PDF Maps: From Static to Interactive to “Wait, I Didn’t Know PDFs Could Do That!”

This is a repository for my presentation at WLIA 2022.

Link to slides.

PDF Maps: From Static to Interactive to “Wait, I Didn’t Know PDFs Could Do That!”

You’ve probably used PDF maps before and you’ve probably even heard of a GeoPDF, but did you know that PDFs can have javascript? In this talk I will explore PDF maps from the simple interactive map exported from QGIS or GDAL to a more complicated example the pushes the limits of what can be achieved in PDFs.

Make GeospatialPDF with GDAL and Composition File

See gdal directory.

Run create_pdfs.py to create test.pdf. It takes the Wisconsin state outline shapefile and writes it to pdf.

Example PDFs

1. Parcels - Downtown Madison WI: Basic export from desktop GIS (QGIS). Explore layers, roads off by default, measure distance, explore features with data object tool. See example_pdfs/parcels - madsion for QGIS map files to see how random color palette symbology is done.

2. Tampa FD Temporal: Fire department service calls each day in Tampa. JavaScript bookmark allows for animation of data.

3. Derived Mountain Scene - Utah: 3D animation/interface for ortho draped over LiDAR. Explore the area in 3D space and checkout the bookmarks for a vantage point.