To:
COL Gary K. “Doc” Rogers, PE, PhD
From:
Course:
CE 208X – Introduction to GIS
Subject:
Two and Three-Dimensional USGS Topographic Maps (50 States) via Delorme’s XMap6 GIS
Editor
T:\Civil Engineering\3 Non-Text Assignments\7 2-D & 3-D Topo Maps\2-D & 3-D Topo Maps
(03 24 15).doc
Text:
Delorme ”Topo” Software
Goals:
Introduction to a 50-state database of USGS Digital Elevation Model (DEM) topographic map
information for the purpose of map resource utilization, analysis, modeling in both two and three
dimensions.
Key Words: Modeling, analysis, design, demographics, map resources, topographic maps, writing skills,
instruction following ability, analysis, 2-D versus 3-D conceptualization, JPEG versus BITMAP
files, file size considerations, critical thinking, resolution, map symbols, bench mark, contour,
latitude, longitude, elevation, coordinates, contour interval, degrees, minutes, seconds, meta data,
digital raster graphics, pixel, digital elevation model, area, distance measuring, profiles, vertical
exaggeration, view angle, and sources of error.
Assigned:
03/24/15 Tuesday
Date Due:
3.5 weeks, 04/16/14 Thursday
HR:
HG:
Specify “Help Received”.
Specify “Help Given”.
.
Assignment:
 After re-booting your computer (good practice if you don’t want to lose data), start the
following software (from your desktop icon or from the Start/Programs/Delorme route):
Topo (from Delorme) Note: You may have to again add “base data” by linking to the “S”
drive.
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 Note: Insert images after the question & answer in this word document. That way, the
“artifact” will make a bit more sense to you and others. Text answers in a different font
and size …your choice. Different color optional.
 Zoom in or out so that you see the entire US in your 2-D right hand map screen. Draw a line
from the Pacific Ocean off the shore of San Francisco to the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of
Virginia, so that the line runs through the approximate location of Lexington, VA. Create a
profile of this line. Insert your map results here. Describe what you see in this cross country
profile. Anything surprise you? Explain. [Hint: Draw Tab w/ line tool, then use Profile Tab]
o
I found this pretty interesting when I ran the profile on it. I saw that the more West I went, the more elevation
there was. The land was in higher elevation than the rest of the country. Then I looked at the MidWest, and this
was very flat. This gave me a chuckle, because the BR’s that I talk to from that area always talk about how flat it
is, and it made me laugh when I saw it. The highest elevation that I saw was 10, 861.4 feet in elevation. I’m not
really sure about where this is, but it looks somewhere right before we hit the MidWest. I am really surprised by
the change in elevation across the country. The West is a lot higher than the East is. I knew there were lots of
mountains in the West, but not that steep of a change compared to Lexington. I also noticed it was over 2,000
miles across the country. I found this very cool, even though I thought it would be more. I’ve wanted to go on a
cross country trip, and now I know how many miles I’ll have to drive in order to do that. I also noticed something
called “Grade” when I would use the blue lines. I have no idea what this means. The highest “Grade” I saw was
74. I’m still puzzled by this. It also gave you the longitude and latitude of the points. I tried to find the 10,000
elevation, but couldn’t figure it out on the Topo Map. But, I googled it and found it was part of the Rocky
Mountains.
o
Fig 1. The line
 Find the Hoover Dam, which is northeast of Las Vegas (a.k.a. Lost Wages), Nevada. Center the
cross hairs on the right screen on top of the dam and try out the 3-D capabilities, in terms of
rotation, angular perspective, etc. Can you actually use this software to look over the edge of
the dam? Try it. Insert a 2-D and 3-D image of the dam here.
o I was able to actually look over the edge. The 3-D tools were a little confusing at first, but after messing with it for
less than five minutes it was very easy to figure how the 3-D capabilities worked. I loved changing the angular
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perspective. You could put your image on top of a mountain and look at the land. I also tried this with the Grand
Canyon, which was pretty cool. The image elow is the angular perspective of the dam. I could tell that it dropped
a lot by looking at the elevation lines, but then looking over the edge it was a massive drop. The 2D image is very
confusing to the average person. It looks like a flat ground unless you understand contour lines.
o
Fig 2. Dam
 Did you realize that to mitigate the terrorist threat on the dam itself, a new bridge was built
south of the dam? How far (ft) does this bridge have to span (e.g. edge of canyon to edge of
canyon) in feet? Use the software to measure. Research the current status of this bridge and
describe here. Any conceptual images available? Insert here.
o From my analysis, the bridge will have to span 1, 040 ft. in order to cross the canyon. The actual bridge is 1,900
ft. across. The bridge was completed in October of 2010. The bridge was made in light of the terrorist attacks of
2001. Vehicles were still allowed to cross over the Hoover Dam, but sometimes large vehicles such as trucks,
busses, etc. were inspected before being allowed to cross the bridge. Below is a picture of the construction of the
Hoover Dam Bridge. I noticed the amount of supporting cables that were used on order to hold the bridge up, and
then all of those cables were replaced. Below the construction of the Hoover Dam Bridge is an image of a
designer’s idea of what the Hoover Dam could look like in the future. The designers name is Yheu-Shen Chua,
and this will engage the visitors more by having water entering several containers and then exiting.
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
Fig 3. Bridge

Fig 4. Conceptual
waste of money
 Now, let’s travel to the Pacific and visit the big island of Hawaii. What is the shoreline
circumference (miles), of this island? Use the measure tool. What is the area in square miles
and also in acres? Insert a 2-D plan view of the map here, along with a 3-D view of just this
island. Can you make a 3-D view of all the islands? Insert here as well. Did you realize that
these islands are created via a “hot spot” in the center of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly
moving in a westerly direction, thereby continuing to create new islands, with the older ones
being gradually eroded?
o
I got the shoreline area to be 4,069. 01 square miles. In acres, the big island is 2603526.4 acres. As far as a 3D
view of all the islands, the best I was able to get is the picture below this one. It was hard to get the entire picture
in the screen and then still be able to see some sort of 3D. If I zoomed in on one island, you would be able to see
the change in elevation like the picture of the Hoover Dam. Getting the entire islands together make it looks like
it’s still the ocean. I knew that the Hawaiian Islands were made from a hot spot. They are created by two tectonic
plates pushing up against each other, forming the islands. I didn’t know that they were moving west, and then old
islands are disappearing. I never heard of that, and I never knew that new ones were formed.
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o
o
Fig 5. Island
Fig 6. Island.2
 How many miles of levees are required to channel the Mississippi through urban New Orleans
and the surrounding cities? Discuss. Insert a map here. Insert a profile that will help define
the levees in this low lying area. [Hint: Think about drawing a profile line through the urban
area, crisscrossing the river. Remember the river has levees are on both sides of the river.]
Did you know that the first levee was built in New Orleans in 1714 and was only 3’ tall?
o 133 miles of levees that are in desperate need of repair
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Fig 7. Levee
o
 Can you find the famous climbing wall at Yosemite National Park and determine the height?
[Hint: El Capitan]. Insert 2-D and 3-D maps here. Be careful that you found the right spot in
California, and that you give the actual height (e.g. top elevation minus bottom elevation).
o I believe I was able to find El Capitan. I didn’t know this existed, and after looking at both the 2D and 3D map, I
wouldn’t want to climb it. It looks like a straight climb, and I don’t like heights. I believe I found the right face of
the park. I used the Find tool in the toolbar at the bottom, and I came up with this answer. I tried my best to figure
out the height of El Capitan. I used the elevation at the bottom that seemed to start the straight face, sort of the
part that couldn’t be walked on, and found this elevation to be 4,277 ft. I then toop the top of the mountain, or
where I found to be the part that you no longer needed to climb and this was 7543 ft. I then did the top minus the
bottom, and came up with 3,266 ft. I did a little research; the true height of El Capitan is 7, 569 ft. I wasn’t too off.
I did some more research, and the Dawn Wall is roughly 3,000 ft. in elevation. I was a little off on bothe
measurements, but my eyes can’t get pinpoint elevations of the wall.
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o
Fig 8. Valley worlds
 You’ve escaped from Alcatraz (an island in San Francisco Bay, CA, USA). What direction
should you swim, and how far of a swim will you have? Insert a map here showing various
swimming options that you have to make your getaway and the distances thereon. Of course,
with the strong currents, cold temperatures, and presence of great white sharks, your
likelihood of survival is not great.
o Sharks In what is believed to be the first scientific confirmation of white sharks in San Francisco Bay,
researchers from Stanford University, the University of California-Davis and other organizations put
satellite and acoustic tags on 179 white sharks in Northern California waters from 2000 to 2008… five
swam underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in 2007 and 2008 and into bay waters. It isn't known exactly
where the sharks went once in the bay, only that their acoustic tags were detected by receivers anchored
to the bay floor between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.
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o
o
o
o
Fig 9. Tide out
Fig 10. Tide in
Distance to important points from the island.
 Blunt rock point 1.68 miles
 Fisherman’s Warf .965 miles

Lime point 2.95 miles
 Fort point 3.04 miles
These distances may make the Fisherman’s Warf look to be the most enticing option for the average Capone, but
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o
an experienced swimmer would see its problem. The strong currents found in the bay would sweep you well off of
your destination if you tried to cut through them. The most likely path would probably be lime point to the west of
the island. The strong currents would be taking you in that direction in an outward tide, so with a little effort you
can basically float towards the land while the water works.
The water temperature looks to be in the mid 60’s during the summer. At these temperatures the average person
can survive for about 2 hours without losing consciousness. This shows that the trip is survivable, as long as you
can swim at least 1 mile per hour with the ocean currents at your back.
 Locate your home or that of a relative, and identify with a map tool under the draw tab. Tell
me something about this area that you learned from this map that perhaps you did not know
before. Can you insert this 2-D map here, with the tag? Exaggerate the vertical and insert a
3-D image here as well.
Fig 11. The Daniels residence
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Fig 12. A 3 dimensional Daniels residence
o I was not aware of how my house actually sat on non-level ground.
 Locate another significant (to you) site within the 50 states and illustrate here. Perhaps you
can think of a site that shows well in 3-D? Perhaps it is a summer home, or a home of a
relative. Maybe you went on vacation someplace neat. Perhaps you have no imagination at all
and want to show the Bonneville Salt Flats (e.g. which is actually a pretty neat place but doesn’t
do much with 3-D unless you show the surrounding mountains). Insert the 2-D and 3-D map and
description here. [Ideas: Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Jackson Hole, Mt. St. Helens, Mt.
McKinley, Mt. Rushmore, Bingham Copper Mine, Panama Canal (just kidding … not within the 50
states, or did you think it was?]
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Fig 13.
River house and dock
My river house has always been a wet place making drainage and water management difficult. Using software
such as this water management would become much easier since it could be easily checked from above before
it was implemented.
The property does not show up on the GIS software as nicely as I would have thought. I believe this is due to
mapping error, since the elevation change is extreme, not gradual as depicted.
Fig 14. An
incorrect slope
 For each of the above figures that are inserted, add a Figure #, Title, and Reference at the
bottom of the figure. [Example: Figure 1. Grandmother Smith’s House. (Delorme, 2014) ]
Be sure and size the figures to work with the page in terms of uniform spacing, size, and
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format.
 Discuss what value a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) software package such as this may have in
terms of GIS and GPS utilization for you and you’re career.
o Water management is very important in construction work. Software such as this could be used
to determine sources and solutions to unsatisfactory water drainage.
 Add this as an artifact to your ePortfolio Database.
Designed by:
Last Modified:
COL Gary K. Rogers, PE, PhD
COL Gary K. Rogers, PE, PhD
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01/29/04
03/24/15