The farm maintains a mountain bike trail with technical features and one-way trails. Enjoy a ride and then a brew.
As an experiment, we added a 3D map from a lidar point cloud viewable here: https://outragegis.com/pointclouds/w6.
New Maps Plus projects
May 1, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Visit the full-screen map.
I began teaching at New Maps Plus in October 2015. Students have made many awesome maps since then. This ‘map of maps’ shows projects going back to early 2017. Many of the early projects utilized CartoDB (now CARTO), which has evolved considerably over the years. While technology and visualization techniques change, a map is also an artistic pursuit and perhaps can withstand the ebb and flow of tech design styles.
New images and data from GOES-16
December 29, 2018 by Leave a Comment
Over Christmas break, it was time to automate collecting and displaying the incredibly detailed imagery from the GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager. A problem that plagued previous efforts was not accessing the raw data, a netCDF formatted file for the contiguous U.S. which can be downloaded
This page offers a slippy map of grayscale and color imagery and is updated every 15 minutes. You can download GeoTIFFs of rendered layers that can be used in GIS applications.
Arches mapping project
December 20, 2018 by Leave a Comment
During the Fall 2018 semester, students mapped and visited arches and waterfalls in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge Geological Area. They adopted an arch or waterfall and produced maps, analyses, 3D visualizations, and a web page that explores their arch. Visit the site.
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