Show HN: High Resolution Terrain Maps of Cascade Volcanoes

mparr4 | 48 points

By 2023, the USGS plans to have taken high-resolution LiDAR over the entire continental U.S., as well as creating 1-meter raster elevation products. Maps like these will be easier to create in the future.

Progress: https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/1-meter-dem-availability-c...

kylebarron | 4 years ago

A fellow HNer and I started making high resolution terrain maps using LiDAR data.

We've got maps of the Cascades and my home state of Vermont.

We're software guys. We've got a custom website but we're using Shopify for our checkout. We'd love feedback on the maps, the website, or anything at all!

mparr4 | 4 years ago

"Hello, My name is Misha. I am a map geek."

But what is a map geek?

A personal aesthetic where the visual, geometric and topological apects conspire to induce a overpowering feeling for the beauty of spatial possibility.

A spatial imagination, which can look at a map, but see the landscape. The symbolic abstractions vanish as a transparent veil over the underlying truth. A skill and a motivation also correlated with mathematics, physics, (computer) graphics, typography, chess, classical music, art and sculpture.

A specific intuitive understanding of topography, based on what it would look like on the ground, with nuances of intervisibility, and the operational task of planning of hiking routes. Perhaps also interwoven with knowledge of local geology, flora and fauna. Ultimately enabling navigating without maps, by the familiarity of the trail, the interlocking of landmark and timeline, and the experience of light and weather by the seasons. Striding out to the summit and rolling down to beat the sunset.

Can there be a map geek who is not also a hiker?

The mapgeekiness of the (probably male) introverted techie personality. Not just viewing and relating to the beauty, but a desire to know, capture and own, all of it. The collector of the specimens, the librarian of the catalog, the unconsulted oracle preoccupied with imaginings of unspoken theories.

mikhailfranco | 4 years ago

Is this data available in raw format? One of my hobbies is foraging for plants + mushrooms, and I'm often struggling to find good enough topographic data. If this dataset is available, I'd appreciate some pointers!

Also: Are there any developer-friendly datasets for climate, terrain, and other IRL data? I've spent a lot of time curating stuff from NOAA and Data.gov to fit me needs. Huge time sink! If this doesn't exist then somebody should do this ;)

freeqaz | 4 years ago

Are these 2D prints, or 3D relief prints with raised surfaces for the peaks? At first I thought they were 3D but the photos of the maps at an angle seems to suggest they're 2D.

starpilot | 4 years ago

If you could print on the maps the climbing routes from https://www.avenzamaps.com/maps/731848/mount-rainier-climbin... that would be amazing.

starpilot | 4 years ago

Hey! Nice maps.

How did you go about your land cover masking / color assignment? I assume you're just using lidar here, but land cover retrieval can be tricky. Maybe by downscaling a coarser land cover datasource?

I ask because I work on this (segmentation, land cover) and just wonder what folks are up to!

tony_cannistra | 4 years ago

> Mount Rainier, originally known as Tahoma, is the tallest volcano in the Cascade Range and the 2nd tallest mountain in the continental United States at 14,411 feet.

Yeah, it's not the 2nd tallest mountain in the continental US. There are a bunch of mountains in Colorado that are taller and the tallest one is in California

  Mount Whitney 14,494 feet
  Mount Elbert 14,433 feet
  Mount Massive 14,421 feet 
  Mount Harvard of Colorado 14,420 feet
  Mount Rainier 14,410 feet
rantwasp | 4 years ago

Very cool. I climbed a couple of those bad boys so I'd love to have a few of these.

mthoms | 4 years ago

nice maps and great idea.

Just shared to some hiking forums i use, hopefully you get some sales.

mtnGoat | 4 years ago

Any of these for the moon or other planets?

6gvONxR4sf7o | 4 years ago