Site Analysis

9anda1f, most welcome. I had posted many updates and photographs of the project before here on the forums, but never in such depth. From my understanding, expect to see the rest of the source document shared in articles over the coming weeks/months on the front page.

I'll be here to answer any questions, as long as I can continue signing into PRI (I was given a lot of problems a couple of months ago, random computer errors).

 

I used Google Earth with "elevation exaggeration" set to 3 (max). I then moved the camera position to a point where I could see all of the relevant features and took a screen shot. Next, I tried to find the best topographic/contour map I could find for the area.

Using Inkscape, I created a new document with the screenshot from Google Earth on a "base" layer. I locked that layer and reduced its opacity to between 60-80%. Creating a new layer above it, I made a Bezier curve for each contour by referencing the contour map. Each curve can be easily manipulated in shape, color, stroke type, etc. Since each curve is its own object, you can duplicate the curve and move it to the next contour and make the necessary changes.

Keeping each concept for the graphic separate, you can then "save as" another kind of graphic you need, delete the layers that aren't applicable, and create a new analysis fairly quickly.

This works well for something that doesn't need to be precise, like a general overview of the land around the property. For the "landform" analysis, the contour lines are still suggestive. Scale is something that matters. With a project of this size and scope, getting the contours "close" on analysis is good enough for choosing where to site water harvesting features. There are only so many logical places to put them given our design parameters. When the time comes for implementing the features, then it is desirable to have precision.