2022-02-13, 04:11 PM
(2022-02-12, 11:00 PM)DAW89446 Wrote: I use National Geographic TOPO! software on my computer, with mapsets for California, Nevada and Utah. It is no longer produced.
From what I deduce from your post, I believe the same can be achieved in TOPO!. You can view the raw topographic map as seen on the paper map, turn on shading that gives you more of a sense of contour and slope, turn on roads and street overlays, and you can turn on a 3D view of the map for a similar sensation that GE gives; though you are looking at the map in 3D, not imagery of the location as does GE.
No, this is something different. What you refer to is called "shaded relief" and is a good visualization tool. I don't know what data drives it. Slope angle shading is derived from something called Digital Elevation Models and is much more precise. It shows slopes as color coded and can often pick out a cliff band that is otherwise just noise with respect to the spacing of the topo lines.
Because you can move around in GE, that certainly does help to bring out relief, so I often refer to it as well. For example, I've just verified an actual section of the Skidoo pipeline - multiple sections, not the single section I found years ago next to an old road - but it's on a very steep slope and I probably cannot access it. I know how steep the slope is from the shading.
The default in GE is I think 2x vertical exaggeration. This makes things sometimes look hairier than they are. Just last night I was looking at my photos of the ridge where that pipeline section can be found, and the ridge looks more intense in GE than I read it to be in my photos. Anyway, I navigate by topos, and that's what I carry on my GPS and GPS app on my phone.
But all these are useful research tools for sure.
(2022-02-13, 12:28 AM)Daymoth Wrote: We use the caltopo slope angle specially in winter to see avalanche risk areas.
In summer its useful but less so since the terrain can be super solid and steep or look flat and be a jumble of boulders.
Yes, I was reading about such use just the other day. Yes there is no guarantee that a yellow or uncolored slope will be a piece of cake, but looking at satellite images can often give hints, at least where there is no vegetation, of what the ground looks like as well, so I often use in combination.