Tell us about yourself:
I’m a GIS undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya and a visual designer. I’ve always enjoyed the creative side of GIS, especially cartography and finding different ways to turn geographic data into something people can actually enjoy looking at. I’m particularly interested in that space where GIS and graphic design meet.
What is the story behind the map:
I had seen quite a few 3D lake and bathymetric maps online, and I really liked the way they made something hidden beneath the water visible. At some point I thought, I want to try making one of these myself.
That’s what led me to Lake Ontario. I wanted to take the bathymetric data and turn it into something that felt more like a physical landscape than a traditional map. Once I started working with the data, I became fascinated by how much detail there is beneath the surface. We normally think of a lake as just water, but when you visualize the lakebed as terrain, it suddenly feels like a completely different landscape.
A big part of the project was simply experimenting and seeing how far I could take the visual side while still keeping the geography meaningful. I didn’t want to just make a 3D map. I wanted to give it my own visual style.
What tools did you use to make the map?
I used ArcGIS Pro for the GIS work and bathymetric visualization, working with GEBCO bathymetric data to build the underlying representation of the lakebed. After that, I brought the map into Adobe Photoshop and spent quite a bit of time working on the shading, texture, colours, and overall look.
It was mainly a personal project and an experiment in combining GIS with visual design. I really enjoyed the process of taking raw geographic data and gradually turning it into something that felt like a landscape.