Seamless Maps US only

July 20, 2003 9:56 PM

I can see your house from up hereWelcome the SDDS Raster Extraction Website. I was downloading some DEMs for grayscale to height mapping when I stumbled across this lovely project. This is really a lot of fun.
posted by Grod (20 comments total)

Is the USGS still building the database? I don't see any topographical information for the entire state of Kansas.

[this is good]
posted by eddydamascene at 10:56 PM on July 20, 2003

You know, just the other day, I was saying to myself, "Gee, I wish there were a Web site that provided custom-generated digital products based on user specified geographic extents and user specified datasets."
posted by jjg at 11:03 PM on July 20, 2003

why not just have the word "duh" shaved into your hair, jjg?
posted by quonsar at 11:31 PM on July 20, 2003

I don't see any topographical information for the entire state of Kansas.

That's because Kansas doesn't have topography. Duh.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:23 AM on July 21, 2003

hmm...is it just me or do they have an international viewer that only shows stuff for the US?
posted by juv3nal at 12:23 AM on July 21, 2003

hmm...is it just me or do they have an international viewer that only shows stuff for the US?

Yeah, that was a letdown.

Select cities have high resolution (1 ft) orthoimagery available -- the option appears once you zoom in below the state level. Portland was imaged in May 2002, and the car patterns in my office parking lot sort of look like 4-5pm on a weekday. And by weekday, I mean totally sweet.
ROU_Xenophobe, no duh.
posted by eddydamascene at 1:27 AM on July 21, 2003

I'm too busy to go and check... are there huge black areas around places like Roswell?
posted by twine42 at 2:38 AM on July 21, 2003

We're hopefully going to see a few really good open-source flight simulator scenery packages before too long. At least I certainly hope so...
posted by tss at 5:12 AM on July 21, 2003

State of Kansas Topological Map:

______________________
|     \       /      |
|     |      /       |
|    /      /        |
______________________

Scale: Map is on Kansas wide. Lines indicate 50' change of elevation.

Advanced course. Create topo map of Colorado, using ASCII characters.
posted by eriko at 5:18 AM on July 21, 2003

Hey, Kansas only *seems* that flat. It's actually kinda tilted, as the highest point on the MO border is ~1000ft, and the lowest point on the CO border is ~4000 ft.
[/pedantic]

They haven't done St. Louis yet....that, or I don't know what data layer to turn on.
posted by notsnot at 5:55 AM on July 21, 2003

hmm...is it just me or do they have an international viewer that only shows stuff for the US?

juv3nal, if you're anywhere in France, Spain, Brussels or Amsterdam, check out the excellent Mappy . Here you can overlay aerial photos and maps (and fade them with a slider), lots of fun.
posted by swordfishtrombones at 5:59 AM on July 21, 2003

oops, that link should have been: Mappy
posted by swordfishtrombones at 6:00 AM on July 21, 2003

more for the US:

Terrafly, by my alma mater, where you really can see your house

and at SimCity4 they have a Terrain Generator that gives accurate topographical maps that you can import into the game. Unfortunately, you can only use the generator if you have SimCity4.
posted by evening at 6:32 AM on July 21, 2003

notsnot: but they have done St. Louis; it's one of the few cities there! I found my old house in Webster. The switches for the high-res scenery are down on the bottom right--you have to scroll for a while before you get to them.
posted by tss at 7:42 AM on July 21, 2003

Awesome! I looked at DC. My house is there, as is the building I work in, very clear and detailed. Interestingly, though, the hi-res view of the Capitol and Congressional office buildings are pixellated-out.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:08 AM on July 21, 2003

awesome. terrafly showed me the lay of the land around a remote 2 track i recently explored. the trail twists and winds in such a way that it was impossible for me to reckon approximately where it dead ends. very cool!
posted by quonsar at 9:59 AM on July 21, 2003

twine42: Well, Roswell isn't a classified place, so you can view that on MapQuest. But Groom Lake and the Nevada Test Site are pixelated at higher resolutions -- either there's not enough data yet (possible, since the project is still underway), or it's currently as good as it's gonna get, which means you can't make out any detail past a couple of miles per inch.

The truth is out there! (But not in here.)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:53 AM on July 21, 2003

hmm...is it just me or do they have an international viewer that only shows stuff for the US?

Yeah, that was a letdown.

What were you expecting from the *US* Geological Survey? Iceland?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 11:49 AM on July 21, 2003

What were you expecting from the *US* Geological Survey? Iceland?

Iraq.
posted by eddydamascene at 1:03 PM on July 21, 2003

tss,

whoops. pardon my dumb ass. This is badass - I can tell my neighbor was playing hooky from work that day. And, I note, that was the week that I had all the cardboard boxes in the back of my truck.

[this is cool]
posted by notsnot at 9:28 PM on July 21, 2003