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A Royal Connection to a Distant Landscape

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About the map

With King Charles III’s coronation approaching, we felt inspired to create a map in honour of the event. So, we researched what regions, monuments and other objects have been named after him. As soon as we saw the Prince Charles Mountain range of Antarctica listed, we started wondering what a mountain range in Antarctica really looks like? 

Using ArcGIS Pro, we created a map so that you can explore this remote region without having to don your coat and mittens.

Why it works

This 3D diorama captures the white-capped mountains and surrounding landscape, including recreating the textures of fallen snow and ice walls.

Blending various layers together and experimenting with gradients and picture fills let us build a snowy terrain, complete with an ice sheet dwelling underneath. A matching inset lets readers know where they are in the world, while maintaining the frozen theme.

Important Steps

  • 1.

    Georeferencing the raster layer helps you know what you’re mapping, which is important if you plan on labelling your features. Use distinct features for control points when cross-checking your map.

  • 2.

    Apply Layer Blending over the World Imagery basemap to enhance your visualisation. The Overlay, Luminosity and Soft Light modes were our favourites to brighten and colour the map.

  • 3.

    Texture can be hard to recreate but heading into a feature’s Symbology > Layers > Picture Fill lets you upload and customise an image file for added surface texture realism. 

  • 4.

    Create a rectangular base to extrude within the scene. Picture Fill came in handy again so that viewers can see more than just the tip of the iceberg... or in this case, mountains.

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Requirements

  • Analysis

    Following John Nelson’s lead, we used Extract by Mask to have a DEM layer exclusively focusing on our area of interest. Converting it to a 3D scene and enhancing the Ground Layer’s Vertical Exaggeration stretched the mountain peaks to make them more prominent.

  • Time

    The longest part of creating this map was processing the mask extraction over such a large area. Styling the map also took a few tries before settling on something that was both appealing and clear.

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Tips and tricks

  • Colour

    Because the mountain range was quite small, using a bright colour to border the region can help viewers locate it.

  • Call outs

    Using call outs is an easy way to effectively label topographic features.

  • Fonts

    The Gradient Fill gives our text an icy sheen. Increasing letter spacing and tilt made the letters appear perched on the ridges or lakes themselves. 

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Links & Resources

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Eve Selbie, Junior Customer Success Consultant

Map Author

Eve Selbie

Eve is a Junior Customer Success Consultant at Esri UK. When they aren’t making maps or writing about the process, you can find them baking bread, wild swimming or wandering Edinburgh on their never-ending perfect coffee quest.

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