Lab 6

For lab 6, we were supposed to download elevation data from the USGS and turn it into four different types of maps. We had the freedom to choose the location we wanted to map. I decided to make a map of part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. My map goes from the area around Mammoth (in the northwest corner) to Bishop (in the southeast corner). The large valley on the eastern border of the map is the top of the Owens valley. Towards the southwest corner is Lake Thomas Edison, and on the middle of the north edge of the map is Lake Crowley. The Sierra runs diagonally across the southwest half of the map. Mount Morgan is the tallest peak on the map at 13, 758 ft.

The extent information of the area is:

Top: 37.6802777771

Left: -119.151388889

Right: -118.302222222

Bottom: 37.2333333326

The coordinate system used is: GCS North American 1983

This is a shaded relief model of the area. It's comprised of two layers, the bottom layer being a relief map using colors to represent elevation. The top layer is a hill shade map, which is essentially what the area were to look like if there were a sun shining on it creating shadows behind hills and lighting up slopes. In this case, it's as if the sun were above the northwest corner of the map. When these two layers are combined, it makes the terrain pop out so that it's easy to tell what are mountains and what are valleys.

This is a slope map, which shows how steep a slope is at any point. So the green areas are very flat, while the red areas are very steep.

This is an aspect map, which shows which direction a slope faces. For example, all the red on the map is north facing slope.

This is a 3D view of the area from the northwest, created using ArcScene.