Off-Line Hill Shade Maps: How To, Part 1

How I make off-line hill shade maps using the USGS national map viewer web application.

After months of trying various combinations, it looks like it is possible to make an accurate hill shade map for off-line use. I used the OsmAnd app. on Android which seems to offer some great map management tools. I was using this hill shade map as an overlay on top of the off-line vector map in the app. This way, I can adjust the transparency of the hill shade map to show details from the vector map, if required. The hill shade map could also be used as the base map or as an underlay to another base map.

I stress on the importance of getting accurate coordinates in this process. This hill shade data is inherently very accurate (~ 1 meter/pixel). All you can do is make it less accurate unless you are diligent in getting accurate latitude/longitude extents to enter when calibrating the image. Having a map that is not properly calibrated is no good when you're trying to find some faint trail out in the bush, BTDT!

OsmAnd - Create Offline Raster & Vector Maps:
https://osmand.net/docs/technical/map-creation/create-offline-maps-yourself

USGS National Map Viewer w/ Hill Shade layers:
https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/

If you're looking for hill shade maps of Washington State, use the Washington DNR Lidar Portal instead:
https://lidarportal.dnr.wa.gov/
Awesome resource. If you know any other states that offer similar tools, post up in the comment section below.

This first video covers the first 2 steps of setting up the USGS hill shade map and performing a screen capture.
The next video will cover calibrating the image from the first 2 steps. This could also be the entry point for a map/image obtained from another means, thus why it's a separate video.
The video after that will cover moving that newly created map to a mobile device for off-line use.

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#USGS #HillShade #osmand