Madison Digitial Elevation Model

Introduction

Elevation is a geographical feature that also has an effect on other environmental characteristics. Changes in elevation usually influence climate, precipitation and even wildlife – both animals and plants. Slopes have been added into the map to identify the significant changes in elevation of Madison. As well as certain aspects of land cover to identify if there is a relationship with elevation.

Data

The digital elevation model provides us with the highs and lows for the elevation of the New Jersey state. Map 7 in the current draft of the Madison-ERI, details us the elevation of Madison, with a maximum elevation at 398.6 feet and a minimum of 176.8 feet above sea level. Steep slopes of Madison are recorded in three different categories with ranges of  <15°, 15°-30°, and 30°-45°.

Results

Madison as a whole has a relatively darker shade of grey indicating it is on the lower side of the spectrum in terms of elevation of New Jersey. Moreover, the mapping of the 10 foot contours shows us that the Southern part of Madison is of higher elevation as per the legend. The biggest slopes observed within Madison mainly occupy central areas. A vast number of smaller slopes are also seen around forest and green areas. All slopes are orange, and therefore are between 15 to 30 degrees in angle. 

The map above details the elevation and slopes of Madison borough 

Conclusion

The average elevation of Madison is above the average for the state of New Jersey(around 250ft) but it is much less than the maximum for New Jersey which is about 1800 feet. Madison’s slopes range between 15 and 30 degrees. Restrictions in Madison prohibit development on land with slopes greater than 25 unless pre-approved. This is therefore unproblematic as Madison’s slopes fall within the limits. In terms of non-urban land, most of the changes in elevation seen in forest areas are not steep slopes . They are rather multiple slopes with lower degrees of elevation. 

Data sources

Data was collected from four New Jersey Light Detecting and Ranging projects between 2014 and 2019. Each projects data was used to create the  Digital Elevation Model. This layer was initiated by the New Jersey Office of Geographic Information Systems. The Madison Slopes layer was shared by Professor Jordan. To show non-urban land was conducted by NJDEP Bureau of GIS to to create the Land Use/Land Cover of New Jersey 2015 layer.

Link to online presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1koeRjZwMmx_CCGrycld_qDsSiesgbM2oNJPe4Asnmms/edit#slide=id.p1