Adding a hillshade terrain to your basemap can give the map reader incredible amounts of information about the surface of the earth. But it’s also a mechanism for adding visual charm and interest to a map! With emotional resonance and technical merit bound up together in such a way, how can you possibly resist that urge that calls out eventually to every map maker…
..Step into the world of terrain representation. Fall into the unspeakable pleasures of casting shade that is richer and more tantalizing than that which defaults provide. Emerge years later simultaneously knowing more and less about the nature of cartographic relief…
Here is a technique that uses a combination of traditional hillshade and curvature to create a terrain visualization that might look a bit hand-drawn. Because when we hand-draw hillshades we’re using our mind’s perception of the feel of a place; not just a prescriptive replication of illumination, but also a thematic sense for what’s there.
Here’s a closer look:
Here it is blended with imagery:
Here’s how you can assemble the same fun vintage hillshade, without all the graphite getting on your hands…
0:00 Scintillating introduction
0:28 What is curvature?
0:55 A cheat-sheet for those in a hurry
1:24 What’s it like? It’s a lot like Texture Shading
1:55 A demonstration in ArcGIS Pro using a sample DEM
5:23 The backstory
6:33 How to blend imagery into the hillshade
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Enjoy! Get lost in the infinite combinations of surface parameters and blending options. But be warned: relief representation is a tender trap and you may well find yourself fully engulfed in the art. Is that so bad though?
Happy Hillshading! Love, John