3D printing in full swing

3D printing provides an interesting, tactile way to interact with geospatial terrain data. Equipped with lidar data, a fair bit of processing know-how, and a 3D printer, you can create one yourself. Recently, my team put together a 3D print of Gloss Mountain State Park. If you've been to the park, you'll notice that we exaggerated the heights to more easily allow you to take in the relief. The actual 3D printing takes quite a long time (sometimes a tile takes up to 8 hours to complete). The park extent is covered with this print, which required the model to be pieced out into 6 tiles. The print in its entirety is about 10 inches by 10 inches.

If you are interested in trying this out yourself, check out these very helpful resources here and here. Special thanks to Amanda T. and Clay B. for their work on this as well as support provided by the Edmon Low Library Creative Studios.