Mason Harp's Maps

I decided for my last lab, lab #5, I would make a map using MICRODEM. I chose MICRODEM due to its simplicity and user interface. After first using the software in lab #3, i felt comfortable using it again to explore more of its capabilities. Options such as, hovering over an icon to see its purpose, or right clicking each map to change its properties made the GIS program easy to use.

I chose to pick an area near my hometown, the San Francisco Bay Area as my map. I chose this location due to my prior knowledge of the area. I am also interested in learning more about the topography around the Bay Area. The TIFF file I used was downloaded via usgs.gov. All three images had the sea level option checked in order to highlight the distinct elevation of the San Francisco Bay. In all three images you can see the bay rising above the "ocean level" near the north part of the Bay.

The first map uploaded is the map of the San Francisco Bay Area showing only the water level along with the green/blue shading option selected. By selecting these options, it is very helpful to detect the flat areas around the Bay Area.

The second map uploaded is the map of the San Francisco Bay Area showing the extreme highs on the DEM. The white areas indicate the so called "ridges." The program most likely sets a value indicating whether the mountain is considred a ridge. This maps help exaggerate ridges to quickly find them. This can be important when needing to place an antenna in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The third map uploaded is the map of the San Francisco Bay Area showing the elevation of the area in greyscale reversed merged with the chloropleth map. I believe this map is useful when building major highways. The lowest elevation color, purple, is a good guideline when designing roads because it would help not wasting time building roads up and down in elevation.

After using MICRODEM a second time for a lab, I realized there may be other GIS programs that can effeciently portray the same ideas presented in a better way. Although some issues occurred, the maps created can be used for multiple purposes. After taking Geography 128, I have learned many computer cartography techniques. I will continue to explore in multiple GIS programs to help better my understanding of map making.