12 replies to this topic

[frax]

Hi... I just got the idea to try to investigate if one can easily make some GIS based maps projected on a 3d globe - a bit like these:

It obviously have to be data and information that is not too detailed (like country statistics) and it has to be covering maximum one hemisphere (preferably a bit less)

I have ArcGlobe, but I have no experience in it. I don't have any access to any fancy 3d software (and don't really have the time/energy to play with that).

It won't be vector, but one possibility would be to create a decently nice map in Illustrator in plate carrée and then projected it using xplanet, outputting a high res png.
One could then bring it back into Illustrator and labels and stuff on top. A problem there would be that stylings might be distorted close to the poles (for instance a glow around the coasts). I might experiment with that, just to see what the result would look like...

[Hans van der Maarel]

Check out Blender. It's an open-soure 3D package, quite rich in features. You could make a map in whichever GIS or cartographic package you prefer, export it in plate-carree and then map it onto a sphere in Blender.

I've never worked with it to be honest. Not seriously anyway... But there is a large user community and several good tutorials out there to get you started.

[DaveB]

Here's a quick example I did in ArcGlobe (which I never used before). I used Tom Patterson's natural earth data.

In ArcGlobe you can easily spin the globe around to see it from any angle. You can set lighting (or turn lighting off).
Then you can export the globe to various graphic formats for use elsewhere.

Attached Files

•  northamerica_globe.jpg   75.99K   121 downloads

[Dennis McClendon]

That's quite beautiful, Dave. In fact, I'm tempted to use it as my avatar since it shows Chicago as being the center of the world!

[Hans van der Maarel]

Since the earth is roughly a sphere, any point on its surface can therefore claim to be the center of the world.

[Rob]

nice dave. how can you incorporate statisical data while using pattern's earth as a base? can you crank a quick example when you have a momment. I don't have ArcGlobe, but that looks pretty cool.

[DaveB]

That's quite beautiful, Dave.  In fact, I'm tempted to use it as my avatar since it shows Chicago as being the center of the world!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Happy accident!
You're welcome to it.

[DaveB]

nice dave.  how can you incorporate statisical data while using pattern's earth as a base?  can you crank a quick example when you have a momment.  I don't have ArcGlobe, but that looks pretty cool.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Here's a real quick quickie with population of countries as percentage of total population of the world. Tried png on this one just to see what it would give me.

Attached Files

•  asia.png   139.98K   111 downloads

[frax]

Thanks guys, some very good input. Just tried to play with ArcGlobe, and unfortunately it doesn't really cut it though... Export only produces a rasterized version (tried ai and eps, assume that emf/wmf/pdf produce similar results).

The it came to me - this stuff is actually already accessible in ArcMap - the trick is to use the World from space projection (and set the center lat/long). Then one applies gradients to fake the lighting and stuff in Illustrator.

Check this out:

Quick and dirty proof of concept: population by country exported from ArcMap and two circles with radial gradients applied in Illustrator, one below for sea, and one on top for shade (transparency set to multiply)

ArcMap should be able to re-project most things on the fly, one can even reproject the underlying data to a suitable projection (is probably the best to do when things involve the -180/180 boundary or the poles).

[DaveB]

That works, too.

As usual there is often more than one way to do things.

Globe lets you spin things around in real time. ArcMap lets you change projection parameters to get the view you want. It all depends on how you want to work and what result and/or output you want.

[frax]

note that that map I prepared is all vector.

[frax]

a follow up to this -- Now I am interested in preparing isometric maps out of ArcGIS! -- I tried with ArcScene, but it is just exporting to raster/image illustrator format...

(I'll take this up in a new thread)

[Josh]

A very simple way of doing this would be to download World Wind. This is an open source software oringally from NASA. If you go to
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/
you can download it. you have the options of turning layers on such as coutnries etc...
Careful...tad bit of a memory hog.
see attachment

Attached Files

•  with_flags_n_grid.jpg   131.22K   83 downloads
•  88.96648W_45.68666N.jpg   84.21K   84 downloads