ProductTerrain and 3D
Elevation, hillshade and 3D terrain maps
PropelMapper shades the relief of every field with hillshade and contour lines, and turns any place into a 3D flyover, so the low corner and the draw that feeds it are obvious before you walk out to them.
Reading slope before the field walk
Most of the field problems that bring an advisor out in June have water somewhere in the story. Ponding by the tile outlet. Yellow corn in the low end. A washout across the waterway. On satellite imagery all of it sits on what looks like a flat green rectangle.
Turn on Elevation in the map's layers and the rectangle gets a shape. Hillshade lights the slopes as if the sun were low; contour lines mark the steps between them. A draw running across a field shows up, and so does the reason its low end holds water after every storm.
We think terrain explains a lot of what an advisor sees in a field, because terrain decides where water goes and water decides so much of the rest. It belongs on the same map as the visit pins, not in a separate survey file nobody opens.
Annual monitoring: what you said and what the report says
An easement monitor walking a parcel for the first time, with elevation on.
“North parcel. The draw on the elevation map lines up with the wet strip along the fence. No new disturbance inside the easement, the old ditch is still grassed over.”
Annual monitoring - North parcel
At a glance
A wet strip along the north fence follows the natural draw shown on the elevation map. No new disturbance found inside the easement area; the historic ditch remains grassed.
Observations
A wet strip along the north fence follows the natural draw shown on the elevation map. No new disturbance found inside the easement area; the historic ditch remains grassed.
After your review
Example account: Prairie Agronomy
3D flyover of a field
Every place in PropelMapper has a 3D flyover button. The camera tilts down over the boundary and the ground rises into relief, with the field outlined on top. It is the fastest way to show a landowner why the back forty floods, or a lender why one parcel drains worse than the one beside it.
On the phone, Fly over sits in the same toolbar as Layers and Locate. Standing in the field, a quick flyover shows which direction is downhill before you pick where to dig a pit or take a sample.
Elevation under boundaries and pins
Elevation is a layer like soil or crop history, so it sits under everything else: the boundaries, the last-visit colors, the pins from today's walk. A pin by the outlet on a hillshade map explains itself. A photo of standing water at the bottom of a contour line does not need a paragraph.
Switch the base map to Terrain and trails when you also need roads, tracks and field entrances, which is usually the case for the first visit to a farm you do not know.
What the relief does not show
Elevation shows the general shape of the ground: slopes, draws, low ends. It does not show tile lines, culverts, a plugged outlet or the berm someone pushed up last fall. It is a starting point for the walk, not a substitute for it, and not a survey for anyone designing drainage.
Use it to decide where to look first and to explain what you found. The pin in the low corner and the photo of standing water are still the evidence; the hillshade is why they make sense together.
In the app
Example account: Prairie Agronomy
Questions about terrain and 3d
Where does the elevation data come from?
The hillshade and contours are drawn from Mapbox's elevation model. They show the general shape of the land; they are not a survey and should not replace one for drainage design.
Does the 3D view work on the phone?
Yes. Fly over is in the phone map's toolbar, next to Layers and Locate.
Who it’s for
Drainage and irrigation contractors, conservation planners, easement monitors, farmland appraisers and farm managers who need to see the shape of the ground, not just its color.