GIS6005: Terrain Visualization

 

    In this week's lab, we focused on terrain visualization with emphasis on hillshade types, best practices and applications. 

    The map provided above shows an area in Yellowstone Park with varying landcover classifications overtop a hillshade topography layer. We were given freedom with our choice of hillshade type, and this particular map used a multidirectional hillshade instead of a traditional 315-degree azimuth and 45-degree light elevation. The multidirectional was chosen as it best shows elevation change without unnecessary shadows that would have been seen with the traditional hillshade. This benefits the map in that now the land cover layer isn't burdened with numerous dark areas that may affect the symbology. 

    The map above uses sans serif typography in all aspects and the map element placements are positioned to remove the most white space while not drawing too much attention away from the map being presented. The map symbology was chosen with standard land class colors in mind, but with such a variety, some classes are colored to stand out, not to represent. Water remained a blue coloration, and the largest class of trees remained green. Nonforested land was made to be a brown, and the rest of the symbology choices for the tree types were varied from yellow, red, pink, purple, blue, and black. The colors contrast each other well, as reflected in the map above, and were overlayed atop the hillshade layer with a 55% transparency to help the viewer get a clearer sense of the terrain's form.