#The long dark cartographer software
#The long dark cartographer plus

(Side note: see video of the conference talks!) Tanya Buckingham (recent NACIS executive director, current candidate for local office) has always kindly handed out thank-you gifts to people who help with the meeting this time it was a lovely вЂњMapsвЂќ notebook, in which IвЂ™ve vowed to work on hand-drawn cartography skills. Meanwhile, IвЂ™ll also keep visiting the White Mountains frequently!Д«ack in October in MontrГ©al I finished my term on the NACIS board of directors at the annual conference. A more typical hillshade doesnвЂ™t really model shadows but rather shades the left side the of valley (facing away from the light source) dark and the right side light.ДЄnyway, IвЂ™ll probably keep messing around with these maps forever, and try to make a real map with labels and everything. For example, notice how the Presidential Range (left, below) casts a shadow onto the other side of the valley. When the light source is low, as in my winter map, you can really see how shadows behave like actual shadows.

#The long dark cartographer software

As youвЂ™ll hear from Daniel, itвЂ™s 3D modeling software that renders realistic lighting and shadows. The winter map especially showed me how nice Blender is for shaded relief. Daniel Huffman also has some related tips (and many more) in his article on terrain in Photoshop. When the shadow and highlight layers are cranked up to 11 on the winter map, for instance, you can see how the areas to which they apply are based on both lighting and elevation. Most of the things IвЂ™ve tried involve Photoshop adjustment layers and layer masks based on elevation and/or the shaded relief itself. Technical tricks are probably not really worth getting into here because IвЂ™m not much of an expert. Evergreens, of course are the only thing thatвЂ™s green across all four maps-not that I was consistent in their color. In reality the whole region would be snowy, but I liked having some variety, so the lower parts are bare, except evergreen forests. Shadows have a lot more blue than the other seasons, and highlights are warmer, as though the sun were setting. As mentioned earlier, the rendered relief has a low sun. In winter (bottom left) I really went for it on the lighting. Later, in autumn (bottom right), I made a splotchy texture of greens, yellows, oranges, reds, and browns to suggest the lovely fall colors of the region. Deciduous forests up higher are still bare, and thereвЂ™s even still some snow on the higher peaks. Spring (top left) colors are little cooler and brighter, but only at lower elevations. Green areas are a bit yellow, an attempt at a kind of warm, dry look. Summer (top right) is probably the most straightforward, with the land cover layer mostly left alone. Besides that, itвЂ™s a bunch of Photoshopping to try to evoke the look and feel of each season. Spring, summer, and autumn all use the same hillshade, but winterвЂ™s different, having a lower and weaker sun.

#The long dark cartographer plus

This is a combination of elevation and blurred land cover data, plus TIGER/Line water polygons. (Click/tap for big version thatвЂ™s like 27 MB.) Mostly we do big hikes up various mountains, but sheвЂ™s even persuaded me to try skiing for the first time in my life soon.ДЄnyway, an idea came up of making a shaded relief map of the White Mountains in each of the four seasons. My significant other has gotten me into enjoying the area in all seasons.

This is where we go from Boston for good hiking and other outdoor activities. The White Mountains of New Hampshire provide the setting for my attempts. IвЂ™ll wait here while you read through it.

Do try it out if you havenвЂ™t heвЂ™s written it up thoroughly and helpfully, showing and explaining why Blender is good for this purpose. I finally spent a bit of time catching up with the great Daniel HuffmanвЂ™s excellent tutorial on creating shaded relief maps with Blender. Just a map for fun, made without writing any code, which is a nice change of pace.