Ah those 80s movies that made us squirm with the real threat of automation run amok but then heave a sigh of relief when the kid teaches the computer that the only way to win a global conflict is to not get into one. Those war rooms are always the best. Dark places with military brass shouting orders to techs who clack away at keyboards. Walls of maps shining with a nostalgic phosphorescent glow. Here’s how you can make maps that look like they’d be plausible as set dressing in a film like that. They’re terribly fun to make and surprisingly quick to crank out.
All in ArcGIS Pro. It’s a simple effect and might be just the ticket for that map project you are thinking about right now!
Thanks for the great summary. Many people think the world is round (vs the Oblate Spheroid it really is). I found this 3D print file from NASA to be a great way to show people why it is so hard to get an accurate Z value. (3D model here)
Thank you for this article. We have been using D2M with a Phantom4 Drone (without RTK – however with Ground Control Points) – and elevation always turned out to be perfect. Now we bought a DJI Mavic 3 Enterprise RTK Drone (using SAPOS GNSS correction service in Germany) in conjuction with GNSS surveyed ground control points and we have terrible trouble regarding elevation in D2M (Sitescan seems to do a lot better) For one thing we don’t find the M3E in the pulldown list of supported drones/cameras. Are we looking at the right place? or is just missing? Any help… Read more »