User talk:Kmusser

:en:User talk:Kmusser

Autopatrol given

Hello. I just wanted to let you know that I have granted autopatrol rights to your account; the reason for this is that I believe you are sufficiently trustworthy and experienced to have your contributions automatically marked as "reviewed". This has no effect on your editing, it is simply intended to make it easier for users that are monitoring Recent changes or Recent uploads to find unproductive edits amidst the productive ones like yours. In addition, the Flickr upload feature and an increased number of batch-uploads in UploadWizard, uploading of freely licensed MP3 files, overwriting files uploaded by others and an increased limit for page renames per minute are now available to you. Thank you. INeverCry 19:14, 14 April 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	Hello, just wanted to appreciate your map of the Columbia River Basin. My time on the Canadian side of the "CRB" was memorable. The 49th parallel really is artificial. Political boundaries are necessary but we sometimes lose sight of the essential geography of where we are. LFlagg LFlagg (talk) 22:39, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

LFlagg (talk) 22:41, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

File:Caribbean general map.png

File:Caribbean general map.png has been listed at Commons:Deletion requests so that the community can discuss whether it should be kept or not. We would appreciate it if you could go to voice your opinion about this at its entry. If you created this file, please note that the fact that it has been proposed for deletion does not necessarily mean that we do not value your kind contribution. It simply means that one person believes that there is some specific problem with it, such as a copyright issue. Please see Commons:But it's my own work! for a guide on how to address these issues. Please remember to respond to and – if appropriate – contradict the arguments supporting deletion. Arguments which focus on the nominator will not affect the result of the nomination. Thank you!

117.206.206.22 23:19, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

West African drainage map

Hello, I was looking for a map of subsaharan West Africa showing the lakes and rivers, for the article on African rice. You've done some lovely drainage-basin maps of the area, and I wondered if you would be willing to make one (assuming I haven't overlooked it). HLHJ (talk) 17:04, 10 August 2016 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm afraid my day job has been keeping me too busy to work on wiki maps. There is one showing the major basins in the en:Geography of Africa. Kmusser (talk) 16:11, 11 August 2016 (UTC)

Image data source question

Image data source question

Hi! I couldn't figure out how else to contact you through Wikipedia. I had a question about the graphic of changes in reservation land over time that you created on the Great Sioux Reservation page using "National Atlas data and the original treaty descriptions". I'd like to cite your image in a research paper I'm writing on the history of the Lakota (Sioux). Is there any chance you could more clearly explain your citations/sources used in the creation of this graphic (any research you did to create it) and affirm that you are the original creator of the graphic? Thank you for your help! Count paris (talk) 17:40, 28 April 2018 (UTC)

The graphic is mine, and you are welcome to it per the Wikimedia license. The National Atlas was a website, it has since changed its name to The National Map, and it is currently at https://nationalmap.gov/, it is the source for the current tribal boundaries and all background layers (states, counties, and the rivers). A description of the original Great Sioux Reservation is in the Treaty of Fort Laramie, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fort_Laramie_Treaty_of_1868. The reductions were all Acts of Congress, 1877 can be found at http://legisworks.org/sal/19/stats/STATUTE-19-Pg254.pdf; 1889 can be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20100607001901/http://www.und.edu/dept/indian/Treaties/Division%20of%20great%20sioux%20reservation%201889.pdf; 1910 can be found at https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/61st-congress/session-2/c61s2ch257.pdf. Note the status of Bennett County, SD is still disputed, I was going for showing the de facto situation, but the entire county is still claimed by the Lakota to be part of the Pine Ridge reservation. Kmusser (talk) 13:53, 29 April 2018 (UTC)

Massachusetts Bay map

Hi! I noticed a typo on the map you created at https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Masscolony.png -- in one case you typed "Massachuseetts" with a double e.

If you have the original files and could easily fix this, that would be great. If not, I might do a copy/paste fix at some point.

Thanks! ClaudiaM (talk) 20:14, 7 September 2018 (UTC)

Well that's embarrassing given how long that has been there, thanks for catching it. I don't have the original files, but it was easy enough to fix in Photoshop. Kmusser (talk) 20:17, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

Awash River Basin

This is quite a lovely map of the Awash River watershed! However, if I'm understanding/interpreting the map correctly (as intended), it is misleading and doesn't appear to match the actual geography which it represents.

The use of color shading, highlighting and contrast in your map gives the distinct impression that the Awash watershed/basin extends south to include Lake Awassa (not labeled on map) and therefore including the Rift Valley lakes to the north between Awassa & the Awash river. This inclusion is emphasized by the depiction of interconnecting rivers between Shalla, Abiyata, Langano, Zway and on to the Awash. If this is not your intention then you should edit your map accordingly which clearly depicts the actual southern extent of the Awash watershed.

You specifically stated that this is your work and analyses, and I do not recall having ever seen a depiction of the Awash basin which extended south of the Koka reservoir so it doesn't seem like you copied it from an erroneous source. But I can't imagine why you would have designed your map as you did if you were not trying to depict the Awash watershed extending south of Lake Awassa. Do you disagree that your map gives the impression that the Awash basin extends south of Awassa? Or do you dispute the extent of Awash basin? If so, on what grounds? Most of the sources you cite are the same sources which supply the data for Google Earth; however, a quick check of elevations in Google Earth reveals significant contradictions with your map. However, I wasn't able to locate the Rand McNally Atlas you cite as a reference…

I have great person interest in lakes, rivers and hydrological features in general, and I lived (several miles from Lake Shalla) and traveled a great deal in this part of Ethiopia for over two years. I have hiked the entire circumference of the 4 southern most lakes (Awassa, Shalla, Abiyata & Langano) which you assert to be in the Awash basin, as well as a significant portion of Lake Zway and some of the Koka Reservoir. I can tell you definitively that the Koka Reservoir is the ONLY one of those lakes which is drained by the Awash river. There is plenty of literature and data supporting this fact (numerous scientific papers covering topics of rifting, volcanology, geology, hydrology and so on). I'm trying to figure out how you could have interpreted the elevation data to reach your conclusions, but I can't. It seems that either you made some serial errors somewhere in your process or else you simply ignored the actual data for whatever reason.

Lake Zway, Langano & Abiyata are an endoheric (closed) basin system with Abiyata being the lowest (hence both the Bulbulla & Horakelo rivers which drain Lake Zway & Langano respectively flow into Abiyata, the only outflow from this system as a whole is through evaporation & ground water. There is also a general decline in elevation heading south from Lake Zway all the way to Kenya, this is verifiable in Google Earth and any other source! Lake Shalla is also an endoheric system as well as being lower than Abiyata; it also occupies the sizable caldera of the extinct O'a volcano whose explosive eruption left a deep hole and scattered rocks and lava throughout the surrounding area.

There is NO river connecting Shalla & Abiyata, there are however, two intermittent streams- one draining into each lake during the rainy season flooding- whose paths come quite close for a short span at which point they are only separated by a thin ridge.

Awassa is also an endoheric system which is hundreds of feet lower than Shalla. And it also lies in what appears to be a very large caldera of an ancient volcano, the remnants of which can be found in several more recently active volcanic features.

I can't imagine what would motivate you to create a falsified and misleading map; but I also find it hard to believe that it is simply the result of error. There is far too much readily available data which directly contradicts your map. And I have spent many days traversing these areas on foot, which makes one acutely aware of elevation and contours of the land. I have also witnessed the flow of the rivers depicted in your map during the flooding season and I am well aware of the direction of flow.

Do you have any comments you would like to share? I am certainly curious…

I think it is clear that you must remove or revise your map to reflect the actual geography which it depicts. 73.128.129.213 19:06, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

You are interpreting the basin boundary as intended - I got that boundary directly from the U.S. Geological Survey GTOPO database without any editing from me and it definitely includes the lakes as part of the same basin as the Awash - I will say though that that source has failed me in other cases, so I'm not too surprised that it might be wrong here as well. It is intended be historical basins, i.e. it will connect basins that are only connected at very high water flows, so do let me know if that changes things. If I throw that source out, I don't see anything connecting Awassa and Shala to the other lakes. I drew in a Shala-Abijata connection based on those intermittant streams, that one is my error. Zway-Koka is a little more complicated as Google maps shows a river connecting them labeled as Awash which is where I got that connection. Now that you point it out though I can see though the ridge between them making that unlikely. Am I correct in assuming that Google's Awash label there is in error and that is really two streams that don't quite connect, one flowing to the Koka and one flowing to Zway? If so I can work on changing the map accordingly. If you have an alternate source for the basin boundary that would be helpful. Kmusser (talk) 04:22, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

P.S. since you are familiar with the area, can you tell me if the little lake at [1] flows out to the Awash or Koka or is it its own little basin? Kmusser (talk) 04:32, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

I took a crack at making a new version, let me know if it looks better. Kmusser (talk) 22:33, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

Your map of the Columbia basin is one of the most lucid among maps available easily. While I have not used your other contributions specifically, I do note you have made a large volume of high-quality map contributions, which I greatly appreciate on behalf of other users! Deccantrap (talk) 22:37, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Correction to York River map

I had need of a good map of the York River area, and yours was very helpful. Thanks! In using it, however, I noticed a typo: The one-time capital of Virginia is identified as "Williamsbug". I guess it's a bug in the map.  :) JamesMLane (talk) 22:31, 29 February 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for catching that, I'll get it fixed shortly. Kmusser (talk) 04:33, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

File:Tarimrivermap.png requires updating

Hi Kmusser,
Thank you for your contributions to Commons. I noticed File:Tarimrivermap.png is out of date. The China-Tajikistan border has changed. Could you update it? Thanks again. Geographyinitiative (talk) 01:42, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

Thanks, sadly I don't have the original files for that map anymore, but I edited in a fix in Photoshop the best I could. Kmusser (talk) 13:19, 11 March 2020 (UTC)

I just saw your comment here. Thanks for your help fixing the map. I think two or maybe three people have responded to my pleas to fix the maps. If you don't have the time (or disagree about something) then feel free to ignore my requests below (the normal response I get!). It's such a great thing to have these resources, and I want to make them the best we can. Thanks so much for your time. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 10:57, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

File:Tarimrivermap.png requires updating

Hi Kmusser,
Thank you for your contributions to Commons. I noticed File:Tarimrivermap.png is out of date. Demchok is fourth type of territory that is administered by India and claimed by China (and potentially Pakistan?). Also, China's claim on Nelang, controlled by India, is ignored.[2]. Also, in the small inset map in the bottom right corner, Aksai Chin is included in India without showing the Line of Actual Control. Seems like the lines for both the Indian claim and the Line of Actual control should be shown in that map. Could you update it? Thanks again. Geographyinitiative (talk) 10:46, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Also, I wanted to say thanks for fixing the China-Tajikistan border line. I've been asking people to fix this line on all the maps since January but I think you're the only one who has done anything about it! I'm just trying to keep Wikipedia up-to-date, and the CIA World Factbook shows the new line as the border. Thanks for your work. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 10:48, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

I just noticed that Demchok is colored in purple which would mean that it's a territory controlled by China that is claimed by India. But in fact, as far as I can tell, it's actually a territory controlled by India and claimed by China (and Pakistan? probably not right?) I would say that this territory warrants a fourth color. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 10:55, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

For reference, see [3] which shows the "International boundary, in dispute" on the eastern side of Demchok Geographyinitiative (talk) 11:06, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Also the Nelang area (another India controlled and China claimed area) is ignored in this map. --Geographyinitiative (talk) 11:11, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Done, I think I got all that, I don't want to get too bogged down in the competing claims since they are not the subject of the map, but hopefully that's an improvement. Kmusser (talk) 18:12, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

North of Oregon Territory

Thanks for your help on that last one! I've got another question for you- what does the color above 54 40 in this image File:Oregoncountry2.png represent? Please ping me if you have any thoughts on this. Thanks again for your great work! --Geographyinitiative (talk) 20:07, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

I think that area was disputed between the U.K. and Russia, though it's possible it wasn't claimed by either, either way I considered that outside the scope of the map since I was just trying to show the U.S. - U.K. dispute and the U.S. claim definitely ended at the 54 40 line. Kmusser (talk) 20:35, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Your Maps

I really like your maps, but I'm not sure to find them in one place. How could I do this? Historical Cartograph (talk) 05:20, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kmusser/Images or https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ListFiles/Kmusser&ilshowall=1 will work. Kmusser (talk) 13:31, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

Ok, thank you! Historical Cartograph (talk) 15:42, 13 January 2021 (UTC)

File:Upper Gambia OSM.png

Hello Kmusser, @Brühl: and I have a small problem that we are trying to solve. It's about the Koulountou, a left tributary of the Gambia River. Based on the US military map ND28-16 (250k) and CCCP map d28-4 (500k), it appears that the Koulountou changes its name to Kouregnaki as it approaches its source. In a third credible source, the Kouregnaki appears to be a tributary (https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers12-06/33789.pdf#page=24). You once created the map of the Gambia catchment area and have often been able to help me. Do you have any further information that could help us? regards Peter in s (talk) 19:18, 3 March 2021 (UTC)

I couldn't find anything definitive, just to add another sources geonames.org has Kouregnaki starting near where the river makes the turn and lists Koulountou as an alternate name which I think supports the idea of it being another name for the Upper Koulountou without really having a clear starting point. I think I'd go with the majority of sources here and go with that rather being a separate tributary. Kmusser (talk) 14:24, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

File:Yalurivermap.png requires updating

Hi Kmusser,
Thank you for your contributions to Commons. I noticed File:Yalurivermap.png is out of date. Cartography's cardinal precept is learned in pre-Kindergarten: color inside the lines. Could you update it? Thanks again. Geographyinitiative (talk) 01:55, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

Thank you!

The map in [list of caribbean islands] is great. Thank you very much! Jo3sampl (talk) 22:10, 3 April 2023 (UTC)