A Mosaic of Space, Time, and Order—The Portland, Oregon, Super Region

Blending many different layers of georeferenced spatial information together produced this artistic composite image. Starting in the west, a 10-meter digital elevation model was blended with vector tax lot data from the county assessor’s files. Landsat 30-meter imagery was combined with classified land-cover data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2000-era Coastal Change Analysis Program. These pixels were mixed with zoning designations from local zoning ordinances, and the Public Lands Survey data from 1852 was overlaid to provide a historic reference.

Contours at 100 feet were derived from Metro Data Resource Center’s Regional Land Information System and fused into the image along with highway vectors from the Oregon and Washington departments of transportation. The mixture of all these layers creates a mosaic of the greater Portland, Oregon, area. When viewed together, this visual information helps define an abstract understanding of the world.