Mapping the Ice Age

The last Ice Age occurred 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was the last period in this Ice Age when the ice sheets were at their greatest extension. This was around 26,500 years ago.

Thanks to the Swiss federal mapping agency you can now view a 2.5D map of how Switzerland looked during the Last Glacial Maximum. You can view the Swiss LGM map in 2.5D, on a WebGL enabled browser, on the Swiss Geoportal.

Ralph Straumann has noticed that the Swiss Geoportal map overlays the LGM layer on top of the normal Digital Elevation Model used by the Swiss mapping agency. Therefore the elevation data is not actually correct for the Last Glacial Maximum. Ralph has therefore created his own WebGL 2.5D map of Switzerland using the correct elevation data for the Last Glacial Maximum.

You can view Ralph's map and a number of screenshots comparing the differences in elevation data in his LGM map with that of the Swiss Geoportal at Spatialists.