March | 2017 | GIS Blog

GIS Blog

Map Projections Part 1: Where on Earth are we?

We begin a discussion of the pluses and minuses, highs and lows of map projections in this post. We’ll always have problems flattening out our spheroidal earth onto flat maps. Not that I’m a huge basketball fan but I’d like to give Shaquille O’Neal the benefit of the doubt about claiming the earth is flat…

A Shady Topic – Hillshade layers

This post looks at hillshade layers – how they are used and created and how our brain interprets them. I had an interesting mapping experience last winter. While taking a break in the lodge at Mt Cheeseman, I was confronted, yes, confronted, by a strange phenomenon. Now I take a fair bit of pride in…

Can I use my own symbols on maps?

This post covers how to use your own custom symbols in ArcMap I had a good question in one of my classes recently (thanks Jacque!): can I use my own symbols on maps in ArcMap? Short answer – yes! It may not be as easy as we might like, but it’s certainly doable. We’ll look…

What Do Cave Orcs and Riverbeds Have in Common?

In this post we look at how a hand-held laser scanner is being used in the water lab to capture high-resolution elevation data of a scale model of the Waiho River. Lincoln has a long history of using physical models of to study gravel bed river systems, and the West Coast’s Waiho River in particular. …