Hello all, I'm pretty thrilled to have found this board. I currently work in GIS, however I've just recently started getting into the process of creating maps. My main interest is in creating topographic maps of the back-country.
I've been trying to distill a ton of loosely-connected information on the net in order to understand this process better. I want to start creating maps using a certain workflow, using the particular tools I already have. Those tools are: Global Mapper, QGIS, Inkscape, Photoshop.
Most info that I find centers around ArcMap, various plugins, and Illustrator. I don't have those and probably won't in the very near future. So using the tools above, what is a good course of action for creating a map (something along the lines of USGS quads in character)?
Currently I am processing NED data into hill/slope shades and contours in Global Mapper. I might further process the rasters in Photoshop. My hangup is getting Global Mapper to export everything at the same size/aspect/resolution so that it overlays correctly and accurately in Photoshop/Inkscape without needing to re-size things. I'm brand new to Inkscape and vector drawing, so getting the vectors on top of the rasters is a challenge. Should I be building the map up in Photoshop, or Inkscape?
From Global Mapper, what format should I be exporting the vectors as? I've tried PDFs but it seems clunky with lots of weird/irrelevant options to choose. Is there something better? SVG?
How should I be processing hydro data... when I export the lakes and streams from NHD sources, I don't feel that they 100% match what actually exists. Are some of those streams theoretical drainage or intermittent, or should they be referenced with aerial photos, etc.? Same might be said of landcover data.
I know my questions might seem a bit random, but if anyone could clarify anything at all, that'd be super helpful. I mainly just want to make sure I'm going in the right direction with these particular tools. If you'd do something differently, I'd love to know why. Thank you!
أكثر...
I've been trying to distill a ton of loosely-connected information on the net in order to understand this process better. I want to start creating maps using a certain workflow, using the particular tools I already have. Those tools are: Global Mapper, QGIS, Inkscape, Photoshop.
Most info that I find centers around ArcMap, various plugins, and Illustrator. I don't have those and probably won't in the very near future. So using the tools above, what is a good course of action for creating a map (something along the lines of USGS quads in character)?
Currently I am processing NED data into hill/slope shades and contours in Global Mapper. I might further process the rasters in Photoshop. My hangup is getting Global Mapper to export everything at the same size/aspect/resolution so that it overlays correctly and accurately in Photoshop/Inkscape without needing to re-size things. I'm brand new to Inkscape and vector drawing, so getting the vectors on top of the rasters is a challenge. Should I be building the map up in Photoshop, or Inkscape?
From Global Mapper, what format should I be exporting the vectors as? I've tried PDFs but it seems clunky with lots of weird/irrelevant options to choose. Is there something better? SVG?
How should I be processing hydro data... when I export the lakes and streams from NHD sources, I don't feel that they 100% match what actually exists. Are some of those streams theoretical drainage or intermittent, or should they be referenced with aerial photos, etc.? Same might be said of landcover data.
I know my questions might seem a bit random, but if anyone could clarify anything at all, that'd be super helpful. I mainly just want to make sure I'm going in the right direction with these particular tools. If you'd do something differently, I'd love to know why. Thank you!
أكثر...