GSA Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, USA - 2017

Paper No. 71-18
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-5:30 PM

CREATING AN INTERACTIVE GEOLOGIC MAP: WAH WAH MOUNTAINS NORTH AND TULE VALLEY, UTAH


ROLSTAD, Nicholas L., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, nicholasrolstad@outlook.com

Geologic maps have largely been confined to paper despite the rise of the interactive web. Even when geologic data is digitized it is often presented only as a static PDF-style map with little advantage over a paper map. The recent rise of JavaScript libraries such as Leaflet.js and the Mapbox platform provide geologists with programming knowledge the ability to create interactive and customizable geologic maps that can be viewed by anyone with an internet connection. Providing an example of this workflow, GIS data from multiple 30’ x 60’ Utah Geologic Survey maps was compiled, edited and correlated in ArcMap. Python scripting was then used to convert shapefiles to the web-friendly geoJSON format. Basic web technologies HTML, CSS and JavaScript were used with the Leaflet and Mapbox libraries in order to create an interactive geologic map of portions of Utah’s Basin & Range.