Scree Representation on Topographic Maps

Scree patterns are an important element of mountain maps in Swiss style. The size and density of scree dots vary with the exposition towards a source of illumination, which makes the dots extremely labour intensive to map without specialized algorithms. This paper identifies design principles for the symbolisation of scree fields on mountain slopes and presents a digital method for the quick placement of dot symbols requiring only minimal interventions by a cartographer. When digitally produced scree is combined with a shaded relief and a rock drawing, the terrain appears as a continuous three-dimensional surface to the reader. The described method is implemented in Scree Painter, a specialized free open-source software application. Scree patterns produced with Scree Painter match the quality standards of manually generated scree representations.