I made this like a topo map. Cut out the Lake and etched in the roads.
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This arrived in my Instructables email today: http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-3D-Topographical-Maps/?ALLSTEPS.
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Bookmarked 
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Bookmarked and experimented. Thanks!
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I think I still have my map somewhere. If I can find it Iāll happily scan it for you. This was my favorite computer game of all time.
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Sticking this video here as a reality check for project planning: TLDW: Itās good to do some calculations in cost of time, materials, tools, design, and learning before setting out to make some money using a laser.
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Ha! I came here specifically to pasty the same link that I found in my email todayš
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And this is why I said the advent of the GF would not mean the topo map world would be saturated.
People are making money but there is more to it than getting a laser as he does a great job pointing out.
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Maybe once I have the glowforge Iāll make a tutorial start to finish going from publicly available GIS data to 3D relief map. I might even be able to start soon with file prep.
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One of the first big map projects Iād love to do is combine old, hand-drawn maps of cities with 3D topographical info of the region. I remember some studios using GIS back at schoolā¦as big of a pain as working in the software was, now I wish Iād actually attempted it!
I donāt think this site gives topographical data, but for pretty much anything else (including buildings and maybe even building heights if itās a major enough region!) there is Cadmapper:
Downloadable files in a variety of formats are free up to 1 km squared! Thereās no limit on how many freebies you download as well, so with a little planning you can grab a pretty big chunk of terrain in smaller clusters. You can even specify how much or how little of the available data you would like.
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wow that sounds like it could be a lot of fun in VR too! Like a custom map explorer where you can travel around the world in any scale you want, add and change map layers, like oldschool map overlays, 3d overlays etc.
maybe even look down at mount everest, or take a seat in the pacific ocean and watch the waves roll over all the continents lol
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It would!!! I really wish I had been born a little sooner so that I could have had the chance to work on game development for the first few Assassinās Creed gamesā¦building and modeling Renaissance Rome, Florence, and Venice? That must have been so much fun!
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its not too late! you know someone is going to attempt to remake the entire planet in 3d down to very small scale. not just that, but there are tons of games out there needing 3d modelers, especially someone with architecture chops!
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Alas in this simulation I canāt make myself 1000ft tall. If I could my scaled up lungs probably couldnāt handle the stress of breathing in this atmosphere. Even if I could Iād probably breathe up everyoneās air haha.
I canāt wait for a matrix/grid to happen to see what the equivalent of an ISO would be.
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Very true!! I could easily find myself being happy as a 3D modeler/architectural visualization person for my full-time job. Iāve thought about getting Unreal Engine to dabble in 3D walkthroughs of some of my school projects, but I just know I currently donāt have enough free time to devote to trying to learn it 
@jbvā¦whoa. 
Well thatās awesome. I donāt have enough time to fully investigate it right now though.
Here is the Link from the article incase anyone canāt find it easily enough.
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I went to that site hoping to download the data, but Iām not sure what link from there will do the trick. What format is the data in?
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) files, both .kmz and .dem for import into GIS systems. KMZs can be imported into Google Earth.
Not directly usable by any off the normal tools weāve discussed other than full-blown GIS. YMMV.
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