Then I got kinda experimental, what if only the cities at night, and no other color data? (well, I left the ocean in place)
Follow
you might also notice I have a missing bit of elevation data in the East :/ Still working on that.
This technique is so much fun though! Seeing the mountains "pop" as I get the lighting and displacement modifier just right in Blender is very satisfying.
I've been working on a poster sized render of the mid Atlantic (DC, Philly, NYC). I want to overlay more data on this. Still thinking about what. But I'm liking how the terrain is looking. Lots of little improvements yet to come.