Relief Map of Canada Generator

thingiverse

There are three key components here:\nA perl script that uses the API at http://geogratis.gc.ca to retrieve relief data about the Earth's surface in Canada and generate a STL file for 3D printing.\nThe STL file generated by the script for all of Canada in exaggerated scale relief (50x vertical scale).\nThe STL file generated by the script for Rogers Pass in even-scale relief. The pass is an interesting geological feature in the Selkirk mountain range in British Columbia, with historical significance for Canada.\nLicense\nThe API data is available under the Open Government License – Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada). Since OGLC allows sub-licensing, I believe it's compatible with CC Attribution. If you're from the Government of Canada and have concerns about this, please let me know in the comments.\nRogersPass.stl and Canada.stl contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.\nIf you use the script for your own purposes, be aware that the script is under CC Attribution, but the data from the API is under OGLC.\nRunning the script\nReliefMap.pl lat=51.2833459 lon=-117.5254215 scale=100000 resolution=1 vfactor=1 x=200 y=200 radius=150 cache=1 file=RogersPass.stl\nand \nReliefMap.pl lat=63 lon=-90 scale=27000000 resolution=1 vfactor=50 x=200 y=200 radius=107 cache=1 file=Canada.stl\nThe script produces ASCII STL, which takes up a lot of disk space. If you plan to publish STL files, run them through Slic3r first and export the smaller binary STL.\nMeaning of the parameters\nlat The latitude of the centre point of the map.\nlon The longitude of the centre point of the map.\nscale The inverse scale of the map (so Rogers Pass is mapped at 1:100,000 and Canada is mapped at 1:2,700,000).\nresolution The minimum distance in millimeters on the print bed between two elevation measurements.\nvfactor The scale factor in the z direction as compared to the x/y direction. So the mountains in the Rogers Pass map are even scale, but the relief in the map of Canada is 50 times the x/y scale.\nx and y are the rectangular size of the print.\nradius is the bounding circle. Due to the way that triangles are drawn, the map actually sneaks out around the bounding circle. If you have a circular print surface, reduce the radius by one '''resolution''' distance to really bound the map. The map is bound by the x, y, and radius parameters. The map of Canada shows this.\ncache A boolean that stores the lat/lon values from the API so that subsequent runs of the same map are much faster and don't waste tax dollars.\nfile The file name of the STL file generated by the script.\nMap projection\nThe map does not use a cartesian projection, which is unusual in any map. Although the bottom of the map is flat because it has to rest on the print bed, the surface of the Earth is mostly round, and the land is the gnarly bits that stick out.\nThe script puts an imaginary ice cream cone inside the Earth, with the pointy part at the centre of the earth and the rim of the cone in a circle around the central latitude and longitude of the map. The surface of the Earth is the ice cream. It's mostly round, and the land is the gnarly bits that stick out.\nThe script cuts off the ice cream at the rim of the cone and you print it on your printer.\nUpdates\nJuly 24, 2016\nFixed all defects in drawing triangles. The resulting STL does not have any errors when loaded in Slic3r.\nSwitched from equirectangular projection to globe projection.\nAdded a circular bound because a square bound with a globe projection can use a lot of plastic if the map is big.\nAdded the ability to cache lat/lon values between runs to give the servers at Natural Resources Canada a little bit of a break.\nPrint Settings\nPrinter Brand: \n RepRap\n \n Printer: \n Prusa i3 ZRIB\n \n Rafts: \n No\n \n Supports: \n No\n \n Resolution: \n 0.3 mm\n \n Infill: \n 20%\n \n Notes: \n When you have finished printing, North is in the direction of increasing Y. So on a RepRap, the southernmost boundary is facing you.\nConsider four solid fill layers on top to make sure that you get good support from the infill. These things take hours to print.