Lab 9

In August 2009, Southern California faced a natural disaster that affected many lives in the area. Wildfire which had started off somewhere in the Los Angeles County had spread like a virus into the four corners of the winds. It was reported that of all the areas that were affected Los Angeles and Riverside County were the areas that mostly damaged. The map in source 2 provided below showed how the fire first spread and when it was contained.

Particularly Los Angeles County, the area where the fire had spread to was located near schools that later on had to be closed due to the danger of fire, bad air quality, and heat watch. Many of the schools in the area such as Crescenta Valley High School, which initially was an evacuation center, had to be evacuated out of the fire territory into a different school nearby. (Lopez).

The schools that were originally planned to start in the fall had to be closed down because of the poor air quality. These schools are mostly in the Glendale School District, Los Angeles School District, La Canada School District, and Pasadena School District. (Knoll). Although not all of these schools are in danger of the fire, some of the schools that had been closed down are due to the fact that the schools are being used as an evacuation center.

There is really no indication of distance as to how far from the fire should a school be in order to stay open. This is mainly because there are a lot of factors to consider such as the direction the wind blows and how fast the fire is spreading. Normally the school needed to be closed within 10 miles radius of the fire. (Lin). These schools are Brainard Elementary, Gateway, La Canada, Valleyview, and many more. However, the fire watch had been extensively exceptional around the clock. The boundaries in the map above showed that the schools within 5 miles – 10 miles had to be closed down. Between 10 – 15 miles are being watched very closely and schools that are not part of the boundary are being used as evacuation center.

While the fire had affected many lives of the people, firefighter McBride states that this incident is a lesson for everyone to always prepare for the worst to come. (Lopez). The students in the school district that had been closed down for about a month had to make up most of the materials they missed during the school year and partly thereafter. These schools reopened late in September or early October when the fires were tamed and air quality had improved. (Lin).


Work Cited

Knoll, Corina. "Air Quality Suffers, Schools Stay Closed and Animals Find Shelter - Los Angeles Times." Featured Articles From The Los Angeles Times. 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 08 June 2011. .

Lin, Rong-Gong. "La Cañada Fire Spreads toward Altadena; Big Tujunga Canyon Road Closed - Latimes.com." Politics, National,California, Washington, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Republican, Democrat, President, Election - Top of the Ticket - Latimes.com. Web. 08 June 2011. .

Lin, Rong-Gong. "Los Angeles Fire Map: Mt. Wilson, Tujunga, Acton, Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, National and World News - Latimes.com. Web. 08 June 2011. .

Lopez, Robert. "Fire Crews Battling to save Hundreds of Homes as Wildfires Rage in Southern California - Latimes.com." Politics, National, California, Washington, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Republican, Democrat, President, Election - Top of the Ticket - Latimes.com. Web. 08 June 2011.

Sullivan, Danny. "California Wildfires: August & September 2009 Edition." Search Engine Land: Must Read News About Search Marketing & Search Engines. 18 Aug. 2009. Web. 08 June 2011. .

Lab 7: Cartography and Geovisualization

The map on the top left shows the population in the United States in 2000. The population of the US is based on the census taken in 2000. The color choice of this map is chosen using the shades of purple. The darker color of purple represents the more populated area, whereas the lighter color of purple represents the less populated area. These color assignments are appropriate because we see that the more populated area should have a darker color because it's more crowded whereas the less populated area should have a lighter color to represent the less crowded area.

The map on the top right shows the population change in the United States in 2000. The value of this map is calculated based on the number of people moving in and out of a particular area. There are two shades of colors chosen in this map, green and pink. Green represents the positive growth in population. Area with more growth is represented by a darker color of green. Area with less growth is represented by a lighter color of green. Also, since population change can decrease, the negative change in population is represented in color pink. The greater the population deceased, the darker the shade of pink.

The map on the bottom left represent the percent change in the United States in 2000. Like population change, there are two shades of colors, purple and yellow. Purple represents the increase in percent change in the population. The greater the percent change, the darker the shade of purple. The lesser the percent change, the lighter the shade of purple. The shade of yellow represents the negative percent change in the population. The more negative the change in population, the darker the shade of yellow.

The map on the bottom right represents the population density in 2000. The color choice of this map is chosen using the shades of green. The darker color of green represents the area that is denser, whereas the lighter color of green represents the area with less dense. Population density is calculated based on the number of people concentrated within specific area. The denser the population, the denser the color should be, which shows in this map.

Lab 6: Spatial Analysis

North America Datum 1983 UTM Zone 11
Extent:
Top: 34.346
Left: -118.025
Right: -117.448
Bottom: 33.987

The Area that I had selected is a mountain near my home. It's called Big Bear Mountain. It's about 80 miles east of UCLA. Big Bear Mountain is famous for its snowboarding places. It is located at 8000 feet elevation and it is the closest mountain resort in the middle of the desert.

Lab 5: Geospatial Data Management

GCS and Mercator Projection

Both of these two maps are projections of the world. However, if you look at it closely, Antarctica on the geographic coordinate system map (top map) is being stretched out compare to Antarctica on Mercator projection map (lower map). However, the map below is not necessarily accurate either because it looks like Antarctica is the size of the world.

Mercator projection was first invented by a Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. Ever since then, Mercator projection became the standard map projection. The linear scale of this projection is constant in all directions around any point. While it preserve all points in all directions, Mercator projection distorts size and shape of the object, which explains why Antarctica became augmented.

The difference between GCS and Mercator projection is that GCS uses coordinate system that involves directions in reference to longitude, latitude, and elevation. While Mercator projection also has these intersecting lines that can be used as coordinates, the directions used in GCS may not be able to be accurately applied to Mercator projection because the Mercator lines intersect at a 90 degree angle while GCS projection does not.

Equidistant Maps

Equidistant Conic Map (top map) have a distinctive feature than other projection. The meridians are straight equidistant lines, converging at a point which may or not be a pole. The parallels arcs of circle is concentric in the point of convergence of meridians. Distortion is constant along each parallel lines not touching the cone. This projection preserves distance between any two points on the map. Conic projections are favored for national maps of temperate zones like Russia or the United States. However, conic projections are seldom appropriate for world maps.

Like Equidistant Conic Map, Sinusoidal Map (lower map) also preserves distance between any two points on the map. Sinusoidal projection shows relative sizes accurately, but distorts shapes and directions. The feature of this map is the same everywhere at the central meridian, and the east-west scale is throughout the map the same as that. This map is made in reference to the latitude, longitude, and the central meridian as the central reference point intersection.

Equal Area Maps

Gall Orthographic (top map), named after James Gall, is a configurable equal area map projection known as the equal area cylindric projection. This projection preserves area everywhere on the map. This projection however, suffers extreme distortion in the polar regions, as any cylindrical projection must, and its distortion along the equator is considerable. The map feature is overly stretch vertical ways, which causes the distortion at both poles. This map is made by inflating the sizes of regions according to their distance from the equator.

Mollweide (lower map) is a pseudocylindrical map projection generally used for global maps of the world. Like Gall Orthographic, this map preserves the area everywhere on the map. The proportion of the area of the ellipse between any give parallel and the equator is the same as the proportion of the are on the globe between that parallel and the equator. However, this is at the expense of shape and angle distortion, which is significant at the perimeter of the ellipse. Unlike the other projection, the map features an ellipse with all the longitude line emerging towards the poles but never actually meet to intercept at the poles. Constructing this map requires careful analysis of each parallel and perpendicular lines. Mollweide is a projection in which the equator is represented as a straight horizontal line perpendicular to a central meridian one-half its length. The other parallels compress near the poles, while the other meridians are equally spaced at the equator.

Lab 4: GIS Data Models

ArcMap is a very useful programs for those who are interested in making maps in a professional settings, or just for fun. The program is user friendly in terms of getting around the software and the software tutorial was really easy to follow.

Unfortunately, just like any product, there are some shortcomings to the software. While I was working on my map, I was stumbled upon a few incidence that took me more than half an hour to figure out. When ArcMap needs to export the data, it asks for the specific location of the files. However, not all those folders, such as My Computer, can be detected by the program. It was frustrating to have to locate for my flash drive. As a result, I had to manually type (or copy and paste) the location of my drive in the address and paste them onto the drop down menu.

At the time of exporting the files, the program gave me several error messages. However, these error messages came in a code which I had to Google in order to decipher what it means. Also, I feel like ArcMap does not let user explore his or her artistic side. Most of the color settings are pre-chosen and it is limited to that particular color. Unlike other famous programs such as Paint, which gives you a color palate and lets you chose the different shades of color, ArcMap has not such thing.

Overall, despite the shortcomings, ArcMap is still a very decent program for geographers and map makers. The program can make map making effort a whole lot easier. Especially when you need to make a proposal for certain constructions, ArcMap is up for the job.

Lab 3: Digital Mapping

View Summer Vacation in Oahu, Hawaii in a larger map

This is a map of some of the itinerary when my family and I went to Oahu, Hawaii for our family vacation. Leaving from LAX Airport, we flew across the Pacific. 4 - 5 hours later, we have arrived at the Honolulu International Airport. We have purposely booked the hotel that is close to the airport and as well to Waikiki Beach. The beautiful hotel with oceanview room is very relaxing.

After sitting for about 4 - 5 hours long, the best way to stretch your muscles and get the blood flowing again is to take a hike to the Diamond Head Crater Park. The fresh air and amazing view of sunset from the top of the head is something that every tourist should experience. As soon as the sun set on the horizon, we took all of our gatherings and went to dine at Bali Steak & Seafood. This fine dining experience viewing the ocean from inside the restaurant was a cherry on top of an amazing adventurous day. Now if you're like my mom, you can't just pass the opportunity to go to a flee market, especially when it's located next to our hotel. The International Market Place is a really unique place to get exotic souvenirs and sentimental from Hawaii. That concludes our day 1 of our Hawaiian vacation.

Since day 1 was all dedicated to Waikiki Beach, on day 2, we have decided to explore the other side of the island and travel through the entire perimeter. Day 2 started off with brunch at the Dole Plantation. Everything served in Dole Plantation came straight from the ground. After we had our little brunch, we decided to check out the North shore waves. North Shore is known to have one of the biggest wave in the United States. Unfortunately, the waves got too big and all of us are amateurs at surfing. So we went to go check out the Waimea Falls and spent the rest of the day horseback riding at Gunstock Ranch. Once again, we concluded the day at a fine dining ocean front restaurant called Town & Country Surf Shop.

On day 3, we decided to get in touch with history. After breakfast, we went to Pearl Harbor to get the sense of the pass. This is definitely a great way to honor our troops both who have died and those who are fighting to protect our country. Right after lunch, we went to go check out the Polynesian Cultural Center. This is a place where different pacific islander cultures come together and put together an amazing performance throughout the day. My favorite part was the great outdoor luau and the grand finale of the show.

These are some of the things we did when we took our vacation in Hawaii. There are definitely much more different stuff you can do in Hawaii. It did not get its reputation of being called a "paradise" for nothing.

Lab 2: USGS Topographic Maps

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

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
Quadrangle #:
1. Canoga Park 2. Van Nuys 3. Burbank 5. Hollywood 7. Venice 8. Inglewood

3. When was the quadrangle first created?
1996

4. What datum was used to create your map?
North American Datum of 1983 and National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5. What is the scale of the map?
1:24000

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? 1.8936 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? 125 centimeters

7. What is the contour interval on your map? 20 feet


8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees:
a) the Public Affairs Building;
34 degrees 4 minutes 22.5 seconds North, 118 degrees 26 minutes 15 seconds East
34.0729 degrees North, 118.4375 degrees East


b) the tip of Santa Monica pier;
34 degrees 0 minutes 25 seconds North, 118 degress 30 minutes 0 second East
34.4167 degrees North, 34.5 degrees East


c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;
34 degress 6 minutes 55 seonds North, 118 degreees 20 minutes 30 seconds East
34.115 degrees North,  118.342 degrees East

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park); 560 feet
b) Woodlawn Cemetery; 140 feet
c) Crestwood Hills Park; 640 feet

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


11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map? 37630000, 3620000

12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines? 1000 meters

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? toward East.

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