Lab#8 Mapping the Census

        This is a map of the different percentages of blacks in the Continental United States. By looking at the map, the highest percentage of the black population is located mainly in lower Texas, most of New Mexico and Southern California. There are areas in the population where there are little percentage of black people like in Montana and Ohio for example. It looks like mainly in the northern United States there are less black people. What everyone needs to look at though is the legend. Although it may look like there is a high percentage of blacks in on area, most counties are under 5 percent. There are really only 4 counties that are above 50% and these are the highest ones. Because the cut-off of the last category is 50%, in conclusion, most counties percentage of black people are less than half.

      The percentage of Asians in the continental United States follows a somewhat similar trend as the percentage of Black people. However, the cut-off  for the last category in this map is at 20 percent. All the counties with the darkest shade that look like there must be a lot of Asians in this area can be misinterpreted. Most of these counties in the 20-100% range are lower than 30%. Also important to note is the the most percentage of Asians per county can mostly be found in Hawaii and Alaska. Because they are not a part of the continental US, they are not mapped here. Honolulu county has the highest percent of Asian, at around 43%.

     When taking census data, you are asked what race you are. Many people who choose "other" are people from Latin American descent, or Hispanic ethnicity. They chose other because they are not "white," "black," or "Asian." Therefore this trend looks very similar to the spread of Hispanics across the continental US. They are mainly found in Southern California and southern Texas. Also, it is important to note that this also includes all who choose "other" including people who identify themselves as Indian, Southeast Asian, or anything else that is not "white," "black," or "Asian." 

     The maps that were made were all using the data from the 2000 US Census and only the continental US was mapped. This obviously can cause a problem when showing data information for counties that matter in Hawaii and Alaska that show high percentages of Asians. However, for percentage of "Blacks" or "Other" it really does not matter, unless you would want to see how little the population percentage they are in those counties. In all three of the maps there was a noticeable trend and similarity. Most of the concentration of all the percentages were located in the Southwest mainly in California and Texas. California is generally known for being ethnically diverse in many ways and could be a main reason why there is a wide variety of races. Also, it makes sense that the Hispanics who choose "other" are located in the Southwest near Texas, New Mexico and California because Mexico is just across the border. Therefore, many Hispanics would live there. In conclusion, the maps look similar to each other because they really represent the ethnic diversity of the areas of the Southwest. 

     My overall impression of of GIS was satisfaction. I was very pleased with all of the lab activities and the course material. The material was not too difficult to understand and the lectures were organized. I loved doing the lab assignments because I thought they were fun and easy. However, when we began working with the ArcMap program, they were a bit more challenging. But I believe that a really good course has to challenge its students in order for them to learn. It was very frustrating at times, but so satisfying when I finally worked things out. I'm excited for the intermediate GIS course and further expanding my knowledge on the subject!

Lab #7 Station Fire

Los Angeles County Station Fire

August-September 2009

 

 

                The Los Angeles County Station Fire of August and September 2009 was the largest and most threatening forest fire California has ever seen. It burned roughly 160,600 acres and cost nearly 94 million dollars to fight and contain. All firefighters worked around the clock and risked their lives for the safety of others. Because of climate and elevation, the Station fire posed a major threat to the nearby communities and caused the shutdown of roads within the fires extent.  

                As seen in the Station Fire Extent reference map, the fire that started on August 26, 2009, had burned a total of 1,174 in just one day. By September 2, it had burned 144,121 acres of land in just one week (File:StationFire4Sept.jpg 2009).  Although it was revealed that the fire was started by arson, a major reason the fire burned so quickly was because of California’s chapparal vegetation cover along with “bone dry conditions.” (CNN). Chaparral vegetation cover is a combination of plants that are very dry and bush-like in nature and make for really good fire fuel. California is covered with it (“Fire & Nature”). Because of the dry vegetation, the fire was able to spread so quickly. Furthermore, the weather conditions reported on August 29, 2009 were “bone-dry conditions” and did not get better for the next five days. Furthermore, this fire was unpredictable because “the fire [had] sent plumes of thick smoke spiraling as much as 20,000 feet into the air [and created] its own wind patterns” (CNN). A major reason the extent of the fire was so severe was due to in part the conditions and vegetation cover of Southern California

                Another reason the fire was so severe was elevation. Because the fire burned in the Mountains, there were many slopes the fire could jump to. Looking at the elevation map, it is noticeable that the elevation ranges from about sea level to approximately 3,000 feet. Area near where the fire started (August 26, 2009) is at a lower elevation. The direction of which the fire spread is up the slopes of the mountain and towards the highest elevation. Areas near Mount Wilson experienced severe damage (InciWeb). This is because fires burn a lot easier going uphill, because gravity helps lift the fire up. Therefore, the fire burned so quickly because it easily worked its way up hill. Furthermore, the fire also burned so quickly and to a large extent because the mountainous terrain made it even harder for the firefighters to help contain it. Two weeks into the fire, it was only 62% contained (L.A. Now) because of climate and elevation factors working in favor of the fire.

                Because this fire was so large and burned acres so quickly, it posed a threat to the nearby communities and caused roads to be closed. The areas that were threatened were La Canada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock, and Altadena, as well as Sunland  and Tujunga neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles (2009 California wildfires). Within these areas, thousands of structures were threatened. About 209 residences, commercial property, and outbuildings were destroyed (Inciweb). A major problem for people driving, was that many roads were closed. Mapped above are the major roads of the area near the fire. Of the roads closed were the Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2) and Azusa Canyon (Highway 39). These roads act as passageways through the mountains, therefore people wanting to drive through had to go around. Other roads closed were Normanton Drive, Earnslow Drive, Fairhurst Drive, Rock Castle Drive, Canalda Drive and Ocean View Boulelvard north of Canalda Drive, in La Canada Flintridge and people living on those roads were evacuated (“Listown.com”). These areas were closed as a result of the largest fire Los Angeles has ever seen many people were endangered because of its severity.

                The Station Fire took nearly seven weeks to completely stop burning because of the dry climate and elevation factors. During this time, many people, homes, communities, and wildlife were put at risk due to the flames raging across their familiar land. As a result of the fire, some homes were permanently damaged and destroyed and many roads were impaired. This made a huge impact on the communities surrounding the Station Fire for many months after.

Works Cited 

"2009 California wildfires ." Wikipedia. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires#Los_Angeles_County>

CNN. "'Angry Fire' roars across 100,000 California acres." Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (2009): n. pag. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander/2?_s=PM:US>.

"File:StationFire4Sept.jpg." Wikipedia. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StationFire4Sept.jpg>.

"Fire and Nature ." Wild Fire in the Chaparral . California Chaparral Institute, 2010. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://www.californiachaparral.com/firenature.html>.

Inciweb. "Station Fire News Release." InciWeb the Incident Information System (2009): n. pag. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://www.inciwed.org/incident/article/9549>

L.A. Now, . "Crews try to construct line around Station fire." Los Angeles Times. (2009): n. pag. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-1.html>.

"LA Station Fire 2009." Listown.com. listown.com Inc. , 2009. Web. 22 Nov 2010. <http://www.listown.com/group/la-station-fire-2009-6336>.

Lab#6 Digital Elevation Models

3D Model

 

The area of which I chose to do my digital elevation models was Shasta County in Northern California, right around 42 degrees north of the equator and 124 degrees west of the Prime Meridian. I chose this area because it is very mountainous and would be a good example in showing digital elevation models. In the shaded relief model, the high elevation areas (the mountains) are represented by reds, orange, and yellows and the lower elevations (the valleys and gorges) are represented by light to dark purples. The slope model shows that in the entire map, the slope is more than 88.9, therefore throughout the map there is a steep slope. The aspect model shows all the areas that face a certain way. For example all areas in the map that are facing north are shaded red. The 3D model, my favorite, draws a 3-dimensional picture of the mountains as if we were looking down at it from an angle.  The extent of the map in decimal degrees is starting at the top: 42.0016666667; left: -124.001666667; right: -122.998333333; and bottom: 40.99833333. The information downloaded for this map was from the North American Geographic Coordinate System 1983 and the datum is the 1983 North American Datum.

Lab #5 Projections in ArcGIS

 

 

     Map projections are used to represent the three-dimensional earth on a two-dimensional picture. Just by hearing that statement alone would suggest that there are many implications when making map projections and many maps are distorted. This is because it is so difficult to create a flat projection of an object that is a sphere. Therefore, when you look at different map projections and compare it to an image of the earht, the size and shape of a continent of country on the projection will look different than the continents or countries on the earth. There are many different map projections and each of them have their own unique way of representing the earth. There are three types of map projections: equal area, equidistant, and conformal. 

     Equal area map projections try to preserve area. This means that the area on the map is proportional to that of the area on the globe. The two examples I have are the Sinusoidal Projection and the Bonne Projection. When comparing the distances between Wathington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan the Sinusoidal map distance is 7,800 miles and the Bonne map distance is 6,500 miles. This is obviously because if you look at the projections, the Bonne map is more compact in the north than the sinusoidal. The advantages of using these maps is that it preserves the total area of the country, however the problem is that it does not preserve the shape. Therefore the map is generally distorted because some countries that are far from the prime meridian are not the same thing. It is therefore difficult to generate a true distance between two points because one point is not really in the same place relative to the other.

     Equidistant map projections preserves distance from some standard point or line. My two examples are conic and cylindrical. In the conic equidistant map, you can see that that the shortest distance between D.C. and Kabul is over the Arctic in stead of an arch. Therefore the distance in miles is only 6,750 because the path that is taken is different than on other maps. However, the distance between D.C. and Kabul in the cylindrical equidistant map is only 4,900 miles and that is because when the parallels and meridians are proportional, it squishes the lateral distance of the map and makes the map look taller. Therefore, the problems with using there maps is that the farther away you go from the prime meridian and the equator the more distorted the map gets (exception: conic). I believe that the conic example however is pretty accurate because it shows the shortest distance between the two points. However I believe the cylindrical is not accurate in this case because it is completely distorted. If you look at Antarctica, it is not that huge on the globe.

     Conformal maps preserve the angles of the intersections of parallels and meridians. My two examples are the Mercator and the Gall Stereographic map. The Mercator map projection distance from D.C. to Kabul is 6,700 miles and the Gall Stereographic is 6,900 miles. These two maps have the closest distance related to one another in my map projection categories. Although they may seem accurate, they may not be. This is because looking at both you will notice that the Mercator is very long but thin and Antarctica is HUGE and take up the entire bottom of the map. The same is for the Gall Stereographic map. Greenland is also not that same size and Australia looks tiny. Therefore, the areas and shapes of objects and distances between them become more distorted the further away from the Equator and prime meridian you go. 

     From doing this assignment I've learned that map projections can be very deceiving because it is so difficult to get a 3-D figure on a 2-D plane. Most of the projections can only focus on preserving on thing and at that expense, it will distort another. But what projection should we use if they all don't see very accurate. Luckily today we have satellites for GPS and have ways to figure out the true distance from one place to another. However, from looking at all the different map projections, what is the true distance from Washington D.C. to Kabul, Afghanistan?

Lab #4 ArcGIS

The first time I opened the ArcGIS application I was a little bit rushed because the only thing I could think about was a midterm I had to take the next day. Because my learning ability was not up to par, I wasn’t paying very much attention. I also did not have a USB drive so I just went through some of the steps without saving. I thought the program was intimidating because I was stressed and barely understood what exactly I was doing. The tutorial also seemed way too long for me to focus and retain any information so I went through one of the exercises and went to go study another subject. Later the next week, I also had midterms to study for and therefore did not put a lot of thought into the assignment.

However, once my midterms had ended and I was free to do as I wished, I looked into the ArcMap assignment. First, I read through the tutorial without the program. This really helped because when I got to the lab to follow the steps it was a lot easier because I already had a sense of what to do. It was also a lot easier because it seemed a lot shorter than it originally seemed. It was like my second time going through the process.The next day I did the tutorial one more time and it was even easier. Although I had some problems finding some files (because I was getting ahead of myself and forgot the steps I took the day before) I was able to successfully finish the tutorial. I had also gotten a USB drive to save my work this time because I knew I would have to put it on my blog later. This made working with the ArcGIS even easier because I knew that I wasn’t going to lose my maps. By reading over the entire tutorial and then going through the steps twice, I believe that that really helped in making me more familiar to the program. Although I’m not an expert, there is still plenty of room for improvement. 

ArcMap can be of significant use to everyone. It certainly comes in handy when discussing future plans like predicting environmentaal impact. In the case of the airport noise contour map in the tutorial, we can see all the areas that will be affected by the airplane noise. From looking at this map, urban planners will be able to tell what buildings will need sound proof windows. Also, it is of great use when looking at environmental impact. People can map out things like carbon dioxide emissions, logging, or animal habitats and calculate where and to what extent an impact has on the environment. The map maker has the ability to upload information to the map in order to explain what the map is trying to portray. By doing this, he allows many people to understand the concepts the map is representing.

However, although ArcMap has a lot of potential because it can hold, display and organize a lot of information, it can be very difficult to understand. Although the tutorial was very straight forward, some of the directions were difficult to understand and I made a lot of mistakes. It can be very frustrating to learn. It took me two tries to get what the map was actually displaying and when I did get it, it was still not completely clear. Also, when you have the power of making the maps, you have authority over what goes into it. A lot of information could be left out by this and therefore make some concepts to readers unclear. For example if I had left out the airport, many people would be confused as to what they were looking at. So it is very important to include the important information and only leave out what it unnecessary.

Lab #3 Neogreography

View On Oahu in a larger map


    This is a map of places I went and things I did while on the island of Oahu for my uncle's wedding. My mom's family was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, right around the corner from a famous snorkel location: Hanauma Bay. My mom and I arrived in Honolulu on July 13. My dad and two sisters did not arrive until Thursday night. On Wednesday, the 14th, all the uncles and friends went to Wet 'n' Wild water park for the bachelor party. Although this was a casual "family" bachelor party, I still felt a little awkward being there with all the guys. It will probably be the only bachelor party I'll get to attend in my life. Later that week on Thursday, My uncle Chip, cousin Dan, sister Coral and I went to different beaches on the island like Sandy's and Aukai's and went bodysurfing. We also went to the wedding rehearsal. The next day was a beautiful day to have a wedding, despite the rain, there was a double rainbow: a sign of good luck. After the wedding we partook in various Chinese traditions and danced and ate at the reception. The rest of the week consisted on going out to dinner and shopping at some locations I have tagged in my map.

    Neogregraphy is a generally new concept on the internet today. It allows for people without any prior experience to make maps using the Google Maps tool. They make it really easy to embed the map that you make onto your website or blog in order to show your friends and family what you’re up to or where you've been or what interests you. Although it is easy to use, that might just be a pitfall of neogeography: anyone can use it. Therefore anyone can put on a map where you live and anyone can gain access to any information found in databases available to the public. One map, for example, mapped out who was funding for political campaigns in the San Francisco Bay area. The map had their name, where they lived and how much money they donated to a certain party. There are obviously privacy issues that have aroused because of this map. What if someone was a strong advocate of the Democratic Party in the area and use this map to target people who are giving money to the republicans. The sense of being public and having the world know where you live ruins privacy. Also, because anyone can make the maps now, there is no authority regulating what goes into them. Before, map making was a government aspect, but now that people have such abundant access to making their own maps, they have the power to put whatever they want into them. Again this leads back to the privacy issue and people need to be aware that through these maps, a lot of personal information can be exposed and anyone can gain access to them.

Lab #2 Topography

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?
    Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
    Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice and Inglewood.

3. When was the quadrangle first created?
    1966

4. What datum was used to create your map?
 North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) and North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83).

5. What is the scale of the map?
    1:24,000

6. At the above scale, answer the following:

  a) 5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to how many meters on the ground?
      1200 meters
  b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
       1.8939 miles
  c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
       2.64 inches
  d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?
       12.5 centimeters
      
7. What is the contour interval on your map?
    20 feet; the supplemental contour interval is 10 feet.

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:

  a) the Public Affairs Building:  34°04’27”N /118°26’25”W or 34.07° / -118.44°
    
  b) the tip of Santa Monica pier: 34°00’24”N/ 118°29’55”W or 34.01° / -118.50°

  c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34°6’11”N/118°24’46”W or 34.01° / -118.41°

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
  a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park);
     580 feet; 176.784 meters
  b) Woodlawn Cemetery;
     140 feet; 42.67 meters
  c) Crestwood Hills Park;
     around 550-560 feet; 167.64-170.68 meters

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?
     Zone 11 N

11. What are the UTM coordinents of thelower left corner of the map?
     3763000 northings and 3614000 eastings

12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines?
      1,000,000 meters squared

13. Obtain elevation measurements, from west to east along the UTM northing 3771000, where the eastings of the UTM grid intersect the northing. Create an elevation profile using these measurements in Excel (hint: create a line chart). Figure out how to label the elevation values to the two measurements on campus. Insert your elevation profile as a graphic in your blog.

14. What is the magnetic declination of the map?
      14°

15. In which direction does water flow in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon
Reservoir?
      Water is flowing South.

16. Crop out (i.e., cut and paste) UCLA from the map and include it as a graphic on your blog.