This is the Grand Canyon flipped inside out.
Some of my earliest memories of the place had to do with the trippy feeling of my eyes and mind trying to make sense of the scale. I had seen many mountain ranges and vistas, including some on the way, but the vast negative space played havoc with my perception of magnitude. I’ve felt it a few times since, but never like that first Grand Canyon overlook.
I wondered, then, if flipping the Grand Canyon into a Grand Mountain might in some way help me make sense of its scale. I’m much more accustomed to seeing the mass of something rather than the massive void of something. So, here’s what that looks like.
There is no exaggeration of height. This is how tall it would be, if it were up instead of down. The overview map has some vertical exaggeration, though, to help with context at that scale.
Here is a how-to, if you are interested in turning your world upside-down. Or you can just watch me walk through it here in this video…
Happy Mapping! John
Man, I was just thinking about using the Grand Canyon inverted as terrain for my custom map. John always beats you to the coolest map ideas!