Oilslick – an elevation map showing fine detail in terrain
I think there's a misunderstanding of the data here. It appears that the underlying data used for this map is DEM data (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_elevation_model), which encodes values in the red, green, and blue channels of an image representation of a geographic area. You're not supposed to visualize this data directly -- instead, you combine those values in a simple formula to obtain a height value, then you use that value to create visual maps. This map just restyles what is geographically analogous to the binary representation of "hello, world" instead of the output itself.You can search google for "terrain map" or "elevation map" and find many beautiful examples of accurate elevation data.Edit: This is a good tutorial on how to derive the correct values: https://github.com/syncpoint/terrain-rgbEdit 2: Looks like I was wrong about this. Apologies to the author and thanks to everyone who helped me understand GIS a bit better! I'll keep this up as a reminder that just because my voice is loud doesn't mean I'm right.