Tomorrow is my exit seminar and thesis defense, so this seems like the right time to post something fun. I've recently started reading Daniel Huffman's blog, Something About Maps. He's a cartographer whose maps are a perfect balance of educational, data-driven, and artful. He recently made some maps using a typewriter-- my personal favorite is… Continue reading Typewriter Map and Exit Seminar
Author: matcham2.0
Types of Curvature
Curvature, the second derivative of elevation, is a very useful terrain derivative. It describes how convex or concave a surface is, which helps predict soil moisture (among other things). The basic terrain analysis feature in SAGA calculates plan curvature and profile curvature. Profile curvature goes with the direction of maximum slope, which helps estimate acceleration… Continue reading Types of Curvature
Table of Figures
Back to the Word example document-- this time to make a table of figures. I've already captioned photos here, so this is pretty quick and easy. If you're looking for more Word formatting tips, check out the permanent page added to the main menu-- Writing. It starts really similarly to making a Table of Contents.… Continue reading Table of Figures
Getting Category Colors into QGIS from ColorBrewer
Are you as obsessed with ColorBrewer as I am? I am making a map where I color Ohio counties based on region, and used ColorBrewer to pick colors. The first thing I did was go to ColorBrewer and find a qualitative color set for 5 categories of data. Next I used the HEX codes provided… Continue reading Getting Category Colors into QGIS from ColorBrewer
Wind Barbs and Hourly Weather Forecasts
Are you an hourly weather graph enthusiast like me? I'm not convinced it actually makes me more prepared, but I love to know the precise forecast at the time of my commutes or planned bike rides. Usually I get my forecast from the National Weather Service. After putting in your zip code or City/State, you… Continue reading Wind Barbs and Hourly Weather Forecasts
Defining Common Terrain Derivatives
Last month I shared some ways to calculate terrain derivatives in SAGA, focusing on the Basic Terrain Analysis function. Today I'm going to give you a quick overview of what each derivative means and some of its potential uses. Let's start with the most intuitive ones. Slope is how fast elevation is changing. A higher… Continue reading Defining Common Terrain Derivatives
Navigation Pane
Two quick things I forgot to add last week when I wrote about tables of contents (catch up on the previous post here). First, you can use the "Heading 2" or "Heading 3" buttons to make subheadings. Subheadings can have different text formatting from the main headings and can be indented on the table of… Continue reading Navigation Pane
