10-25-2014, 08:01 AM
When lava first started making it's way towards Pahoa there was a lot of discussion here about the topographic features on HVO's lava flow update maps and where to get clear versions of the underlying topography (verses the blurry version HVO publishes). After HVO added the blue lines to represent the path of the steepest decent, and thus accurately predicted the flow's path, that discussion moved on to more pressing matters.
For those that have a continuing interest in the USGS topographic maps there is this page:
http://bigislandmappingproject.com/pahoa.html
that has a clear topographic map of the Pahoa area and links to the original quadrangles on the USGS website. There's also a, albeit brief, discussion about the topo maps, the different one's used by different agencies, and their history.
I personally love maps though I am amazed at what is happening now that they are for the most part from an all digital source. The new versions have many advantages I am sure, but to date the quality of the information when compared to what the USGS produced in the past, is amazingly poor. I imagine in digital form there are a lot more possible applications for the information, and one can hope that the detail will improve, but for the time being it's nice to have access to the older versions of the maps.
For those that have a continuing interest in the USGS topographic maps there is this page:
http://bigislandmappingproject.com/pahoa.html
that has a clear topographic map of the Pahoa area and links to the original quadrangles on the USGS website. There's also a, albeit brief, discussion about the topo maps, the different one's used by different agencies, and their history.
I personally love maps though I am amazed at what is happening now that they are for the most part from an all digital source. The new versions have many advantages I am sure, but to date the quality of the information when compared to what the USGS produced in the past, is amazingly poor. I imagine in digital form there are a lot more possible applications for the information, and one can hope that the detail will improve, but for the time being it's nice to have access to the older versions of the maps.