This 1915 Map of San Francisco by August Chevalier was published to celebrate the rebuilding of the city after the disastrous earthquake and fire of 1906. Chevalier used contour lines, hill shading and hachures to show the topography of San Francisco's hills, as well as isometric drawings (3D) of newly reconstructed downtown buildings and other important structures throughout the city. In this 3D GIS version of the map, the scanned historic map image is combined with the modern day USGS DEM (Digital Elevation Model) allowing us to "warp" the historic map images into 3D.

The flash movie below gives a preview of the 3D GIS experience. Click on the link below the flash movie to launch the full 3D San Francisco GIS Viewer, but READ this first - the 3D GIS Viewer has three viewing modes: Fly Through (opening mode), Inspection, and Hover. Use the space bar to toggle between them. Use your mouse and arrow keys for Fly-Through, arrow keys and page up/down for Inspection, and arrow keys and "1" key (down) and "2" key (up) for Hover. Using keys together will produce different motions. The key row Z,X,C,V,B will blend in the modern USGS map of San Francisco. Detailed Help is available.

Launch 3D San Francisco Viewer Small Screen (4.40 MB) (If video card is 8MB)