An application for macOS 'Eduard' that allows you to load a map and perform 'relief shading' with machine learning



The software based on

the research results announced in 2020 by the team of Associate Professor Bernhard Jenny, who studies human-centered computing at Monash University in Australia, is `` Eduard '', which shades the map `` relief shading ” is executed by machine learning just by loading the map on the Mac.

Eduard Relief Shading
https://eduard.earth/

Eduard: Swiss-style Shading with Machine Learning—Dilpreet Singh
https://dilpreet.co/projects/eduard

On the map, in order to express the three-dimensional topography on the plane, the mountains are represented by contour lines and color coding. Also, in Google Maps, for example, the mountains are expressed realistically using shadows as shown below.


Accurate shading based on the symbols drawn on the map required the work of skilled cartographers with specialized knowledge and experience. In fact, swistopo , the Swiss national mapping agency, manually creates shadows, scans them, and digitizes them.



Eduard was developed to do this shading work with machine learning. Below is the map that was actually shaded using Eduard. By moving the slide bar, you can compare the map changes.



According to the research team, there were many algorithms that shaded the map so far, but the expressiveness was not sufficient. Although it is possible to add shadows simply, it is possible to adjust the direction of lighting, change the brightness to emphasize a larger terrain, and finely change the expression of shadows according to the terrain. The research team said that machine learning was applied to reproduce the 'artistic and human-like part'.

For example, 'aerial perspective' that makes the peak stand out



'Generalization' to omit detailed terrain and adjust according to scale



'Rotation' that changes the direction of lighting according to the direction of the map is also possible with Eduard.



Eduard is available on the Mac App Store from the following page for $ 99.99 (about 13,600 yen). It also distributes a demo version that allows you to try Eduard with a preloaded map. The supported OS is macOS 12.3 Monterey or later.

Eduard – Relief Shading on the Mac App Store
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/eduard-relief-shading/id6443577400

Also, in the movie below, you can see the demonstration at the time of presentation in the video.

Eduard: beautiful relief shading with neural networks - Bernie Jenny, Monash University - YouTube

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in Software, Posted by log1i_yk