Long Rivers and DEMs

[Milaga]

It's mind boggling how much elevation change a river goes through in sometimes a very short distance. In fact the same gravity that pulls the water downhill also causes it to lay flat against the ground otherwise it would empty the valley pretty quick.

I suspect something as crafted as the Erie Canal may take all the tricks you can muster.

The canal is going to be somewhat low on my priority list. Especially since I'd like the route to allow a few different eras (NYC, Conrail and NS) and I am not entirely certain how much of the canal was in use for each. Looking through some old pictures I found that some of the large gradient changes were actually the dams and locks of the canal.

I also recently discovered that some of the roads I had laid were actually powerlines. D'oh!

 

[backyard]

I think there was a song about the Erie Canal...

Don't let the miss-application of the spline discourage you, you can recover any terrain loss using the Plateau Tool from the elevation of the powerline spline...but anyway, you can recover that!