Help to make a hillshade map for a book illustration

Help and support
1

Hi
I’m completely new to OSM and have no knowledge of any mapping software.
I would love some (very basic) help.
I am writing a book on the Boer War and will have maps as illustrations. In my maps I want to show the troop movements etc in the foreground with a greyscale hillshade map as the background. The background should also show rivers.
How can I download a suitable hillshade map of parts of South Africa?
How can I delete from it all post-1900 modern features such as towns, roads etc so I can have the background free of man-made features?
I’d be grateful if anyone who can help me would get in touch - my email is robdavidson303@gmail.com
thanks
Rob

2

OSM does not capture topographic information, besides possible elevations of specific POIs. You will need to find a topographic map of the area.

For historical roads and towns, try Open Historical Maps.

Good luck on your project.

1 Like
3

Thanks, blocal
The historic map is interesting, but I have all the historical details - it’s the background hillshade map I lack.
Thanks for informing me that OSM doesn’t have topographic maps.
Can you suggest where I can download a topgraphic map? I am too ignorant to use files of data, I need a map. And then I need some advice how to delete modern features.
thanks
Rob

4

Unfortunately I don’t have experience with that. There is however this project: https://opentopomap.org or South Africa Topographic Map this interesting link I found though a quick search. And there is always https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?useExisting=1&layers=13f8e00a48de4c0abc229d3c017f7990.

I can’t comment on how easy/legal it would be to use these sources.

5

I think you’re looking for a cartographic tool, not particularly Openstreetmap.
So you can make a try with QGIS, a software that will allow you to do a simple map with only hillshade relief.
You can maybe find an hillshading TMS or WMS for South Africa?

2 Likes
6

I’ve moved this from “tagging help and support” into the regular “help and support” area because it’s not really question about “what to tag something as in OSM”, and also added a “hillshading” forum tag (and created the tag - I’m surprised that did not already exist).

People have asked hillshading questions in the past, but unfortunately they seem to be mostly about specific previous implementations, not “how to do it from scratch”. There’s also a South African forum here - it might be worth asking there in case anyone has some tiles that you can reuse.

7

Hi @robdavidson,

the following instructions require the use of a command line.

You can generate hillshades using the gdaldem programme which is part of GDAL. It requires a digital elevation model as a raster file, e.g. SRTM.

SRTM DEM have a very liberal license, you can download them from various sites on the internet, e.g. from NASA EarthData.

To create maps, you usually want to transform them into a proper map projection instead of keeping them in EPSG:4326 (longitude and latitude). This can be achieved by the following command:

gdalwarp -of GTiff -co COMPRESS=DEFLATE -t_srs EPSG:3857 -r bilinear -order 3 srtm_tile_4326.tif srtm_input_file.hgt

Afterwards you can generate the hillshade file from it:

gdaldem hillshade srtm_tile_4326.tif hillshade.tif -co COMPRESS=DEFLATE

If using a command line or the instructions above are too difficult for you, try QGIS. It can generate hillshades but I don’t use it for that purpose. Ask the documentation or your favourite search engine for details.

There are also freelancers and companies offering hillshade images for sale. Examples:

Best regards

Michael

8

I’ve sent the OP a Qgis project displaying an available hillshading SRTM tile layer.

9

You can create a free MapBox account. You will get most of MapBox’s services with a fairly large limit of monthly views.
You must dedicate a few minutes of prior learning =

  • Create the MapBox account
  • Open MapBox Studio to create a layer based on MapBox Terrain-DEM
  • Design the new layer, you can manipulate various items until you achieve the desired shading.
  • You can add your own vector data or use MapBox data to design POIs, roads, …
  • You can link the new layer you designed in various formats for use in printing programs or export png/jpg directly from MapBox Studio itself (png/jpg high quality to convert to pdf or manipulate with any photo editing program, you can also use the static image API and export the areas you want in png.

The advantages of MapBox Studio are=

MapTiler offers a similar service for designing layers and base maps but I am not familiar with the specifics.

10

Thanks everyone. I’m too old to understand what is being suggested. I downloaded QGIS and my Mac refused to open it (Malware anxiety). I tried to join Mapbox but I honestly can’t understand what they are saying.
If someone wants to earn a few dollars by doing the hillshade maps for me, please get in touch! I’m a retired doctor and amateur historian so I’m not thick in all things, but I am unable to learn this stuff. Once I have an image of the map, I can work with it in Gimp, which I do understand. Sorrry to be so incapable, and thanks for your enthusiastic efforts!
Rob
robdavidson303@gmail.com

11

Hillshading services are available to anyone who wants to use them, free of charge. Except for some specialized services.