Apple Pie Hill in 3d

[Boyd]

Am looking at ways to present LIDAR in 3d, and this is just a very small baby step in that direction. This link will display a 3d model of Apple Pie Hill that you can "explore" in your web browser. It will take a little time to load, so just wait until the image appears. If it doesn't appear, try re-loading the page. I did some quick testing on both my Mac and PC and it seems to work OK. On the Mac, I get a warning that it is using a lot of memory, but that doesn't seem to affect anything for me. Might not work well on older computers or machines without much RAM (but my Mac and Windows computers are 7 years old FWIW). It didn't work on my iPhone 6s+

https://online.boydsmaps.com/3d/

Hold the left mouse button as you drag to rotate and tilt the image. Hold the right mouse button to move left-right-up-down as your drag. Zoom with the mouse scroll wheel.

Here's a screenshot to give you an idea of what it *should* look like.

What do you think? There are a lot of different ways to accomplish this kind of thing, and I have only begun to explore them. This one would not work well with larger maps, but there are other possibilities for that.

 

[popeofthepines]

Boyd, would this be looking at it with the tower on the right at the upper part? I figure the road is coming up from the back on the left. It is a cool look.

 

[Boyd]

When it opens, you are looking towards the North. If you drag straight down while holding the left mouse button, you will see a top view with North at the top of the screen.

Compare with this: https://online.boydsmaps.com/#17/39.80732/-74.58929/lidarHD

I think it's cool when put your point of view right in the road - look how much lower it is than the surrounding terrain. Looks like snowdrifts. Or maybe NASA imagery from Jupiter's moons?

 

[Boyd]

Learning a lot more about this, finally figured out how to map imagery onto the 3d surface. Completely re-writing the code and should have a new version with more options to play with in a few days. In the meantime, here are are few screenshots.

 

[popeofthepines]

That is really cool Boyd. And that one definitely looks like snowdrifts or something from a planet. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[manumuskin]

Its definitely a volcano.I"m surprised Dr. White would live that close to it.

 

[Boyd]

Finally making some progress after lots of frustration for the past couple days. An all-new version is online now, with lots of controls to fiddle with. Takes a little longer to load now, and you might need to clear your browser cache if it doesn't work. Let me know if this still works for you.

I've mapped aerial imagery onto the 3d surface, and added controls in the top right corner of the screen. The link is still the same:

https://online.boydsmaps.com/3d/

The controls allow you to set the "sun" intensity and position to reveal different features in three dimensions.

Will be adding even more features with different locations and different imagery choices in the coming days. Enjoy!

 

[bobpbx]

Boyd, is this something you can easily replicate for any spot? I think I found what is called a "perched wetland", and I'd like to see if I'm right. Your Lidar shows that I may be, but 3d would better show it. It's only about 20 yards in diameter, so maybe too finite to pick it up?

It is at 39.80713 74.50359

 

[Boyd]

It takes a little while to make these maps, there are several steps involved and then some tweaking to get everything to look right. Sorry, I can't do requests at this point. This old piney needs to be free to wander where he chooses.

Have been working on some others though, but still need to write the code to allow map switching. Through experimentation, I've found that about 700 meters x 700 meters is the largest area I can cover with 1-meter LIDAR. When I tried a 1km x 1km map, it kept crashing. I can cover about 2.4km x 2.4km with the 3-meter LIDAR however.

Here are a couple that are coming soon. This one uses the 3-meter LIDAR and 2007 aerials.

And this is another 1-meter example. I used the 2015 aerials this time, which matches the date on the LIDAR (so ruts in the aerials match the terrain). But the 2015 aerials really aren't as clear as 2007 or 2012.

I also made one of Washington, just to see how the technique would work in a flat area. It isn't as interesting as the others, but it does show the cellar holes.

And I had a bit of an inspiration about that... What's special about cellar holes? They're below the surface! And when you're working in three dimensions, you can go underground. They really stand out in the flat terrain.

Will have these and others online in the next few days.

 

[bobpbx]

Okay, no problem.

 

[bobpbx]

That one of Brookville is cool. Did you remember my post from many years ago about that terrain drop off?

 

[Boyd]

Yes, I did, and thought that would make it a good subject!

 

[Boyd]

 

[manumuskin]

So much for going off grid in a secret underground Barrens shelter. Boyd would now find me and He'd have a pic on the internet of me cooking up cowboy stew in my hole in paradise.

 

[Gibby]

Boyd, what is the current resolution per a pixel with the imagery? I recently saw an image from a spy satellite that utilized 10cm per a pixel resolution and it was amazing!

 

[Boyd]

The resolution of these images is shown in the titles. "1-meter" LIDAR has a resolution of one meter (39 inches) per pixel. The 3-meter LIDAR is 3 meters (about 10 feet) per pixel. As I mentioned above, there's a limit to how much detail I can use in these 3d models without causing a problem, and that appears to be about 720x720 pixels - regardless of the resolution of the imagery. So, lower resolution imagery can cover a larger area with less detail. Now, I'm using a 2012 computer with Intel HD-4000 graphics, which is showing its age. But I think it's a good target, so that a large number of people can use the site.

As for 10-centimeter per pixel satellite imagery, that really has nothing to do with what I'm doing here. Those are just pictures. I'm using 3d scans of the terrain (LIDAR) and wrapping pictures onto them to create a realistic 3d model. That requires a lot more work from your computer to render than simple two-dimensional map tiles.

The only "satellite imagery" at boydsmaps is from HERE.com, everything else was shot from airplanes. There are lots of problems with clouds on the HERE imagery - for example: https://online.boydsmaps.com/#15/39.6477/-74.6513/hereSat

But if you want to see some very nice high resolution imagery, take a short trip to Philadelphia. PASDA has 3-inch per pixel imagery. That beats your spy satellite, which is "only" 4-inches per pixel. https://online.boydsmaps.com/#21/39.95582/-75.15079/phl2016