8 replies to this topic

[Pete Y.]

Hello everyone,

I just joined this site today. I've put together a very basic map (I attached a cropped portion) showing the topography of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, and have a very specific issue:
I don't have contours or elevation data past 1 mile from the base boundary. Not at this scale, anyway, and I didn't have time to hunt around for high-resolution data from neighboring areas. So does this "fading" effect work for you? I created 10 buffered polygons around the boundary, and set each one 10% less transparent going outward. Anyone know of a better way?

Thanks.

Attached Files

•  CPEN_cropped.jpg   153.25K   301 downloads

[Rob]

find the surrounding 10m usgs dems and use those if possible. that would take minimal effort; you could still use transparency to partially mask off base terrian. if you are going to stick with the present course i'd suggest that you somehow create more contrast on the outside areas. Currently, the brown you are using is very close to the mid elevation of your hypso tint.

rob

[Martin Gamache]

In addition to finding the 10m DEMs you migth also want to build a mask in Photoshop using some blurring filter (median, or gaussian blur) and a feathered selection. That would avoid the banding effect. I would also recommend using a different hue than your elevation so as not to confuse folks...people can be dumb...or at least make a note so they dont assume the great plains start outside Camp Pendleton.

[Pete Y.]

I appreciate the comments.

I guess my purpose was also to bring out the base from its exterior, and give the map some visual hierarchy. Also the audience was solely base employees...sorry I forgot to mention that.

I am a Photoshop beginner but I could try that mask over adjacent DEMs. I'm just looking for a novel way to bring the base to the foreground somehow; surrounding terrain is quiet similar. But I was a little concerned my approach would give a confusing impression!

[woneil]

You might want to think about hard cropping at the post boundaries, with perhaps a small inset map showing the post's relationship to surrounding communities.

How are you dealing with the ocean side, and with the various reservations carved out within Pendleton?

[Dennis McClendon]

The long on-off gaps in the boundary dash make it hard to follow the complex borders of the base. You could make the gaps much shorter, or make the non-base areas very dark. That might help you solve your relief representation problem.

[Pete Y.]

That boundary representation could be improved, you're right.

Re: woneil's post, I did have a version in which the terrain was hard-cropped to the boundary; I figured that looked worse than blending it into the surrounding counties. I have begun downloading the adjacent DEMs, and I think I'll experiment with blurring that terrain, somehow.

The ocean side has no bathymetry data and looked fine to me. What do you mean about reservations inside the base? As far as I know there are no inholdings, it's all government property.

Thanks for everyone's help! I'll post this map again (the whole thing) when I've updated it later this month.

[Walnut]

I know you said you are not interested in elevation data, but you can get it from here very easily:

http://seamless.usgs.gov

[bchubb]

Have you considered a hard crop at the bounday, but with use of a very slight drop shadow. You might get some nice effects, especially if you included the DEM of the surrounding area. As was mentioned earlier, the background (with or without a DEM) could have more contrast ......perhaps a little lighter combined with more color contrast.

Bryan