okansas.blogspot.com
Occassional thoughts about orienteering


Saturday, August 01, 2009

Mapping near the center of the Earth

 



I took the first tentative steps toward a new mapping project. I put together 1 meter Lidar contours and the Lidar intensity images. I may use this as a base map. The Google Earth image of the area is below.



The area is a small section of the West Campus of the University of Kansas. It has a mix of built up area, forest, sports fields and parking areas.

My plan is to create a 1:5,000 sprint map which can be extended to the north and west as time permits.

The Google Earth image and the Lidar intensity image clearly show some new construction - new roads and parking lots. I'll have to poke around and see if I can find some newer photos that include more of the new construction.

In comparing the Lidar and the photo I noticed an L-shaped section of forest that shows up as missing contours on the Lidar contours (on the west side of the map, right in the middle). I'm guessing the area is very dense cedars.

West Campus Trivia

West Campus is the place I first orienteered, way back in 1980. The event was on a black and white map. We started near the pond and made a clockwise loop. The course went a bit north of the map bit that I've posted above. I can't remember the control locations, but I remember the general shape of the course.

Google Earth Trivia

Did you know that Lawrence is the center of Google Earth? Open Google Earth and zoom in and you'll end up at a point about 1 km north of the map I posted above. That's the same apartment complex that Peggy lived at when she first studied at KU.

Back to okansas.blogspot.com.

posted by Michael | 4:24 PM

5 comments


Comments:
Lawrence is only the center of the earth on the Windows version of Google Earth, by the way. On the Mac, the center of the earth is in Chanute!
 
My guess is that this is variable and dependent to the country in which you initially installed GE. i.e. The centre of the USA in your case. I suspect that GE looks up your regional settings and hovers your startup location dependent on this, as mine ends up over 'The middle of nowhere, South Africa'.
 
"It's intentional," said Megan Quinn, a Google spokeswoman, when asked about Lawrence's prominent location in the middle of the map.
 
"West Campus is the place I first orienteered, way back in 1980."

West Campus is also the first place I orienteered, way back in 2003.
 
1980 - only found a window O event in the fall and a skills day in April. Dave Linthicum and I would have been busy working on the three-day US team trials for the following spring at Camp Naish and Leavenworth.
 
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