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.

Lab #1 Maps

 


Matt's House
I found this map interesting when I was looking through maps online at handmaps.org. It was drawn by two people named Courtney and Matt from the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle. This was Courtney's mental map of how to find Matt's house in the general area. What I thought was most interesting about the map was that Matt's house is not located in the center of the map, but a Jack in the Box is (or close to the center). This represents the concept of landmark knowledge or identifying unique features as reference points in order to make sense of your navigational tactics. The reasons why the Jack in the Box is represented is probably because both Courtney and Matt are familiar with the location of the Jack in the Box and it serves as a sort of benchmark for a relative location to Matt's House. I also liked the fact that this map is not draw to scale and there are missing streets and other missing landmarks due to Courtney and Matt's lack of knowledge or unfamiliarity of the area. This map is like many other mental maps people store in their minds of places where they either live, work, or just walk around. It represents the importance of memory and that the things left out aren't as important as the objects being reproduced on paper because in reality, someone doesn't need to deal with extra distractions when getting to a destination.

Map of CO2 Emissions in the United States of America
 I found this map on an environmental awareness website called One Green Generation at the following url: http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?p=366 . It was made by Kevin Gurney and the Vulcan Project, Purdue University and supported by NASA and USDOE. This map shows the approximate Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the United States back in 2002. What I found to be the most interesting thing about this map is the distribution of the CO2 emissions throughout the United States. The high concentrations of emissions are clustered into the urban and highly populated areas. This is because since most CO2 emissions are from automobiles, the highly populated areas will emit the most CO2 pollution. It's also generally located in urban areas because people need to earn a decent living in order to own a car, therefore the urban areas are the areas with more cars. This also works in reverse: the rural, underpopulated areas have less emissions because there are less people who own cars. Since many different maps can be associated with urban areas in the United States such as pollution, fast food restaurants, and obesity, I can say that there is a strong interaction between the highly populated urban areas, cars, CO2 emissions, obesity etc. because they are all linked to one another and have an effect on each aspect.

Topographic Map of Mauna Kea

This is a topographic map of Mauna Kea made by the USGS found at this website: http://www.skimountaineer.com/ROF/ROF.php?name=MaunaKea. Located on the big island of Hawaii, this dormant volcano is the highest point in the state. I initially chose this map because I love the Islands of Hawaii (who doesn't) but more importantly I love looking at topographic maps. Just the idea of someone trying to produce a three dimentional figure onto a two dimentional piece of paper (or computer screen) interests me. I enjoy looking at this map because it gives me a slight idea of how tall the mountain is and how steep the slope is. The closer the contour lines, the sleeper the slope, therefore, since this map of Mauna Kea shows very close contour lines, it indicates a steep slope. However, the thing that intrigues me most is the tricks topographic maps play on your mind. To me, although I know that this is a 13,000 foot mountain, it looks like it could be the opposite: a crater with below sea level or decreasing elevation. This shows the complexity of making topographic maps and how maybea  more accurate way of making these maps could be developed.