Geographical Field Technics

Assignment 1: Terrain Survey

For this assignment we were to create our own terrain and come up with a coordinate system to survey this terrain. Using our coordinate system we were to collect data points (x,y,z) and put them into a spreadsheet so we could later model them on the computer. We were given a planter box to create our landscape. We could either use snow or dirt to create the landscape. Our group decided to use snow. The landscape had to have examples of cliffs, valleys, mountains and ridges.

We decided to come up with a Cartesian coordinate system to survey our box. The dimensions of the box was 100cm x 230cm. It was decided to use 10cm x 10cm grid cells. Our origin was in the southwest corner of the box. The sea level was the top of the planter box sides. However due to the fact that there was little snow most of our features are below sea level. To compensate for this we will lower the sea level at a later date. We used twin to create a grid over the box and collected points at each of the vertices.

This exercise forced us to come up with our own coordinate system and to problem solve to overcome some of the road bumps we encountered. This assignment also help to prove that we don’t not need to always use GPS points to create a map. All one really needs is an x,y coordinate point and a z if you want elevation. One of the road bumps our group encountered was our use of snow. We built up our landscape and decided to record it the next day. However, when we came back a significant amount had melted. But thankfully most of your main features were still there. There was also the problem of using the 10cm x 10cm grid because as it turned out the grid was too coarse to capture some of our features. So to solve this problem we went back through and collected data points not on the vertices that would show our features. The pictures below show our progress through the exercise.