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Terrain shading enhancement using natural illumination over DEM
Digital elevation model function to represent the topographic surface of the earth. Digital elevation model can be acquired through various techniques, such as photogrammetry, lidar, land surveying, etc. The most common DEM collections are ALOS produced by JAXA and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) produced by USGS. DEM spatial resolution that is freely accessible is 30 meters.
DEM contains the information of height. It is a great means to visualize earth’s surface in 3D. Hillshade is the feature that creates a shaded relief. Hillshade is taken from the sun’s relative position into account. Unfortunately, hillshade is so rigid, it only shows the white area as the area that is exposed to sun and the black area that is not exposed to sunlight. The hillshade feature does not count dynamic shadow and light path into account. Shadow is essential to give the impression of depth. The default hillshade symbology (left figure) can be compared with the result of using shadow depth (right figure).
Visualization may be a crucial factor to attract viewers. This article will discuss a simple way to transform your 2D geological map to 3D using QGIS.
Here are things to prepare
Required data:
