Moving Beyond the Frame: Geovisualization of Landscape Change Along the Southwestern Edge of Yosemite National Park

Abstract

As part of the 1930s New Deal programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps funded a team of photographers to capture forest landscapes, including those in the Stanislaus National Forest and southwestern portion of Yosemite National Park. While initially, the program focused on assessing travel time, terrain challenges, and viewable area, the program went on to acquire expressly made Osborne Panoramic Cameras, which were used to take panoramic photos from fire towers and other potential lookout peaks. We utilized panoramic photos by Lester Moe, which are typical unidirectional panoramic images (360° x-axis) as the basis for this repeat photography project. Many of the human and natural features have changed in the intervening years, which present an added challenge for obtaining aligned photo sets. We utilized a combination of geovisualization technologies to capture, compare, and communicate imagery, including the Wide-Area Visualization Environment (WAVE) and omnidirectional “spherical projection” CaveCam (360° x- and y-axis). This workflow applies a novel technological approach to a common landscape photography method to overcome some of the challenges associated with repeatability and offer valuable additional high-resolution data.