Download a new map of the "highest mountain" of the world, mauna loa on

Dr. Manfred F. Buchroithner is Full Professor of Cartography
at and Director of the Institute for Cartography (IfC) of the
Dresden University of Technology (TUD). He holds degrees
in both Geology & Paleontology (Graz, Austria) and
Cartography and Remote Sensing (ITC, NL) and obtained his
PhD in 1977. Out of his more than 250 articles more than 60
have been published in reviewed journals. He has written
three books and edited three volumes on remote sensing. His
major research interests cover true-3D geodata visualisation
and high-mountain cartography.
A NEW MAP OF THE "HIGHEST MOUNTAIN" OF THE
WORLD, MAUNA LOA ON HAWAII
M. Buchroithner1, T. Gruendemann2, R. Meissner3
1 - Dresden University of Technology, Institute for Cartography, Dresden, Germany
2 - mbmSystems, Dresden, Germany
3 - German Aerospace Center, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
[email protected]
Based on a recent boom of the lenticular foil display (LFD) technology, presently many
areas of relief terrain are going to be depicted in true 3D. In particular, alpine land is well
suitable for such displays. For several years the Institute for Cartography of the Dresden
University of Technology has been active in displaying high-mountain terrain using LFDs.
Hence, it was at hand to also visualise the world's highest and biggest mountain, measured
from the base of the surrounding sea floor, Mauna Loa (4169 m) on Hawaii. Its
neighbouring highest peak, Mauna Kea, rises 4214 m above sea-level and still extends
approx. 6000 m down to the actual basis of this volcanic cone, thus resulting in a total
height of some 10200 m. For the lenticular foil visualisation technology it meant a
particular challenge to depict the submarine part of the mountain as seen through a sort of
transparent sea surface, being displayed in a bluish colour indicative for the sea. For the
terrestrial part of Mauna Loa the digital terrain model has been draped with the texture of
Landsat Imagery. In result, for the first time a marine volcano protruding above sea-level
has been displayed in true 3D with this glasses-free visualisation technique using lenticular
foils. The slightly oblique off-nadir depiction enables the viewer to spontaneously obtain a
truly three-dimensional impression of both the supra- and the submarine portion of the
"biggest mountain on earth" and the neighbouring Hawaiian islands.