• Home
  • About
  • Experience
    • ASME
    • NAVAIR
    • Tech Camp
    • Thales
    • UCLA
    • Zoox
    • All Experience
  • Projects
    • ArdoPilot
    • CLI Cube Timer
    • Ecochella Power Bicycle
    • Hexagons
    • Infinity Mirror
    • LED SuperController
    • SoundScape
    • Sports Map
    • Workflowy Command Line Client
    • The Wicked Winch
    • All Projects
  • Hobbies
    • Basketball
    • Bikes
    • Chess
    • Cubes
    • Keyboards
    • Rap
    • UCLA Map
    • All Hobbies

UCLA Map

I’m a big fan of maps, and all I wanted to hang on the wall of my room was an interesting map of my alma mater – something unique! I looked on Etsy and Society6 and a bunch of other custom art websites, but I couldn’t find anything that fit my fancy. So I decided to make my own!

The final product on canvas

QGIS

I didn’t have any experience with map-making software, but smart people pointed me to QGIS, a free, powerful, open-source GIS (Geographic Information System) program. Using open-source community-derived maps from OpenStreetMap, I got vector layers of all the relvant information in the area.

The process went as follows:

Contrast a rough outline of the campus with a powder blue background.

Separate campus polygons and non-campus polygons into individual layers, and make the latter pale and flat.

Add in campus polygons with drop-shadow and color applied depending on whether the polygon is grass, water, or a building.

Add in the roads and paths, with thickness dependent on the type of traffic.