With Tropical Storm Matthew heading towards the Caribbean, we’ve been testing our upcoming tropical layers for the Aeris Maps Platform. In the process, we also experimented with combining different layers with some of the advanced AMP features such as blends:

Combined layer view of Tropical Storm Matthew

With the above image, we combined the flat-dk and water-depth base layers. Then added the high-resolution visible satellite imagery with a hard-light blend:

flat-dk,water-depth,sat-vis-hires:blend(hard-light)

The hard light blend allows the blue from the water layer to mix with the darker areas of the visible satellite while leaving the clouds white.

Adding the lightning strike density layer to the map, which depicts lightning frequency within a short period, was useful for showing where intense areas of convection were occurring. Above this, we added our upcoming active tropical systems layer that is currently undergoing internal testing along with a general cities overlay:

flat-dk,water-depth,sat-vis-hires:blend(hard-light),lightning-strike-density,tropical,cities-dk

To get an even more interesting visualization, we displayed this AMP tile layer combination with the WebGL Earth library to obtain a cool 3D view:

3d View of Tropical Storm Matthew

Since the upcoming active tropical system layer is not yet available, below is an example of an image using only currently available layers within the Aeris Maps Platform. With this image the active tropical system layer is removed while zooming into the storm.

3d Zoom of Tropical Storm Matthew

The Aeris Maps Platform and its advanced features can create amazing and unique imagery while offering you the flexibility to generate the exact visualization you’re after. Start using Aeris Maps today with a free developer account.

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