How to Make this 3D Diorama of the Straits of Mackinac

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

I've done a bit of thinking about these things and why they make our brains happy. Read about that here: www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/how-to-make-this-3d-diorama-of-the-straits-of-mackinac/

[@ivanmlai5665]

YOUR ABILITY TO CONCEIVE AND HOW TO TRANSMIT IT IS REALLY AMAZING. I AM A FAITHFUL FOLLOWER OF SUCH EXCELLENT CONTENT, GREETINGS FROM COLOMBIA!!!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thank you!

[@Lithium_82]

I love this channel. You really have a way of displaying the creative limits that you can push in arc.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thank you so much!

[@albertodiniz2543]

John, I write from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Thank you very much for all your content, I share your videos and maps and everyone who sees them is in love. Thanks a thousand times!!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thank you Alberto for your kind words! I sure appreciate the encouragement.

[@tonyjoffre2909]

Omg I came to your channel to ask a question and I'm been watching videos for 30 minutes.... Your a rabbit hole.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Hey, great!

[@JonathanPerez-ms4qs]

You definitely make me love GIS, arcgis and all cartografy world, cheers of a geological engineer from Colombia, I will do this when I have a arcgis pro license 🤞🏻

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

That’s very kind of you to say!

[@cadencechen1962]

Amazing as always!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thank you Cadence!

[@mlsauron]

I think I'll just quit watching movies and would spend my free time with the creativity of mr. John. I will definitely use some ideas right tomorrow.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Alright! Thanks!

[@geomaticadviser2788]

Greetings from Sydney! I enjoyed every moment of it! Thank you, John!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@geomaticadviser2788 thank you!

You’re an artist 😮!!! Thanks for sharing!! I loved it!!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Julieth!

[@galletachuma7625]

What a beautiful video. I have been focused on data analysis for quite some time now, and I have become very mechanical in everything I do, and I have forgotten how important the beauty that maps can give us. Greetings from Arequipa-Cayma

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@galletachuma7625 thank you for your encouragement and kind words! I’m so happy you are enjoying the videos. Let me know if there are topics you think would be cool

[@yjsfjjsnsjtsr]

Awesome work John. Thank you.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@MapWithPurpose]

John, you are a map magician! Trying out this technique today!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

wonderful! keep me posted

[@beamishjames]

That is insane... Can't wait to try it, thanks for the great vids!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Beamer!

[@aroldorocha1795]

Magnífic, master John! Thanks for inspire us...🖖

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thank you Aroldo!

[@adamjvogt]

Have you found a way to automate the tracing you do of the diagram at 9:23?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

You might like the workflow used by my colleague Craig McCabe here: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e9e13b5c33c54be79b55c771828760f8

[@Luxrayspirit]

This is such a cool tutorial but the little bit about dynamic text for the service layer credits is truly life changing, even if it's the least impressive looking trick in the video

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

That text used to drive me insane!

[@ceciliapalacio3642]

Sos un genio John, me encantan tus trabajos! Gracias por compartir.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

¡gracias por sus amables palabras! Tengo la suerte de haber encontrado una profesión tan divertida. te deseo lo mejor.

[@estonspain6314]

Very nice work, John!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Eston!

[@maxouph212]

Amazing! Good stuff. Thank you! I need to try this next to the Canadian Shield

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks Maxime! I’d love to see what you make if you try this.

[@asaadyahya184]

What an awesome cartography. Wizard

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Ha, thanks!

[@joefarah06]

Absolutely amazing

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@joefarah06 thanks Joe!

[@husiyuan930517]

Good stuff as always! The end-product you and I are producing using the same software is completely different in quality. Jealous of your mastery of GIS 🙂

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks! but it's all possible, and fun to find out ways of flexing Pro in unexpected ways.

[@Ahmedali_-qd9eg]

Cool, you are really maps artist.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Hey thank you!

[@davidfairchild8566]

This is awesome!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@Chiara-y9s]

Thanks as always for your amazing tutorials, John! You are such an inspiration! For some reason, when I add the imagery basemap, it goes far beyond my DEM unlike the one in yours. Why do you think this is/how can I avoid that?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks so much, Chiara! hmm, i think it's possible you are making a Global 3D scene, instead of a Local 3D scene. i've noticed that the Local 3D clips everything outside of its elevation source but the Global 3D will still show it. let me know if that's the case, either way.

[@alvarosalazar1156]

Hey John, I have run into your channel and is wonderful what you can do with ArcGis pro. Impressive! Thank you so much for sharing

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks much, Alvaro!

[@james.varghese]

This is so awesome! John, you are an amazing Cartographist 😊 I was wondering if there is any possibility to extend this scene and go up skywards and add fluffy 3d white clouds and blue sky effect...I was trying it out but not sure how to implement this imagination in Pro. Imaginations are running wild with your inspiring diorama maps 😅

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks James! yes, totally. if you find a cloud PNG graphic with a transparent background, you can drop it in the layout and position it where you like and it actually looks pretty great

[@cityluver]

At timestamp 3:48 there is a copy and paste of the Extract by Mask DEM and one is dropped onto the ground level. But mine does not show up. If I turned everything on, it would show a blank white space where it should be. I'm having troubleshooting. If anyone could help it would be much appreciated TY.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

if you can find my email address (its at www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/author/j_nelson/) then email me and maybe we can figure it out.

[@cityluver]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Hi John. I emailed you on the 16th but no reply as of yet. I hope you got it. From RM.Julian

[@jaquiring]

This looks similar to a map I’ve been working on and got some ideas from your video. I want to show the projected change of sea level for 2100 with an elevated sea level in 3d and highlight the area of land between sea level today and 2100 projections. I’d love to see how you would do this!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Please do! I’m working with a team on a web mapping project like this. It’s 2D though

[@maryamkhan3631]

Hey John! Can you guide about animated fill symbology in 3d Scene, particularly of water

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

hello! here is a video someone made showing how to do this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWfGgKalbc1sj8U

[@niajones4704]

This is great and really inspiring. How did you get the water texture to have a transparent background? Thanks!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

I did that in photoshop but you can make an image semitransparent in any image editor you like. Even PowerPoint

[@AndrewTernes]

Is there a way to export these to format that can be 3D printed.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

i wouldn't do it this way. instead, you consider exporting an elevation model as a gray-scale image and use a 3rd party tool to convert the image to an STL file.

[@AndrewTernes]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Thanks for the reply. You make fantastic informative videos. I’m now a keen follower. I had hoped there would be an easier way to get a colour model out ESRI. I have had success with some full colour 3d prints using blender and the 3d printing service shapeways. If you like I can send you my article and some image examples.

[@dustinferguson9393]

Awesome video, John! I was wondering if you knew what would be the best material to print this 3D Diorama on? Thanks!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks Dustin! sorry, i don't know much about 3D printing!

[@markjohnmiller]

Amazing Videos! I am really enjoying learning about how to create these effects for myself. I am wondering however if you can help me as I keep getting an error for Extract by Mask as well as when I try to Mosaic images together following your other video. I keep getting Error 999999 which tells me to contact ESRI. Any ideas? I have reached out to my contact at ESRI but they say it is not a license issue.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear about this inconvenience. The 999999 error is, to my knowledge, the generic name for an unspecified error. Pro doesn’t know what went wrong so there’s no prepared message for troubleshooting. Do you get it every time or intermittently?

[@markjohnmiller]

@@JohnNelsonMaps Thanks for the reply! I was able to figure it out. It was happening every time a new layer / file would be created. The error was because I am using Parallels to run Pro on a Mac and was trying to save to the "Mac" portion of the drive.... Pro didn't like that at all.

[@ChristopherArchuleta]

Love the Easter egg!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Lots of eggs around here!

[@mazyarmohammadi1575]

superb

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks!

[@briske-dr]

Devonian? haha great video John!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks!

[@NoelPetersonHK]

John Nelson is a national treasure

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

ha! i'll settle for "local troublemaker". thanks Noel.

[@tooyoul1682]

How to download hydrography shapefile, please?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

here is the link: gis-michigan.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/midnr::hydrography-polygons/explore?location=44.865124%2C-86.287400%2C7.45

[@the_3rdKind]

Next level!

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@Aztariel_chan]

Im from Panamá Canal City and i love this, thanks for share this. When i make it some map, i want show u.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

i would love to see it!

[@ethenjones4533]

Very inspiring as always! I can't wait to try something like this in the near future. (and I just recently found Blacktail Studio myself, so I sympathize with you there)

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@ខ្ញុំខ្មែរ-វ4ជ]

Master please accept my respect 🙏

[@AbdelrazekElnashar]

Really, it is nice.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@tonyjoffre2909]

I fall asleep watching the same videos 😂

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

I’m not sure how I feel about it, but they sure are great videos!

[@chrome-o-some3380]

is it possible to print such a diarama on a 3d printer?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

That’s a tall order for Pro, currently. But it can be done if you export your elevation image and then use another tool to convert it into a format compatible with 3D printing

[@friegawan]

Nice

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks!

[@joeflannery]

John, you make it look so easy and I love how you show us the power of ArcGIS Pro. This particular project of yours attracted me, because my father grew up in Petoskey, MI. I have traveled over the Mackinac Bridge many times and each one is always a thrill. By the way, did you mean "Devonian" when you said and labeled "Denovian" (I have a BS and MS in Geology)?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks Joe! I love Petoskey! Shoot, yes it should say Devonian. Typical of me to have a typo, I can’t avoid them!

[@pankaj_2]

Your parents were awesome and cool map

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Yes! Thank you.

[@JamesGammack-Clark]

Has anyone found a suitable PNG of the wave texture?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

here's the one i used: esriis-my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g/personal/john8409_esri_com/EbGjyfWyzG9Iim15G3Fg7awBaMlAnqq-z0IYOYw4MWVsjA?e=5qzVNt

[@reinaldo_GC]

Amazing and didactic video, you make it look so easy and funny. I want to give you an idea for a future video video, if you could make a diorama from a geological cross section. I mean, from a geological map (with the beautiful aesthetic you give to polygons), create an A-A' profile and then visualize the geological polygons that section A-A' cuts in an X-Y plane, similar to a slice of a cake :D :D :D

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

thanks! yes, geologic profiles are the best use case for this sort of thing. thanks for the encouragement!

[@taradurham3557]

What’s the name of the first cartographer you mention?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Tau Rho Alpha csunshinetoday.csun.edu/science-and-technology/mapping-a-gift-alumnus-and-cartography-legend-gives-back-to-dres/

[@taradurham3557]

👍🏼 Thanks for the videos

[@pete8299]

Haha weird youtube rabbit hole, i too have been watching Blacktail studios epoxy pour woodworking vids.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

@@pete8299 he’s great. I like the sass

[@aaronhpa]

You could have created the bridge in 3D model quite easily

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

not as easily as drawing three rectangles! at this scale, good enough is good enough.

[@Georgy_47]

how is this free ?

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

Thanks!

[@garthhoxsie-quinn7906]

Never take things for granite!

[@Smilingotter]

I would have loved this even without the "Kung Fury" nod.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

“I hacked the computer”

[@castlebyastream]

Hi! Any chance I could get a little more advice about how to get that geotiff.tar.gz file into ArcGIS Pro? I'd like to try to copy your version of this tutorial before trying it for my own study area, as an intermediate GIS student.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

I used 7zip. It’s free

[@LyleGerodias]

Is there any alternative to get a DEM for free? I want to have the elevation for the map of the philippines.

[@JohnNelsonMaps]

check out this resource: dwtkns.com/srtm30m/