| Ken Portner | 28 May 2013 4:05 p.m. PST |
I'm looking at the maps in Pfanz's First Day of Gettysburg book, specifically, trying to decipher the McPherson Ridge-Herr Ridge map. It's got the topographic lines, but no numbers on them to indicate elevations. Howard you supposed to tell which is "up" and which"down" so to speak, without the numbers? Thanks |
| ETenebrisLux | 28 May 2013 4:27 p.m. PST |
Water is your Friend.
- Swamps, Lakes, etc are usually found in valleys, not on the tops of hills.
- Water always flows Downhill (althought it does rarely go underground).
- Forks in Streams & Rivers usually point Downhill (i.e. streams & rivers converge into one bigger river). Hope that helps. |
14Bore  | 28 May 2013 4:41 p.m. PST |
Go from hills or ridge lines and work from there. How high is the problem.(I'm doing same thing you are)Contour lines are suppose to be in equal increments. |
| Ken Portner | 28 May 2013 4:48 p.m. PST |
Go from hills or ridge lines and work from there. How high is the problem.(I'm doing same thing you are)Contour lines are suppose to be in equal increments. Yes, but how can you tell which are the hills or ridge lines? How do I know they aren't depressions? |
 Jlundberg | 28 May 2013 4:51 p.m. PST |
The lines will also make a "V" and the point of the v points upstream. Usually there are index lines every 5 that are labeled, but failing that, find a closed line and work downwards. If it is a depression or hollow, the lines look like half a railroad symbol. link |
| Wackmole9 | 28 May 2013 4:52 p.m. PST |
I think he lists a standard elevation for all the map in the front of the book. Also check Maps of Gettysburg for more maps. |
| dsfrank | 28 May 2013 4:56 p.m. PST |
A hill top will be roughly circular or oval – where the contour line meets itself and closes the loop so to speak – actual depressions are pretty rare in map speak and will have tick marks on the inside of the circle to indicate it is a depression – no depressions as a map terrain feature come to mind for the Gettysburg area – I grew up near there and have several current and historical maps of the area |
| 14Bore | 28 May 2013 4:57 p.m. PST |
Somewhere in my computer or at least some site I've been on there is a contour map with elevations, I've been looking the last couple of days but can't find it. If I do I will link it. |
 Extra Crispy  | 28 May 2013 5:25 p.m. PST |
Here is one such map. Warning: very large file. link |
| Ken Portner | 28 May 2013 6:34 p.m. PST |
Oh, thanks Mark! That link is great. |
| DisasterWargamer | 29 May 2013 5:28 a.m. PST |
Occassionally looking at the same area in Google earth will give you some idea as well. |
| 14Bore | 29 May 2013 3:23 p.m. PST |
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| Patrice | 31 May 2013 5:20 a.m. PST |
Real depressions (without a lower opening somewhere to let the water flow out) are very exceptionnal in topography. If you see ovals on the map they are hills most of the time. |
| Cleburne1863 | 31 May 2013 6:16 a.m. PST |
Take a look at this map of Allatoona Pass. The railroad is at the lowest elevation (except the very bottom of the map). the forts are at the top of the hills(the enclosed circles). link |
| vojvoda | 31 May 2013 8:44 a.m. PST |
Marks link should answer your question but if not hit me up. I use to make maps in the military for DMA and can go into greater detail than here on map reading. VR
James Mattes |
| firstvarty1979 | 31 May 2013 9:52 a.m. PST |
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| forwardmarchstudios | 31 May 2013 10:15 a.m. PST |
Elevation and LOS are some of my pet peeves/projects/bugbears at the moment. This website has a host of interesting tools for determining LOS from maps- LOS is the issue that elevation really concerns, not getting a +1 on an arty roll to hit or some such thing. link That website has all sorts of tools and ideas for figuring out LOS from 2D maps uploaded with elevation data. You could try with that. Just be aware (if you aren't already), that map files such as this are sometimes gigantic! |
| Patrice | 31 May 2013 12:34 p.m. PST |
About depressions again… …when I did Reserve officer course (long time ago) one day we worked on a map of Canjuers military camp (a hilly place in south France). The captain who was teaching us had said that actual depressions were so rare that we would never meet any. Then on the map I found THE depression which actually exists in "camp de Canjuers". The captain didn't believe me and thought I was unable to read a map, till he looked at it. Very embarrassing for everyone :-) OK I should stop to tell my old rememberings again! |
| Lion in the Stars | 31 May 2013 3:52 p.m. PST |
I've always found the "arrows" pointing uphill in a streamcourse to be the easiest to ID. Then you can work out from there. While there might not be many deep depressions (the kind that would show up on a map), it doesn't take much of a depression to hide a standing infantryman! |
| 14Bore | 01 Jun 2013 4:03 p.m. PST |
Having a lot of fun with this and William Frassanto's book A Journey in Time. I've made over 21 feet of 4 types of fences, working on stone walls but still want to make some more before I paint the whole batch all for 15mm and a ground scale. It might be impossible to have to much of either. |
completes his initial Union force in 1:72nd scale.
