Relief Map Help

[bcskiier]

Hi, I'm completely new to 3D printing and want to explore this technology as it may help my goal of creating relief maps. I want to create very detailed relief maps of local mountains so that hikers, climbers, back country skiers can see exactly what the terrain of a particular mountain is like before going on an expedition. All the existing products I've been able to find seem to have very low 'relief'... ie. 2-4 inches of depth. I'd like to see much greater exaggeration of elevation and an detailed map overlay on the model (vacuum thermoforming printed terrain sounds interesting). I imagine the footprint of the finished piece should be 2ft x 3ft minimum... possibly to lay flat under glass (not necessarily hung on a wall). The key is that it can be used for route planning, more than just something cool to look at.

Again, I know very little about 3D printing and the possibilities it provides in relation to the goal. Any information on the subject from those in the know is appreciated!

Cheers.

[LambdaFF]

Hi,
I have tried a site called maptostl or something like it (it was featured in this forum some time ago) and it worked so-so : there were just too many holes in the shape to make it readily usable. It required a lot of postprocessing to have a workable file and manipulating STLs is not my forte.

I have found another website that gave "maps" as pictures where the height was coded in greyscale : that way you can use a lithograph code to make a STL. Better but still not great if you want to keept scales precisely and so on.

Overall, not much that is done easily and you end up with a map without the north indication, without even a town name and having a scale is not exactly easy. So ... either a lot of work to be done on your part or a lot more automation / programming to do.

[awerby]

That would be large for 3D printing, but easy for CNC routing. There are already people offering relief maps like that for sale - here's one: http://precisionpeaks.com/we-scale-mountains/

The main trick is to translate from the USGS DEM format to STL or another more common file format that the CAM or slicer software can use.

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com