A friend of mine owns a campground. Just east of Eureka it is bordered by Panther Creek along US Route 24. Well you can’t really see it from 24 unless you know where to look. At any rate they needed an updated map and to be able to print copies without restriction. See the map they previously had was done by a printing company and was bound by copyright restrictions because of the advertisements.

They contacted me and asked if I could help them. Of course. They’re good people.

Because of these same restrictions, I couldn’t scan the old map to use as a guide for heads up digitizing. That didn’t matter anyway because the county had great 2019 imagery for me to digitize on. I made roads, sites, outlined buildings, recreation areas, and trails. I did grab some data from the state for waterways and the lakes.

It was cathartic to be making a map again, like really making a map from scratch. Of course I couldn’t go crazy with cartographic license because my friend/client wanted specific colors and points of interest to align with the old map. People get used to what they know, you know? But since I essentially made it into a GIS, changing symbology is no sweat. I used ArcGIS Pro for the project. it probably took 15-20 hours in total.

I recommended a printer. Here is a PDF of the Map. Do me a favor and Visit Hickory Hills Campground sometime.

Above is should be a working application hosted on ArcGIS Online. Here is the link if is is not working.

Happy camping!