7 replies to this topic

[mikerouge]

I'm trying to make some outline maps of mountains. It's a basic process. Start with a DEM and extract a distance map from a fixed observer position. Each pixel in that map is shaded according to its distance from observer: near = white; far = black.

Now, if you want to render the outlines, it's simply a case of finding the abrupt changes, the discontinuities, in that depth map. You can do this by looking at the slope of the image, or by running some edge detectors.

I used Whitebox GIS because it has a nice array of edge filters, but it's a bit fiddly to use. Free though. But I'd like to know how you would perform the edge detection on the distance map?

I'd also like to know the best way to thin and vectorise those outlines, so that I can rescale them and display them with antialiasing. I don't know much about smooth vectorisation but I'm hoping you guys will. If you've got any tips for extracting nice clean mountain outlines from my DEM I'd be ever so grateful. Thanks

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[Michael Schmeling]

I would do the edge detection in a graphics program (Photoshop) and autotrace the result in Illy to get vectors. But I haven't tried this myself.

[canvas101]

Hello mikerouge,

I would approach this from a more artistic point of view and utilize a pen and tablet and trace the rendered results. Import the image into AI and trace the profiles that you need. When utilizing edge detection I find a less natural result.

Regards

[mikerouge]

OK thanks everyone.

So, I used 'Live Paint' in Illustrator to convert my rasters to vectors. Pictures at the bottom. It looks really nice. I think that's the best way to do it, just uses a simple threshold and the options are easy to tweak.

I am new to Illy though, and I'd like to export those vectors back to ArcGIS so I can symbolise them. It's not clear to me how to change the line thickness in Illy.

I tried to export to DXF but nothing appeared in ArcGIS. If anyone's got any tips I'd be really grateful. But yes, Illy has a nice clean look.

As for the depth map filter, I just wrote a simple VB script to look at gradients in three directions, this is a nice way to get a single pixel width line that is true to the original file.

If anyone can help with the vectors -> ArcGIS approach I'd be pleased. Thank you

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[Kathi]

If anyone can help with the vectors -> ArcGIS approach I'd be pleased.

If there was a rather fool-proof way, I'd also love to know about it! I don't have MapPublisher, just Illy CS3 and ArcView 9.3.

So far I've always exported my graphics from Illustrator to dxf, then imported that into ArcGIS, used the necessary transformation to have it plot in the correct location, then export to shapefile if needed.

The problem in this workflow is in the first step: before exporting you need to make sure there are no transparencies or styles like paintbrushes applied, or those features and anything below them will be rasterized. I'm also guessing that complex paths (I'm not sure that's what they're really called in English, they're "Zusammengesetzer Pfad" in German) may cause problems. And right now I'm struggling with the export of bezier curves, they just won't show up, so I guess those spell trouble, too...

[Hans van der Maarel]

complex paths (I'm not sure that's what they're really called in English, they're "Zusammengesetzer Pfad" in German)

Compound paths

[Kathi]

Thanks for the clarification, Hans!

[Hans van der Maarel]

Thanks for the clarification, Hans!

Bitte schön!