openstreetmaps ftw. Get that, turn on cartographic overlays (outdated scans but still useful), aerial imagery, download and import nhd data, pull up ngs website, and enjoy. Help us map rivers! Even better if you can do an actual ground survey w/ gps.
Okay what is nhd and ngs? When I’m horny for aerial imagery, I’m usually browsing Landsat and Sentinel archives.
National hydrography dataset and national geodetic survey (but I actually meant USGS, they provide a lot of data, their map viewer is a good introduction).
I like to do this for civil constructions.
You ever took a look an desert settlements?
There are so many awesome things to see there, and thinking of all the little humans doing their shit there is mesmerizing.
Kind of Sim city/sims in real life
Agreed, I’ve learned a lot doing this. Sometimes it leads to a story, like the ruins of a federal fire watchtower that was destroyed by arson, or discovering one of the largest fisheries in the country. I’ve also noticed a lot more houses are torn down in my city than might be expected. Whole blocks are empty fields now, or maybe have one derelict house remaining.
It’s also disturbing just how much trash people collect in their yards… and the massive wounds of foresting and strip mining.
I do wish there was a river settings to better highlight rivers.
https://river-runner-global.samlearner.com/
Maybe that’s something for you?
If you’re taking requests, could you point me to a visualization that shows the navigable ones (including canals, BTW)?
