Introducing: The Lost Grove Lake Mapping Project

We have a new lake here just northeast of Davenport that is slowly filling right now called Lost Grove Lake. It's been 25+ years in the making but it's a well designed lake within a well managed Watershed to keep silt and fertilizer runoff from getting into the lake which will be 350 acres and 3 miles long when full. I plan on making detailed depth, structure and 3D depth maps of the lake but still need a preliminary map and background maps. The 3 base maps were downloaded as geotiff's in 6 parts each from the Iowa Geographic Map Server and 'stitched' together using the OziExplorer Map Merge program and I recalibrated them using Geotiff Tools. Here are the 3 base maps as uncalibrated half size JPEG's.

The Topo Map Layer

The Photo Map Layer

The LIDAR Layer

From the Topo and Photo layers I was able to derive this Lake Depth overlay, the black areas surrounding the lake are really transparent

I can then overlap this layer on top of the Photo and Topo layers and get these maps

And finally by using the LIDAR layer as the base, changing the transparency of the Photo and Topo layers to 65% and then overlaying the Lake layer I get the following two maps

The next layer I am going to make is denoting all the structure both natural and manmade. By using Geotiff layers I can edit a layer without upsetting the geo-referencing or upsetting the other layers. Then I can 'mix and match' them to make nice Geotiff calibrated maps that are importable/convertible to most GPS navigation and mapping software without the need for hand calibration

Since Blogger nor any web photo viewer can do these justice by displaying them in full resolution I've got them shared on my Google Drive. There are half and full size JPG's of maps in this post plus the 4 full sized TIF's that have the geotif header and should work in any GIS or GPS mapping software that accepts or imports geotif's

Geotiff & JPG Layers.zip

More to come ......

Depth Maps of Pool 16 Mississippi River

Making depth maps for a river is always problematic due to the constantly changing water levels. So what I do when I make these maps which were made over a period of several trips is to get the water level at Lock and Dam 15 just up river a bit and name the data by Location, Date, and river level. Then I can take each trip data individually and load it into Dr Depth and subtract whatever level is in the title and save it as Location, Date, Zero Gauge. I put all of these into a database which load them all and then I just adjust the data down for whatever river level I need. Most of the following maps were made in 2011 with some data added in 2012. All maps set for a river level of 5.0 ft at Lock and Dam 15

First up in 4 parts is the depth maps of the lower 2/3 of Credit Island Harbor

Now here is the area of the bicycle bridge from 2011 and after it was finished in Fall of 2012. It's more than obvious that it does NOT meet the standard set forth in US Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit # 14 which CLEARLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY states that:

"Temporary fills must be removed in their entirety and the affected areas returned to pre-construction elevations. The areas affected by temporary fills must be revegetated, as appropriate."

How anyone could have signed off on this Mess in Good Faith is beyond me

So much for 21st Century Yuppies and their "Feel Good" environmental projects ....

Here are a couple of the wingdam off the tip of Credit Island down to the I-280 bridge

And the same maps in 3D which I use to locate current breaks and seams for catching flathead catfish. I've caught a dozen or so in this area since 2010 between 25 and 37 pounds. It used to be a good spot for channels cats in the yellow and orange areas along the shore which is a gravel and sand bar but has been ruined by people dumping their garbage there because enforcement and fines are so weak it just doesn't stop them.

Here are some of the wingdam just below the I-280 bridge. Most of this data is from Walleye Master Fisherman Bruce "Doctor Sonar" Samson. If you want to learn the ins and outs of Lowrance fishfinder and gps mapping devices this is the place you go.

This is a little further downstream just across from Horse (Enchanted) Island. It's a normal wingdam at a right angle to the river and a closing wingdam that goes downstream (left) to another regular wingdam

These really don't do justice to these maps when they are used live on the water, I've got some software that records the screen like a movie and I'll try to make so live usage videos this summer. I also have a new toy that I'll introduce in a couple of weeks, basically a WiFi fishfinder that uses an Android or Apple phone or tablet as the screen which I'll be able to get screen shots to embed in the waypoints of my maps. I'm also going to introduce a new project in the next day or two.