An Easy Way to Create a Real O Map.pdf
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The document outlines a process for creating orienteering maps using OCAD software, NOAA lidar data, and aerial imagery. It discusses steps such as importing topographic information, customizing map details, and utilizing global heatmaps for enhanced accuracy. The procedure greatly reduces map preparation time from months to just hours, benefiting orienteering clubs with detailed and efficient mapping methods.
An Easy Way to Create a Real O Map.pdf
- 1. An Easy Way to Create Real Orienteering Maps Almost Anywhere • Getting Real Contour Lines for Free From US Government Agencies • Installing the Contour Lines in One Easy-to-Learn Move • Putting Geo-Referenced Aerial Images in Background Automatically • Adding more ground information from LiDAR and aerial images This presentation is based on OCAD. Other mapping programs probably are similar.
- 2. Part 1: Starting the New Orienteering Map in OCAD 2018
- 3. Step 1: Open New Map Wizard in OCAD 2018 Step 2: Search Open Street Map to zero in on your area of interest, in this case a Georgia Boy Scout Camp Step 3: Import that area into OCAD while giving some basic parameters, for instance • Scale 1:10,000 • Oriented to Magnetic North These are your choices. You can vary the scale, even the symbol set ie. Sprint/ MTB-O/ Ski-O
- 4. Check for LiDAR availability with NOAA, the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. https://coast.noaa.gov/dataviewer/#/ Part 2: Getting the LiDAR (Contour details)
- 5. NOAA does not have LiDAR covering the entire country. They do cover areas bordering international waters.
- 6. For areas not covered by NOAA LiDAR, there may be availability with the USGS National Map Viewer. Failing that check with counties, water management districts and other environmental agencies. However this presentation will deal with the NOAA procedures.
- 7. LATE ADDITION: Stymied about what LiDAR might be available for your area? These partner agencies are cooperating to avoid duplication, pool resources and let us know what is available and what is coming. Check them out: https://coast.noaa.gov/inventory/
- 8. Now let’s get down to business. Having selected NOAA and the option to get elevation detail (LiDAR) we then zero in on the same area of interest as we used OCAD to select from Open Street Map. A menu on the right side will tell us what LiDAR series are available for that area. Usually we select the most recent.
- 9. We ended up ordering three items from NOAA, two of which are proving very useful.
- 10. Here is the beauty of the NOAA program: NOAA asks us how we would like to receive their LiDAR information. They have default options. However in three cases it is better to change the options and select those used by OCAD– projection, output and vertical units. When we select UTM, NOAA automatically knows we need Horizontal Units in meters. Default Options Selected Options
- 11. Placing Order
- 12. Check the full order once more then submit Instantly the order receipt is confirmed. How long does it take to receive the orders? Hint: It is WAY FASTER than Amazon. Note: I selected only to receive Ground information. This LiDAR will give you so much more if you desire.
- 13. It depends on the size of the files, Internet speed, etc but within minutes, definitely less than an hour we are receiving e-mail confirmation that our orders are ready for download. The e-mails each contain a link to automatically download the requested files.
- 14. Each download contains a compressed file. . . . . . . . .. which we will extract to a file location on our computer of our choosing.
- 15. Now we are ready to get back to the OCAD map file. First, for the contour detail just downloaded from NOAA we use the dropdown menu from DEM And select DEM Import Wizard. We then select the downloaded files which are in a .laz format and saved wherever the Extract was saved. OCAD loves .laz and it loves that the files are already using the UTM coordinates for the area. OOPs! Our graphic artist cut off the Select button here. Part 3: Bringing the LiDAR into the OCAD File
- 16. After a period of processing, again dependent on the size and number of the files, OCAD will open- in order-four dialogues asking for your preferences. They are YOUR preferences but here is what we usually select. . • 1 Usually, only interested in the ground detail, we select Create Contour Lines and Hill Shading. • 2 Then Digital Terrain Model over DSM (a personal preference based on just wanting the ground information) 1 2
- 17. • 3 Smoothed Contours where the interval we choose depends on the terrain. Sometimes in flat areas of Florida we have gone as small as a one meter contour interval. • 4 Hill Shading is a great help in adding detail to the map for the field checker to check. 3 4
- 18. Then OCAD and the computer go to work. Again the time depends on the size of the project. This was a big one so I had time to get myself a sandwich, eat it and watch some football while OCAD was ‘creating’. Other projects may take only a matter of seconds. The bar graphs help us keep track of the status of the project. Sometimes on big ones it will seem as if nothing is happening. But it is, believe me.
- 19. Then the contour detail appears, merged in OCAD with the detail from Open Street Map. Do we have a map? Not hardly. Look for the next additions, also from NOAA.
- 20. In the first, this gray screen and its ‘shadows’ create an enhanced awareness of topographic relief and helps the mapper see details that don’t always show up in air photos and in the contour lines. Can you spot here what are likely. . . • Streams? • Trails? • Knolls? • Depressions? • Embankments? They can all be added to the map even in draft form thus potentially saving the field workers many hours of work. Hill Shading
- 21. The second is this aerial image of the area, fairly high resolution and definitely geo- referenced so the image fits nicely in behind the map. What will we do with it? See the next slide. Aerial Imagery
- 22. With the aerial image in background we can fill in many important details such as buildings and clearings With the hill shading in background we get a very handy way to capture detail such as trails and streams. Even the slightest impression of a trail –even an old one- will show up in the hill shading. In New England the hill shading is a reliable way to identify the location of stone walls deep in the forest.
- 23. Part 4:Using Global Heatmap
- 24. + = Map pre Strava Strava Heatmap of Area (to be put in background and traced over) Map After Strava Tracings After signing in to Strava and zeroing in on our target area (a different scout camp)
- 25. Starting a new orienteering map used to take months, even years, to get underway. There were the permissions, getting the air photos, engaging a photogrammetry company, and waiting for the delivery. Now thanks to the development of LiDAR technology, departments in agencies such as NOAA and the USGS and computer programs such as OCAD this process for the orienteering club has been cut from months to minutes. Addition of information from aerial images and the Strava Heatmap help us create a better map. Does that get us a completed orienteering map? Not quite! There is still the indispensable field checking, trimming and ‘detailing’ the map. But it is a great start. The extra detail available from LiDAR and the other programs will save the field checker countless hours on the job and the orienteering club probably many dollars of expense. A pause to look back then forward
- 26. A Few Words About OCAD OCAD is NOT in any way sponsoring or financially supporting this production. I just believe in the product and the ease it provides the beginning mapper. OCAD is not a single product. They have options to meet our every need. Check them out . . . . . OCAD prices are in Swiss Francs (Today 1 CHF is about $1.08 USD https://www.ocad.com/en/ OCAD also has a short term free trial edition
- 27. Now we have the Draft Map: Detail has been copied from the Hill Shading and Aerial Imagery. It is now ready for field checking either directly to OCAD on a tablet or on paper covered with a sheet of mylar or tracing paper placed on a ‘mapping board’ then later transferred manually to the computer. Our preferred method is a hybrid method. Relying heavily on a GPS watch, important notes are taken on the mapping board.
- 28. We would like to give you a look at the final map but it is still a ‘work in progress’. How long did it take to start the map, order from NOAA and get the contour detail on to the map? About two hours, including the time to get that sandwich. The extra tracing? Another hour or so. Checking some detail with Google Street View? Less than an hour. It took longer to create this slide presentation which I hope has been helpful for you. Gord Hunter Suncoast Orienteering With thanks for advice to Kevin Heywood of GAOC, Dr. Kirk Waters of NOAA, Gian Reto- Schad of OCAD and Will Carman of GAOC whose Facebook post got this whole thing started.