Technical Memorandum

Project: GISC9315D1: Feature Sources and Map Output

Client: Kelly Dell, Prepared by: Andrew Vsetula, B.A.

Niagara College

Subject: GISC9315 CAD and GIS Deliverable 2

Date: 23 March, 2018

1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this project was to use the AutoCAD program to build upon already learned skills.
For this project, a set of raster data needed to be connected to the AutoCAD program in a user
created drawing. This data then needed to be manipulated in ways which would allow the
creation of contours and connection to road data. The road data would then need to be edited
so that they would appear in clearly defined formats and so that labels could be generated
properly. The purpose of this deliverable was to enrich the user’s experience with connecting to
raster images and connecting to features. Additional purposes included the stylizing of relevant
features as well as creation of map books.

2.0 Background

The data featured in this deliverable was based in Redding California, USA. This data featured a
surface raster image as well as several major roads which in their raw format lack symbols and
labels for users not familiar with the area. Additionally, the surface raster lacks colour and shape
formats which make the surface and elevations difficult to interpret. These parameters will be
addressed for the final deliverable submission as a demonstration of the newly learned skills in
AutoCAD.

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3.0 Study Area

The study area featured for this deliverable in based on Redding, California. The raster surface
will be exaggerated and reformatted with colours to match the real life colours found on the
surface.

Figure 1: Study area features Redding CA (Google Maps, 2005)

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4.0 Methodology
To begin this project, first a new drawing was created called “VsetulaGISC9315D2” and
the raster image from the data folder was connected to the drawing. The raster from the
raw data can be seen in Figure 1 below. Once in the drawing, the raster was assigned the
DEM theme to give it realistic surface properties. Figure 1 below shows the resulting
hillshaded image in the center, the colour theme chosen makes the surface much easier
to interpret. Once the proper colour theme was assigned, a vertical exaggeration was
applied to make the hillshade easier to see. The raster with a vertical exaggeration can be
viewed in figure 1 below on the right, however the effects of the vertical exaggeration are
more prominent in a 3D view. Figure 4 shows this 3D view for the vertical exaggeration of
5.

Figure 2: Raster Imagery from left to right: initial raster, raster display using DEM theme, raster after vertical
exaggeration applied

One the raster had been established with the proper colour theme and vertical exaggeration.
Contour lines were created for slope changes. The contour interval was set to 100 feet, and a
major contour for every 4th as per the terms of reference. The resulting contour lines can be seen
in Figure 1 below. Once the contour lines were established, the roads layer was connected to the
raster and draped over the image. Once the roads were added, the style parameters needed to
be adjusted so that specific roads could be highlighted and that certain roads would be labelled.
The roads to be labelled were set at 0 to 3000, meaning that they would only be visible at a

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certain map scale. The draped roads and effects of the labelling parameters at a scale of 0 to
3000 can be viewed in Appendix C: Additional Images.

Figure 3: Raster contour lines

Figure 4: 3D view of the vertically exaggerated raster surface showing elevation differences

Now that all of the required files have been added to AutoCAD and parameters have been
adjusted as per the terms of reference, the final layout and map book was generated. First the
layout was created using layout tools in AutoCAD. Several 3D views were added to the layout to
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ensure clear visibility and understanding of the exaggerated surface. Additionally, the roads and
contour lines were draped over the 3D image so that they could be seen in the final layout. Each
of the map properties including a scale bar, north arrow, legend, title, description, and logo were
added to the layout within AutoCAD, a final version of the exported map can be found in
Appendix A: Final Map Layout. Once the final layout was created, a map book was established
within AutoCAD.
Once the final layout was created and exported, the map book was generated using the “Map
Book” tool in the program. This tool offered numerous options for creating a map book of the
imagery. Each of the map layers were selected to be featured in the map book, and the area was
manually defined by the user. The map book extents covered that of the land surface extent and
ignored extra roads which had no surface background. It took several attempts to generate a
properly formatted map book in order to ensure that the parameters set would meet the
requirements of the final deliverable. Table 2 shows each of the additional parameters which
needed to be adjusted to create the final map book, the Figure 5 below also shows the procedure
of creating the map book using the tools in AutoCAD.

Figure 5: Map book creation procedure

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4.0 Parameters

The tables below summarize the important parameters used to stylize features and create a map book
from the layers.

Road Style and Them Parameters

Style "From" and
"To" Settings Thematic Rules Type Style
ST_TYPE = 'FWY' OR ST_TYPE = 'ART'
OR ST_TYPE = 'HWY' OR ST_TYPE =
3000 to Infinity 'COL' Line
ST_TYPE = 'LOCAL' OR ST_TYPE = 'PVT
ROAD' OR ST_TYPE = 'ART' OR
ST_TYPE = 'HWY' OR ST_TYPE =
0 to 3000 'FWY' OR ST_TYPE = 'COL' Line
Table 1: Stylization parameters

Map Book Parameters

Parameters of the map book settings adjusted to meet requirements of this deliverable
VsetulaReddingCAMapBoo
Source Map Display Map Book Name: k
Map Book Template -
Sheet Template Settings: Sheet Template: 8.5x11 Classic.dwt
Scale Factor: 1500
Tiling Scheme By Area Select Area to Tile (Area specified manually
(all layers added
Key Layers to selection)
Table 2: Map book parameter settings

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5.0 Findings

5.1 Issues:

Fewer issues were encountered during the completion of this deliverable, however some minor
issues were still present. Selection of the parameters regarding vertical elevation and symbol
themes to achieve the best results was challenging but AutoCAD offered many options for these
settings.
Creating the map book proved to be a large challenge in setting the parameters. This was mainly
because this deliverable introduced the first use of a map book by the user. This program offered
many options and settings for the parameters used. It was difficult however to determine which
settings and parameters to use to make a properly formatted map book. Overall the map book
creator was effective at summarizing the contents of the imagery into a series of formatted
pages.
Although the layout tool function significantly better for this project compared to deliverable 1,
there were still some difficulties in creating and editing the legend using layout tools. Some other
formatting options also proved to be difficult to implement, especially when creating a layout
with the map book. In the end a satisfactory map layout was developed from the raster imagery
and map book created.

5.2 Conclusions:

Upon completion of this deliverable, the raster images have all been adjusted from their original
formats to be more visually appealing, as well as to provide more information on elevation using
contours. In addition the roads layer has been adjusted to be more distinct and labels have been
properly added to the map. Each of the final map layouts and map books shows these
adjustments as examples of this procedure. Upon completing the assessment of the Redding
California area, the skills in connecting to rasters, stylizing images, connecting to features and
creating map books have been learned and demonstrated through this technical memorandum.

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Bibliography
Google Maps. (2005, February 8). Retrieved from https://www.google.ca/maps

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Appendices
Appendix A: Final Map Layout

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Appendix B: Map Book

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Appendix C: Additional Images

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