ESRI’s ArcInfo® 8.0.1 was henceforth employed in the grid interpolation using a utility accessible through the “Arc” command shell termed, TOPOGRID.  TOPOGRID provides algorithms which are sensitive to important parameters for the processing of data (see Appendix B), embracing many of the technical demands in designing an extraction process around the individual dataset and thus producing a well-calculated surface that is visually realistic and naturally accurate.  The final output is floating-point data, which essentially presents continuous raster cell values calculated to 5 decimal places, thus illustrating the generated surface in fine detail and yielding a very natural appeal.  The final images were interpolated to a 2-meter lateral resolution, and subsequent hillshading calculations brought out many of the landscape’s signature large-scale elements, as well as smaller-scale elements such as the interweaving hydrologic features amongst the hanging cirque, lake formations and inter-valley stream channel. Developing the Visual Product    The imagery developed in TOPOGRID was imported back into ArcView for cartographical manipulation.  Hillshade calculations were performed off of the grid data.  The convention of placing the light source at 45° altitude, 315° azimuth was adopted to facilitate proper interpretation of the surface expression.  Placing the light source in a more natural altitudinal and azimuthal orientation for the locality imparted an optical inversion of the topography, causing lows and highs to be confused for one another.  The illusion may be purely of acquaintance; one is more accustomed to viewing shaded reliefs with northwesterly illumination.  Nevertheless, it was not the model’s intention to shatter fundamental cartographic norms, so realism was at this point sacrificed in pursuit of accurate communication of the landscape.

Brief 3