Golden Software Blog

What is a Skybox? Imagine projecting an artificial environment all around you, so you can look in any direction and see a seamless image – similar to the actual world around you, but maybe a more exciting vision than your office. You could be suspended in space, or in a lush forest, or on the top floor of a Tokyo city skyscraper. This is essentiall...

I'm pleased to introduce our first ever guest blogger, Scott Carter, Owner and Creative Director of Creative Map Solutions. Creative Map Solutions is a Geographic Information System (GIS) solution and Mapping Support company based out of Firestone, CO. Creative Map Solutions has over 20 years of experience in providing GIS and Mapping Solutions to companies. They leverage their experience to handle everything from large one-time projects to ongoing GIS and mapping support.

A true artist at heart, Scott has become an expert on a number of industry leading software applications utilized for GIS, mapping, drafting, 3D modeling, and data conversion. His custom map work has been published in many different media formats including magazines, books, television programs, and a major motion picture.

As Blakelee mentioned in her introduction blog, my name is Scott C. Carter and I am the Owner and Creative Director of Creative Map Solutions, a Geographic Information System (GIS) solution and Mapping Support company based out of Firestone, CO.

Working as a cartographer utilizing geospatial datasets requires extensive knowledge of multiple GIS, CAD and graphic design software applications. Over the past 20 years of offering GIS and custom mapping solutions I have found that there has rarely been an instance where one software package will fulfill the requirements to design a map from start to finish. It is not uncommon that I will use five or more different software applications to create a presentation quality custom map. One of my favorite software applications to assist me with my project is Golden Software's Surfer program.

While less than 1 mile (1.42 km) in length, the Manitou Springs Incline is not for the faint of heart. Originally built for cable cars used to carry materials during the construction of Pikes Peak pipelines, the Incline was a tourist attraction until 1990. Thereafter, the cable cars were disassembled, and soon the Incline grew in popularity as a hiking trail and fitness challenge.

The bottom of the Manitou Springs Incline. Approximately 2,744 railroad ties <br />make up the steps to get from this location to the summit.

The Incline’s average grade is 41% (68% at its steepest) over a 2,000 foot (610 meter) elevation gain. The trail consists of uneven stairs made with roughly 2,744 railroad ties. The Incline is a mecca for exercise enthusiasts and anyone desiring a challenge.

A classified raster layer in ArcMap generated from Raster Tools overlaid with a roads shapefile.

Golden Software’s new Raster Tools add-in for ArcMap leverages Surfer’s 12 different gridding methods directly in the ArcMap ecosystem to create accurate and precise raster datasets from your point data with only a few clicks. Raster Tools is a wizard-based add-in that walks you through all of the necessary interpolation parameters that have been elegantly laid out on 3 pages, so you have quick access to select an interpolation method, customize neighborhood search parameters, choose output raster extents and resolution, and more.