Peterson is a geo expert working in the realm of GIS analysis and cartography. Peterson is the author of several cartography how-to books and the co-author of the recently-published QGIS Map Design, 2nd Edition along with Anita Graser of the Austrian Institute of Technology. Peterson’s consulting work has included the creation of numerous map styles for world-wide OpenStreetMap and Natural Earth based vector tiles using Mapbox GL JS including nautical, topographic, humanitarian, and specialty styles for clients such as Digital Globe and Microsoft. Peterson’s work also includes all manner of GIS data management, analyses, cartography, and tools for salmon and shellfish management in the Pacific Northwest.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition map was created for potential inclusion in a future book, which Peterson would like to produce but has not found the time to create as of yet.
The expedition route line was obtained from the Esri Schools and Libraries Program. Basemap data is from Natural Earth. US Historic Territories and States is from the Newberry Library and processed for the date of the expedition (yes, the current states of Maine and Massachusetts both fell under the name “Massachusetts” in 1804) with different colors for states, territories, and unorganized territory. The Missouri river was offset from the route line even though they physically overlap on much of the route. This was done for visualization purposes. A texture was obtained for the background. The Gabriola font is employed throughout. The elevation graph, which shows the extreme elevation changes encountered by the expedition group, was computed with the QGIS profile tool plugin and then exported and re-styled. QGIS and Inkscape were used to further process and finish the map.
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