How far do you have to travel to find adventure?

June 17, 2024 by Leave a Comment

If you live near downtown Lexington, you don’t have far to travel to find sidewalks and shared-use paths that provide an escape to a nascent wildland.

Town Branch Trail phase 6 complete
Town Branch Trail Phase 6 complete

Town Branch Trail is an example. Lexington was built on this stream called the “Town Branch of the Elkhorn.” It was the industrial heart of early Lexington. Most cities have industrialized spaces that become abandoned. These derelict landscapes are primed for recreational and educational opportunities.

Wherever you live, advocate for building local trails.

Filed Under: All Hikes, Class maps

Rowan County Explorer

June 16, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Over the years teaching GIS & mapping, Boyd has tried to connect his students with real-world mapping opportunities. One such opportunity emerged when Rowan County, Kentucky, wanted an interactive map showing trails and tourism destinations in the area. Workshopping with students in GEO 305 (Elements of Cartography) and later MAP 672 (Programming for Web Mapping) in UKy’s Department of Geography, he drafted a web map.

Rowan County, Kentucky, trail and tourism explorer
Trail and tourism explorer for Rowan County, Kentucky: https://outrageGIS.com/rowan

The criteria for this map were that it needed to be completely open source (without relying on any for-fee platforms) and self-contained—the project lives in a folder that could be dropped into any web server and would just work. This project uses LeafletJS and public base maps from Kentucky DGI.

The page departs from the traditional web map; marginalia, typically on a print map, was added to this map. A viewer can zoom into the legend! While the creative choices made on this project offered a fulfilling experience, students have their own trajectories and soon pivot interests after a course is finished.

The project is a draft, but it is active. Tell us what you think: https://outrageGIS.com/rowan

Filed Under: All Hikes, Cave Run Lake, DBNF, Class maps, Free Maps, Maps, Sheltowee Trace

New base maps for Sheltowee Trace

June 9, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Find high-resolution aerial imagery and shaded relief maps for Kentucky (and some for Tennessee) on SheltoweeTrace.com.

Base maps for sheltoweetrace.com
Base maps for sheltoweetrace.com

We’re adding new base maps for our Sheltowee Trace map. The current maps are:

  • Default map shows a generalized shaded relief, hydrologic features, and public land.
  • Aerial photography shows 2-ft pixel resolution, leaf-off 2019 imagery.
  • Shaded relief (KY) uses KyFromAbove point clouds from 2010s to create a shaded relief detailed enough to show trail and road beds.
  • Topographic (KY) shows the Topographic map series created by the Kentucky Division of Geographic Information.
  • Topographic (Maptiler) displays a modifed Maptiler Outdoors base map. It is a global base map pulled a variety of open-source data. Trail and other information portrayed on this base map is not maintained by outrageGIS mapping. Also, elevation contours can show errors around 100 feet.
Filed Under: Big South Fork, NRRA, Cave Run Lake, DBNF, Free Maps, Maps, Red River Gorge, Sheltowee Trace

Cumulative elevation gain calculator

June 9, 2024 by Leave a Comment

How much elevation gain did you have on your last Sheltowee Trace hike? We built a calculator and elevation profile on SheltoweeTrace.com.

Cumulative elevation gain calculator on sheltoweetrace.com
Cumulative elevation gain calculator on sheltoweetrace.com

The data used in the calculator is pulled from lidar point cloud elevations created in the mid-2010s. Digital elevation models (DEM) derived from these point clouds have a 5-ft spatial resolution and are detailed enough to show wider trails in shaded relief rendering of the DEM. The point elevations for the Sheltowee Trace are sampled every 1/10th of a mile and allow for calculating gains between mile markers with a single decimal place. The result shows both southbound and northbound gains.

Filed Under: Big South Fork, NRRA, Cave Run Lake, DBNF, Free Maps, Maps, Red River Gorge, Sheltowee Trace

Down arrow?

June 5, 2024 by Leave a Comment

When you encounter a trail navigation sign, you understand left, right, and forward. But, does down mean back? This eight-year-old said yes and quizzed me on it at Berea Fort Mountain.

What arrow is being covered?
What arrow is being covered?
Filed Under: News

gis.uky.edu

June 5, 2024 by Leave a Comment

The Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky has a new portal for information relevant to our mapping and GIS activities. It’s still in development but I thought that I’d share the site: https://gis.uky.edu

Portal for UKy Geography mapping & GIS: https://gis.uky.edu
Portal for UKy Geography mapping & GIS: https://gis.uky.edu
Filed Under: Class maps, News

Trail maps for the Salato Hiking Trail

June 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment

How many times have you taken a photo with your phone of a trailhead kiosk map? Inside the mailbox were neatly folded paper maps made by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Salato Hiking Trail
Trail maps for the Salato Hiking Trail
Filed Under: News

Terrain Explorer

May 30, 2024 by Leave a Comment

In this web map, we explore how to use different elevation models in 3D maps. The KyFromAbove project collects and maintains high-resolution elevation data and aerial imagery for Kentucky. The bare-earth Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was created from a lidar point cloud. This is the typical elevation model that we use. The same point cloud was then filtered to create a Digital Surface Model (DSM) showing above-ground elevations, like buildings and trees. Both of these elevation models were converted to terrain tiles to use in web mapping applications. MapLibre GL JS 3D features terrain rendering with RGB-encoded elevation raster tiles.

Terrain Explorer
Explore different terrain models at outragegis.com/terrain-explorer/

The sliders allow the viewer to change the vertical exaggeration of the DEM and DSM. If geolocation is enabled, a track will record the viewer’s location. That track can be downloaded as a GeoJSON (works in Chrome).

Visit the page: outragegis.com/terrain-explorer/

This was a project in the UKy Geography MAP 675, a course in the department’s Digital Mapping MS graduate program. The aerial imagery and elevation data are from 2019.

Filed Under: Class maps, Free Maps, KyFromAbove, Maps Tagged With: ,

Rock Bridge Recreation Area

May 29, 2024 by Leave a Comment

With picnic amenities, this short hike in the Red River Gorge is a solid family vacation. Red River Gorge Backpacking Map & photos.

Creation Falls
Creation Falls
Filed Under: Photos, Red River Gorge

Welcome to summer

May 29, 2024 by Leave a Comment

Can you guess where this popular site is located? Find this location on our Red River Gorge Backpacking Map & Sheltowee Trace North Trail Map hiking maps.

Jump Rock, ST mile marker 78.5
Jump Rock, Sheltowee Trace mile marker 78.5
Filed Under: All Hikes, Photos, Red River Gorge, Sheltowee Trace

Mountain laurel in full bloom

May 28, 2024 by Leave a Comment

We might be in peak mountain laurel bloom this May. We visited mile marker 77 on the Sheltowee Trace and found a riotous scene of white and pink flowers.

Mountain laurel on the Sheltowee Trace
Filed Under: News, Photos

Updated SheltoweeTrace.com

May 28, 2024 by Leave a Comment

We love hiking the Sheltowee Trace. Often, we want to know how much vertical elevation gain we have accumulated over a longer hike. To this end, we’ve added a cumulative elevation gain calculator to sheltoweetrace.com. Give it a try and tell us what you think.

Sheltowee Trace web page and map
Filed Under: All Hikes, Hikes: Sheltowee Trace, Maps, Sheltowee Trace

Canopy height model

May 28, 2024 by Leave a Comment

An analysis estimating tree canopy heights using KyFromAbove lidar point clouds (2019) combined with an NDVI layer derived from NAIP 2018 imagery for Lexington, Kentucky 2019. 19.3% in canopy cover.

Interactive map for existing canopy and for trees removed between 2010 and 2019.

Because of the difference between the lidar and photographic sensors, artifacts are present around tall structures like water towers, powerlines, and buildings.

Tree canopy model

GEO 409, Spring 2024.

Filed Under: Class maps, Maps

Triplett Creek Suspension Bridge

May 28, 2024 by Leave a Comment

This bridge was once part of the Sheltowee Trace. Today, you can find this near mile marker 34. Find more images of the Sheltowee Trace on our Flickr page.

Triplett Creek suspension bridge
Filed Under: Photos

Campus change, 2010-2019

December 29, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Winner: Best Spatial Analysis at the 2023 Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals annual conference.

This analysis shows the difference between two digital surface models (DSM) created from lidar point cloud data hosted by KentuckyFromAbove.gov. DSMs allow us to visualize surface features like buildings and trees. The calculation subtracts the 2010 DSM from the 2019 DSM to find the height difference. The resulting raster layer is multiplied over a shaded relief base map from the 2019 DSM.

Campus change, 2010-2019

The most prominent change is the addition of numerous dormitories, but the more minor changes are the extensive growth and removal of trees. The greatest increase in height (156 feet) occurred at the Commonwealth Stadium expansion and renovation in 2015. The most significant decrease in height (90 feet) occurred after removing a construction crane at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital.

View map and other visualizations of change: https://boydx.github.io/uky-campus/

@boydx Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky. GEO 409 Spring 2023.

Filed Under: Class maps, KyFromAbove, Maps
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