Terrain in a Box

Geological Survey's measured heights for Mount St.

This picture is a cloud of paint. You can , , , , , , and .

Shelf: Science
Kind: Built from a recipe
Your own: About this land
Sound: Yes
Licenses: Public domain

How to play

Tap to fill the land with water; tap again to drain it. Pick a place in the Splash tab.

Its controls

Control	Kind	Range	Start
Fill it with water	Tap
Fill with water	Switch		Off
Place	List	3 choices	Mount St. Helens
Height	List	3 choices	Stretched 2×
Contour lines	Setting

About it

This is real land in a box: the U.S. Geological Survey's measured heights for Mount St. Helens, the Grand Canyon or Yosemite Valley, a square about 10 km across with a sample every 35 m. Each sample is a small splat, tinted by height and shaded by the sun, and the box's walls show the land cut through.

Tap to fill the land with water to a level and watch which valleys flood first, then tap to drain it. It is a level rising, not a model of how real floods flow. Choose the place, stretch the heights to see gentle slopes, and turn on contour lines. The Contour lab next to it shows how those lines are made.

Details

Splats: Opens at 200,000 at Mid Detail, 60,000 at Low, and up to 200,000 at Max

Sources and credits

Work	By	License
Mount St. Helens: USGS 3DEP 1/3 arc-second elevation, a square averaged to 256 × 256 samples	U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program (The National Map)	Public domain (USGS 3D Elevation Program)
The Grand Canyon: USGS 3DEP 1/3 arc-second elevation, a square averaged to 256 × 256 samples	U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program (The National Map)	Public domain (USGS 3D Elevation Program)
Yosemite Valley and Half Dome: USGS 3DEP 1/3 arc-second elevation, a square averaged to 256 × 256 samples	U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program (The National Map)	Public domain (USGS 3D Elevation Program)

Share it

This link opens it in the Playground. To put it on your own page, add the element and one script tag. Every option.

https://splashery.app/play/?toy=terrain-box

<script type="module" src="https://splashery.app/play/src/element.js"></script>
<splashery-toy toy="terrain-box"></splashery-toy>