3D Maps

Gallery of 3D maps

Sometimes called panoramas or birds-eye views, 3D maps show landscapes from high above and at an oblique angle. Park visitors generally find 3D maps more engaging and easier to understand than traditional maps. 3D maps come in a variety of forms and can be good choices for presenting park interpretive information.

RELATED LINKS :

Solid Terrain Models »

Animated Maps »

Interactive Maps »

MORE 3D MAP EXAMPLES:

Earth Science Map – Badlands National Park »
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Panorama – Grand Canyon National Park »
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Panorama – Haleakala National Park »
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Panorama – Hawaii Volcanoes National Park »
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Panorama – Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park »
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Battlefield Map – Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, W.Va.

Civil War action 145 years ago comes to life in this wayside exhibit map that emphasizes the influence of terrain on battlefield strategy. The use of pictorial flags, troops, and cannons rather than conventional military map symbols permits visitors to more easily connect with the past.

Historic Site – Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona

Large-scale maps of historical and cultural sites are well suited to three-dimensional depiction – buildings, walkways, and trees appear on the map much as they do to visitors walking the grounds. To establish geographic context, this map shows the small ranch site as an enlarged area set within the wide-open spaces of the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona. The maps, created with 3D software, have a photo-realistic appearance.

Earth Science – Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Jenny Lake fills a basin scooped out by Cascade Canyon Glacier, which melted at the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. By manipulating a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the modern landscape in 3D software, we can show what the ancient glacier probably looked like.

Globe – Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Because most visitors travel great distances to get to remote Glacier Bay, locating the park on a partial globe helps relate it to more familiar places. The foreground shows the Inside Passage route to Glacier Bay from the Lower 48 while the background reveals Russia, home to the first Europeans to explore the region. The globe consists of land cover and bathymetry map data draped on a sphere in 3D software.

Trail Map – Mt. Rainier National Park

With only a quick glance at a 3D trailhead map, hikers get an understandable image of the terrain that lies ahead on the trail, including steep sections that might prove difficult. The recommended orientation of trailhead maps is from a theoretical point above the trailhead in a bird’s-eye view looking toward the end of the trail.

Step-by-step example of trailhead map design (PowerPoint)

Panorama - Hawaii Volvanoes National Park

Digitally made in the classical style, panoramas provide sweeping overviews of park landscapes and feature natural textures and even clouds. This panorama of Hawaii Volcanoes, created for an 8-foot-wide display in the visitor center, shows Kilauea Caldera on the southeast flank of Mauna Loa, second highest peak on the Big Island.

Panorama – Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Zoomify version)