Used red/pink/brown stippling with black line + dot to indicate boundary on rim in Vulcans Throne SW and Whitmore Point SE. Then went downstream to west end, and put stippling to show turkey wattle and crossing on river guide map 50.
Then tried to use rotate to place "national park boundary" in right orientation. Huge blow-up of size, which indicates what happened on Fern Glen. Need to re-do that, and more important to insert text by copying from elsewhere, without worrying about orientation or using text tool, both of which add substantially to the size.
All is now complete in clean-up and repair.
Need river edge boundary, with appropriate wording in river.
In some cases, may need to add GCNP name up above.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
GCNP river boundary 15
Renamed quads: first river guide pages, then four-letter quad name abbreviation, then map number, as in: 33-34 whtr 36113b1.tif. In this fashion, they are ordered along the river from upstream start of GCNP/Hualapai boundary.
Files sent to me were on the order of 10 mb. Mine are 150 mb. Perhaps change from indexed color to RGB mode?
Also put on land boundary for NP on whitmore point SE, with pink stippling. May need to heavy it up, and repeat black line on top.
Files sent to me were on the order of 10 mb. Mine are 150 mb. Perhaps change from indexed color to RGB mode?
Also put on land boundary for NP on whitmore point SE, with pink stippling. May need to heavy it up, and repeat black line on top.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
GCNP river boundary 14: Gateway Rapids, Vulcans Throne
The last of the clean-up.
Gateway, like Fern Glen, was produced by the USGS after the 1975, so had the correct boundary. So I removed the black center line, CO, and boundary words. Repaired the dark blue river edge, contours, river water (still doesnt lay down as nicely as I would wish), and the south bank boundary line. Then added + along the Park boundary.
Vulcans T is an old, old map, and has a stippled boundary on the north bank from the days of the second Monument. However, removing this using the Selective Brush (A) followed by Enhance0->adjust color->replace color (with new color background set by light =100%) was a snap for the red and pink. The browns that were left matched the land contours, and so only a little clean-up was needed. Then the pencil & magic eraser for the center line and CO. There was a black boundary on the north side, which had to come out, and "indian" was wrongly placed. "Reservation Boundary" was ok; the only time. Then the water edge and river water needed to be repaired.
So unless I have missed something, the new south shore/river edge boundary is the major thing that needs adding, along with appropriate labels. A stippled land boundary for the Park is required on two maps.
Gateway, like Fern Glen, was produced by the USGS after the 1975, so had the correct boundary. So I removed the black center line, CO, and boundary words. Repaired the dark blue river edge, contours, river water (still doesnt lay down as nicely as I would wish), and the south bank boundary line. Then added + along the Park boundary.
Vulcans T is an old, old map, and has a stippled boundary on the north bank from the days of the second Monument. However, removing this using the Selective Brush (A) followed by Enhance0->adjust color->replace color (with new color background set by light =100%) was a snap for the red and pink. The browns that were left matched the land contours, and so only a little clean-up was needed. Then the pencil & magic eraser for the center line and CO. There was a black boundary on the north side, which had to come out, and "indian" was wrongly placed. "Reservation Boundary" was ok; the only time. Then the water edge and river water needed to be repaired.
So unless I have missed something, the new south shore/river edge boundary is the major thing that needs adding, along with appropriate labels. A stippled land boundary for the Park is required on two maps.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
GCNP river boundary 13: Fern Glen Canyon
Goal today was to prepare the map at the upstream start of the Hualapai Reservation to see what looks good for the Park boundary. It is a small piece of river, with the boundary correctly drawn on the south shore.
So I had only to remove the center line& boundary labels, and then repair the river and shore.
I then played around with some representations to show the Park & its boundary. To emphasize the boundary, I tried + style crosses, using lasso and paste from selection. Worked pretty well. Was not able to get the pattern to work, but in any case, I think placing the crosses, a slightly delicate and tedious job (110 miles, about 9 crosses/mile), does bring out the boundary better.
Also tried to make Text tool work. Hard to identify typefaces, so just chose the simple verdana.
It is a fairly cranky tool for me so far if I tried to place or move text different from start. Used custom rotate to put label along river shore. Also worked GCNP label up above rim.
Layers for text were useful, since I threw out one attempt.
Sent samples to publishers.
Friday, February 19, 2010
GCNP river boundary 12: Whitmore Point SE, Vulcans Throne SW, Whitmore Rapids
The challenge was to remove the incorrect land boundary running east from Parashant Canyon. I used the magic eraser to take out the black lines. Need to get star in right place. It also lightened the dark brown, which was ok since it was not the contour.
Then (after reading the manual and trying a few things), I used Selection Brush A to select the whole boundary, and went through a series of Enhance->adjust color->replace color to choose the red and pink, setting the replacement color to be background. Nice tool, it shows what is going to happen before you ok it. A layer that I thought I needed earlier got in the way, but after deleting it, fine. Had to repair a line using click, then shift+click. Finally, repaired dark brown contours, However, the stippling has light brown in it and in-between contours are a mess. End result is acceptable at the guide magnification, though further clean-up would be good. Fortunately, only this quad is affected because the ones to its east are either missing the boundary or correct. Odd.
Almost the shortest piece of river, VT went very quickly, although again, the switch in mode was necessary to have the defined brush work. I dont know how to lay down multiple color in one pass, so have to go over with dark water and light water. As on some others quads, there is black here too. Idiosyncratic USGS. Perhaps their cartographers were all prima donnas, never deigning to use each other's choices.
Whitmore Rapids was also fairly short, but with pink stippling to be removed, along with labels for park & res & indefinite, ctr line, etc. Magic eraser for letters, pencil for removal, and then once again trouble with adding water due to interaction of mode & whatever. Something I dont get.
M. eraser only works in Indexed color, as does adding defined brush stroke. But then convert to RGB at end.
Then (after reading the manual and trying a few things), I used Selection Brush A to select the whole boundary, and went through a series of Enhance->adjust color->replace color to choose the red and pink, setting the replacement color to be background. Nice tool, it shows what is going to happen before you ok it. A layer that I thought I needed earlier got in the way, but after deleting it, fine. Had to repair a line using click, then shift+click. Finally, repaired dark brown contours, However, the stippling has light brown in it and in-between contours are a mess. End result is acceptable at the guide magnification, though further clean-up would be good. Fortunately, only this quad is affected because the ones to its east are either missing the boundary or correct. Odd.
Almost the shortest piece of river, VT went very quickly, although again, the switch in mode was necessary to have the defined brush work. I dont know how to lay down multiple color in one pass, so have to go over with dark water and light water. As on some others quads, there is black here too. Idiosyncratic USGS. Perhaps their cartographers were all prima donnas, never deigning to use each other's choices.
Whitmore Rapids was also fairly short, but with pink stippling to be removed, along with labels for park & res & indefinite, ctr line, etc. Magic eraser for letters, pencil for removal, and then once again trouble with adding water due to interaction of mode & whatever. Something I dont get.
M. eraser only works in Indexed color, as does adding defined brush stroke. But then convert to RGB at end.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
GCNP river boundary 11: Whitmore Point SE
The most complicated so far, and perhaps the longest stretch of river.
The one wrinkle I do not understand the ramifications of is the discovery that the RGB color mode caused the problem with the defined brush not showing up. When I used Indexed Color, then it did work, with the mode choices being threshhold and dissolve. Then when I saved the map as a TIFF file, PSE insisted on making it a "copy", although I could save it as a PSD, too. More to investigate.
The biggest problem is the multi-color stippling: red, pink, brown, black, blue, lying on the river, but often also across the shore. So the first step was to use the pencil as an eraser with the background color. The lettering was removed by magic eraser (which is what required going to Indexed Color), although it leaves little fragments of gray. It was necessary to keep changing pencil sizes to get all the garbage off. Then the river edge had to be repaired, although some black was left, since I didnt want to lose the edge completely before repairing it. There were few contours to fix on the shore, although there was some dotted brown (sand, big rocks?) lost.
I removed the center line, some of the county designations, the reservation and park labels that were on the river, and the label "indefinite" up on the north boundary.
I then restored the river water, single color. It is hard to get an exactly uniform wash of pixels, but at the proper scale, it doesnt seem to matter. I noticed that there are no rapids shown on this quad, unlike some others.
The job left to do is to fix the northern, land boundary. I need to remove the multi-color stippling, which will be new because I dont want to lose the contours underneath. The black line has to go too, which is easy, but again requires repair of the contours.
The one wrinkle I do not understand the ramifications of is the discovery that the RGB color mode caused the problem with the defined brush not showing up. When I used Indexed Color, then it did work, with the mode choices being threshhold and dissolve. Then when I saved the map as a TIFF file, PSE insisted on making it a "copy", although I could save it as a PSD, too. More to investigate.
The biggest problem is the multi-color stippling: red, pink, brown, black, blue, lying on the river, but often also across the shore. So the first step was to use the pencil as an eraser with the background color. The lettering was removed by magic eraser (which is what required going to Indexed Color), although it leaves little fragments of gray. It was necessary to keep changing pencil sizes to get all the garbage off. Then the river edge had to be repaired, although some black was left, since I didnt want to lose the edge completely before repairing it. There were few contours to fix on the shore, although there was some dotted brown (sand, big rocks?) lost.
I removed the center line, some of the county designations, the reservation and park labels that were on the river, and the label "indefinite" up on the north boundary.
I then restored the river water, single color. It is hard to get an exactly uniform wash of pixels, but at the proper scale, it doesnt seem to matter. I noticed that there are no rapids shown on this quad, unlike some others.
The job left to do is to fix the northern, land boundary. I need to remove the multi-color stippling, which will be new because I dont want to lose the contours underneath. The black line has to go too, which is easy, but again requires repair of the contours.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
GCNP river boundary 10; north boundary, past & future
The principal goal of this project has been to bring the river guide maps to a consistent, correct presentation of the boundary of Grand Canyon National Park along the Hualapai Reservation, in line with the GCNP Enlargement Act of 1975. However, some of the maps include parts of the northern boundary that runs east of the Shivwits, across Parashant & Whitmore Canyons, along the Canyon rim to where it turns north following the old GCNM (2) boundary on the Uinkaret Plateau. So I am also taking a look at that.
A side note: I am relieved that I started at the Grand Wash Cliffs and worked upstream. Each map has presented new, different, and usually more complicated "learning experiences" with Photoshop Elements 8. Having finished the USGS quads upstream through Granite Park, I am now approaching the big bend where the canyon trends northeast/southwest. It is in this section that the northern -- a land -- boundary shows up on River Guide maps.
Three quads are involved, and each one treats the land boundary differently.
Whitmore Point SE, starting (moving upstream) on River Guide map 36 has a piece of the boundary, although with "(INDEFINITE)" along it. I am not sure if this means unsurveyed, or unfenced, or the map-maker was ill-informed, but I consider this term misleading. However, RG map 35 is the real problem. From mile 198 (east of Parashant Canyon) to mile 194 (where this quad ends), the boundary has slipped down from the rim (the 3800'-4000' level). We need to pull its socks up so that it marches in step with what is on map 35 (and 33-4, see below).
The problem is obvious on the full quad: To the west rim of Parashant, all is ok, but crossing Parashant, the cartographer must have gotten tired, and couldnt make it all the way to the actual rim. Fixing that will be the challenge. However, then it will match the Whitmore Rapids quad on RG maps 34 &33, where it has once again climbed up to the main rim.
The in-between quad, Vulcans Throne SW, RG maps 35 & 34, somewhat surprisingly has no Park boundary shown at all. Three maps in a row, each different.
A bit of history about this boundary. As the legislation history from the 1910's makes clear, protecting the (local) interests is what occupies our legislators. So it was, in the late 1960's to 1974, when the GCNP Act of 1975 was cobbled together.
After the failure of the attempt to authorize Grand Canyon dam construction in 1968, several different bills were introduced, both from Park advocates like Saylor and Case, and erstwhile dam proponents like Goldwater, who was now ready to love the Grand Canyon again. Among the differences were how they answered the questions of how far downstream to go and how much of the Lake Mead NRA to include. This will be covered in more detail when I get to that part of the Canyon's political story.
In that period, Senator Alan Bible was chair of the Senate subcommittee on Parks. Bible was from Nevada. Bible was a hearty partisan of the LMNRA, and being a Nevadan, a defender of grazing interests. At a point (1971 may be right, possibly earlier), Bible and then Sup't Bean of LMNRA were consulting each other. Believe it or not, Bean eanestly advocated that every bit of the NRA deserved to be NRA; a Park just wasnt suitable. (Turf protection with NPS is no surprise, and indeed, at that same time, the sup't of Glen Canyon NRA was protesting taking any of HIS land for the Park. "Lees Ferry isnt in the Grand Canyon.", sniffed he.)
What Bible did, from his strategic position as chair, was to insist that no grazing interests were to be affected. And the result of that was that NPS map-drawers checked to see where the grazing allotments were in the Whitmore-Parashant area, and draw a boundary that made sure the allotments were excluded. Which meant, in effect, along the rim, which in this stretch is just above the river, reducing the Park to that scrawny neck that remains a testament to cow-power.
What made the result even more difficult to deal with is that the maps used in the 1973-4 fight over the Park boundary had no detail at all. Here is a sample from the map that went with the Act as finally approved (the area below "Boundary on Canyon Rim"):
Since not everyone knew of the origin of the boundary, mistakes were made in drawing maps and making policy after 1975. However, over the years, things have settled down. One reason is that LMNRA got religion and moved to end grazing. Patience in this case has been on the Canyon's side. At the end of the Clinton adminstration, Interior Secretary Babbitt pushed through the proclamation of the so-called Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument, which was laid over without eliminating all of the LMNRA that is Canyon territory. Although more than half of said Monument has nothing to do with the Canyon (much less Parashant), we can continue to hope that the so-far-successful Monument-conversion process will once again lead to the addition of appropriate land to GCNP.
Patience. Or maybe I mean persistence.
A side note: I am relieved that I started at the Grand Wash Cliffs and worked upstream. Each map has presented new, different, and usually more complicated "learning experiences" with Photoshop Elements 8. Having finished the USGS quads upstream through Granite Park, I am now approaching the big bend where the canyon trends northeast/southwest. It is in this section that the northern -- a land -- boundary shows up on River Guide maps.
Three quads are involved, and each one treats the land boundary differently.
Whitmore Point SE, starting (moving upstream) on River Guide map 36 has a piece of the boundary, although with "(INDEFINITE)" along it. I am not sure if this means unsurveyed, or unfenced, or the map-maker was ill-informed, but I consider this term misleading. However, RG map 35 is the real problem. From mile 198 (east of Parashant Canyon) to mile 194 (where this quad ends), the boundary has slipped down from the rim (the 3800'-4000' level). We need to pull its socks up so that it marches in step with what is on map 35 (and 33-4, see below).
The problem is obvious on the full quad: To the west rim of Parashant, all is ok, but crossing Parashant, the cartographer must have gotten tired, and couldnt make it all the way to the actual rim. Fixing that will be the challenge. However, then it will match the Whitmore Rapids quad on RG maps 34 &33, where it has once again climbed up to the main rim.
The in-between quad, Vulcans Throne SW, RG maps 35 & 34, somewhat surprisingly has no Park boundary shown at all. Three maps in a row, each different.
A bit of history about this boundary. As the legislation history from the 1910's makes clear, protecting the (local) interests is what occupies our legislators. So it was, in the late 1960's to 1974, when the GCNP Act of 1975 was cobbled together.
After the failure of the attempt to authorize Grand Canyon dam construction in 1968, several different bills were introduced, both from Park advocates like Saylor and Case, and erstwhile dam proponents like Goldwater, who was now ready to love the Grand Canyon again. Among the differences were how they answered the questions of how far downstream to go and how much of the Lake Mead NRA to include. This will be covered in more detail when I get to that part of the Canyon's political story.
In that period, Senator Alan Bible was chair of the Senate subcommittee on Parks. Bible was from Nevada. Bible was a hearty partisan of the LMNRA, and being a Nevadan, a defender of grazing interests. At a point (1971 may be right, possibly earlier), Bible and then Sup't Bean of LMNRA were consulting each other. Believe it or not, Bean eanestly advocated that every bit of the NRA deserved to be NRA; a Park just wasnt suitable. (Turf protection with NPS is no surprise, and indeed, at that same time, the sup't of Glen Canyon NRA was protesting taking any of HIS land for the Park. "Lees Ferry isnt in the Grand Canyon.", sniffed he.)
What Bible did, from his strategic position as chair, was to insist that no grazing interests were to be affected. And the result of that was that NPS map-drawers checked to see where the grazing allotments were in the Whitmore-Parashant area, and draw a boundary that made sure the allotments were excluded. Which meant, in effect, along the rim, which in this stretch is just above the river, reducing the Park to that scrawny neck that remains a testament to cow-power.
What made the result even more difficult to deal with is that the maps used in the 1973-4 fight over the Park boundary had no detail at all. Here is a sample from the map that went with the Act as finally approved (the area below "Boundary on Canyon Rim"):
Since not everyone knew of the origin of the boundary, mistakes were made in drawing maps and making policy after 1975. However, over the years, things have settled down. One reason is that LMNRA got religion and moved to end grazing. Patience in this case has been on the Canyon's side. At the end of the Clinton adminstration, Interior Secretary Babbitt pushed through the proclamation of the so-called Grand Canyon - Parashant National Monument, which was laid over without eliminating all of the LMNRA that is Canyon territory. Although more than half of said Monument has nothing to do with the Canyon (much less Parashant), we can continue to hope that the so-far-successful Monument-conversion process will once again lead to the addition of appropriate land to GCNP.
Patience. Or maybe I mean persistence.
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