Final Lab: Census Mapping

In this lab we took census data from the 2000 census and projected the data onto maps. We mapped the Asian, Black and other races population in the year 2000. I decided to classify my data with quartile rather than natural breaks. After analyzing the maps I wish I had taken more time to choose a different way so you would have a clearer distinction on where these races were highly concentrated in 2000. However, this lab was extremely interesting and it is interesting to see that even in the last 100 years while population continues to rise for each race, they still inhabit the same places they did then.

The black population while not very evident from my map, is highly concentrated in the South East region. While their numbers are relatively high on both coasts, it is the South that has the highest concentration of black people, at least in 2000. You can kind of see from the map places like Alabama and Louisiana have a high concentration. Also, there are significant numbers of black people in California. California is such a diverse state with many opportunities and it is quickly growing so any race I feel would have significant numbers there.

The Asian population is heavily centered on California’s coast line and sporadically through the east coast and even less through the rest of the country. There is a high concentration in what would be the LA area in California and in San Fransisco. These are sites that have a lot of jobs and future opportunities. It makes sense that a race that it migrating here on their own would concentrate in the first city they came too.

The map identifying the locations of other races population in 2000 demonstrates that the highest concentrations of these races were on the west and east coast. A lot of this concentration is shown directly in California and New York. From there the percentage decreases and you move east and west and then you get to the center of the country and the number decreases indefinitely. From our knowledge of migration this conclusion would make sense because the coasts are always going to be populated with immigrants first.

My overall impression of GIS is in the simplest term is: Wow. Honestly, I never knew just how much you could do in this program. While I am not very good at it and have difficulty in the smallest task, it really is fascinating to see the full-scale of this programs potential. This program could work wonders mapping out extent of deforestation or species loss in countries that are experiencing enormous amounts of loss each month. We could learn the areas that are in most need of assistance and reasons we are still seeing a decrease in species and their range. I really did enjoy getting a better understanding of something I am sure will be a big part of my future career. I hope I can put what I learned into my GIS class next quarter. Hopefully it will be easier!

Lab Week 8: LA Fire Station

Wikipedia

This map was taken from the United States National Forest Reserve

The station fire in Los Angeles County that begun on August 26, 2009 and was still burning into the first two weeks of October was a deadly one. The fire reached its full potential between August 29th and September 2nd. It was the biggest wildfire in Los Angeles history according to LA Weekly.  It quickly swept over 20,000 acres on August 29th and it was reported by the U.S. National forest reserve to have burned over 160,577 acres by the time it was put out. The quickness of the fire was generated by the terrain, humidity and temperature.  The steep terrain meant that only tankers and water dropped from helicopters would be able to stop the massive flame.

The station fire was most like either a crawling fire or a jumping fire. A crawling fire begins by crawling through low-lying bushes or vegetation and a jumping fire can actually jump from branch to branch or  across roads with the help of the wind. However, it was not the winds that really or continued to let this fire destroy a large part of LA county. The Santa Ana winds don’t usually begin until late October, but California was exceeding normal temperatures that summer and we were in the middle of a three-year drought.

In LA weekly the say how the low humidity was able to help the fire grow and claim such a large part of Pasadena. With temperatures in the 100’s at that time the flames were only able to grow and grow. The summer temperatures and the end of the potential rainfall season caused the dying off of vegetation leaving the perfect setting for fires to combust. These conditions made it extremely difficult for firefighters to even put out the smaller fires and the fires only grew with the lack of water.

Over 89 homes were destroyed and 209 structures were destroyed by the time the flames died on October 16th 2009. California is at a high risk for more fires to take place. The drought and the increasing temperatures and humidity make California more and more susceptible to this natural and human caused disaster. When driving through California you pass so many areas that are undeveloped and could easily go up in flames with one match. The solution isn’t to build a thousand homes and destroy the beautiful California landscape but something needs to be done to these areas to clear the brush and find someway to prevent fires from destroying our homes.

Bates, Colleen D. “Station Fire Spreading.” August 29, 2009. http://hometown-pasadena.com/talk-of-our-towns/station-fire-spreading/ Date accessed: November 22, 2010

Deioma, Kayte. “California Burning-Station Fire Looms Over LA.” August 29, 2009. http://golosangeles.about.com/b/2009/08/29/station-fire.htm Date accessed: November 22, 2010.

Hempiel, Daniel. “War of Worlds Over Fire Station.” September 8, 2009. http://laweekly.com Date accessed: November 22, 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires Date accessed: November 22, 2009

http://vincentdunn.com/dunn/newsletters/april/FDNYHP_12.html Date accessed: November 22, 2010

Week 7: Elevation

3D Model

Aspect

Slope

Hillside

DEM

I chose the San Bernardino mountains. I am from Palm Springs and have spent much time there.

Lab Week 6: Map Projections

This was one of my favorite labs to date. For the first time I really felt like I had a better grasp on Arcmap and I got a better understanding of what kind of data and information this program could possibly give me. This lab gave us a better understanding of the possibilities maps have and how we can use them in facets such as navigation, but it also provided and demonstrated pitfalls of the various types of map projections. You have to remember how these maps get distorted and which data will not be the actual area, shape or distance.

The conformal maps I have shown are the Mercator and the Gall stereographic. Conformal maps are used mostly for navigation because the angles and shapes are preserved. However, the size and area are not necessarily preserved and come out looking distorted in their projection. They look and have a bigger projection when looking at them on such a small-scale as well. As you can see from the map the areas come out looking much larger than they really are, which in turn changes the actual distance you believe the will be from other areas on the map.

Equal-Area map projections as you could have guessed from their name preserve the area. The maps besides for the overall look don’t look distorted or unusually large even though the area is the only thing preserved in these projections. The shape, distance and angles have been altered in some way, shape or form. As you can see in the measurements I took from Washington D.C. to Kabul, Afghanistan the distance has greatly increased from the 7,000 miles we measured in class from a non-projected map. The sinusoidal map gave us a distance of almost 14,000 miles. That is twice as much as the actual distance. I also used Bonne as one of my projections.

Equidistant maps preserve the distance from some standard point or line. The distance will only preserve in certain parts of the map however, which is really important to remember. While one distance my be close to the actual distance of two places as we can see in the equidistant cyndrical, not all distances stayed the same. Also, equidistant maps can retain the area and the shape, but never at the same time. For example Africa may look the same size in the map but will have a completely different area. You have to remember that factor when doing further reasearch and using map projections. I also projected the map using equidistant conic.

Lab: Week 4 and 5

I am going to start this lab off by saying that I am not computer savvy, nor do I know the first thing about algorithms when it comes to computer programs. As much as I find GIS fascinating and the things it does for research is truly amazing, I don’t think I can ever do theses kind of things in anything that I don’t really have a passion for. Even then I think I would much rather collect the data about whale migration or polar bear extinction. However, seeing what you can do in Arc map was extremely cool and getting a better idea of the programming and the fundamentals behind it will benefit me in any future career I go into. All the layering and data it spit out after was super neat and you really have the potential to do a lot of things with ArcGIS.

The first 35 pages of the tutorial were pretty simple and went by pretty fast, however once I got to the joining tables/adding an attribute my computer kept saying I could not perform this action because of another server being used or something to that effect. I tried closing Arc catalog again and it kept saying the same thing. I started the program over, I re-booted the computer and I switched computers and kept getting the same answer. I know I must be doing something wrong but I could not figure it out. As you can see from the maps I attached that I could not get passed that step and even tried yet again this morning. It really is frustrating and I am going to keep trying it until I figure out what is going wrong! Also I couldn’t get pages 50-54 to work either. I am thinking it has to maybe do with how you save it or where? It wouldn’t let me add a title or legend.I must have skipped some stuff that created this mishap. I am not sure and this is most likely why I will never be a computer guy.

In all honesty I find doing this entire mapping kind of boring and I would much rather be out in the field doing something I enjoy. I do of course all that can come from these programs. I think potential pitfalls would mainly be the fact that something like what happened to me can set you so far back. And the fact you cant figure out why or what you are doing wrong is difficult. Maybe if I were more experienced with the program I could have figured out what it is that was creating the error. Maybe there is a better tutorial or something to that nature that describes all the things that can go wrong when using arc map and what you can do to fix those wrongs.

Another thing that was difficult was that it is PC-oriented. Being a Mac user I found it very difficult and even when I tried getting remote access on to my computer at home I couldn’t do it. It was extremely frustrating and I was just happy I got through the lab and while it may not be prefect at least I know now that computers just are not my thing!

Lab: Week 3

Palm Springs: The right way!

1. I grew up in the beautiful city of Palm Springs California and really have grown a love for the valley. A lot of people know it as a vacation spot or winter getaway, so that’s why I decided to take you on a tour through the valley to all the places that are a definite must when visiting. I would start first with exploring my favorite hotel the JW Marriot in Palm Desert. It is absolutely beautiful and has a lot to offer. I would then make your way to Don and Sweet Sue’s cafe in Cathedral City before heading up to the tram in the back-end of Palm Springs! The tram is so amazing when the weather is right! Next I would go to this great coffee shop called Koffi on the main strip in Palm Springs. I would then go to maybe the Indian Wells golf course or El Paseo depending on your interest! El Paseo has everything you could need in one street! It’s awesome for a day of shopping or just relaxing! For night life I would get dinner at one of the best restaurants I have ever been to, Bangkok 5! I have been to Thailand and know some good Thai food and that place is exceptional! I would then head to The River for a late night drink or a movie! The Valley is an amazing place and it is more than just a really hot desert!

2. Neogeography is a user-centric tool that allows users to input data they would like to see. They can create maps on their own specific interests. It is a great tool for when studying a specialized topic or working on your own research. It’s an open source of technology and can be used and made public by anyone for anyone. However, that can also be seen as a downfall. People who maybe don’t know how to use neogeography can create complications or mistakes that may hinder other people’s research. It’s a great source of technology and can really help those who know what they are doing!

Lab: Week 2

1. Beverly Hills

2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice and Inglewood

3. 1966

4. North American Datum

5. 1:24,000

6. a) 1200 meters

b) 1.893 miles

c) 2.64 inches

d) 1.25 cm

7. Contour interval map= 20 feet

8. a) The public affairs building: 34 degrees 4 minutes 28 seconds North; 34.0743 decimal degrees North.  118 degrees 26 minutes 13 seconds West; 118.44 decimal degrees West.

b) Tip of Santa Monica Pier: 34 degrees 0 minutes 27 seconds North; 34.0076 decimal degrees North. 118 degrees 29 minutes 58 seconds West; 118.4000 decimal degrees West.

c) The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34 degrees 5 minutes 50 seconds North; 34.0990 decimal degrees North. 118 degrees 24 minutes 39 seconds West; 118.4115 decimal degrees West.

9) a) Greystone Mansion: 580 ft and 180 m

b) Woodland Cemetery: 140 ft and 43 m

c) Crestwood Hills Park: 650 ft and 198 m

10) The UTM zone is in zone 11

11) 376300 North and 362500 East

12) 1,000,000 square meters

13)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14) 14 degrees

15) The water flows South

16)

Lab: Week 1

Bangkok Expressway Map

While searching through the web for some cool and interesting maps, I came across a map of Bangkok’s expressway on mappery.com. I spent a month in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand in the summer of 07 before starting my freshman year of college. It was an amazing experience and their mode of transportation or rather way of directing their way around the city is absolutely insane and yet it works perfectly. I can probably still explain how to get around the city by just quickly glancing at the map!

Locations of polar bear populations around the Arctic

Being the huge animal lover I am, I am really interested in the research being done on the polar bear species and their diminishing existence. I found this map through the World Wildlife Federation website and it can be used as a testament that the species numbers are dramatically decreasing from year to year. I also use the polar bear tracking aspect of the website that can show you where bears are in real time.

Map of Palm Springs

I have lived in Palm Springs my whole life and whats so interesting is that everyone who lives there knows the main highways or streets and everything else is described by landmarks. After finding this map on palmspringstravelguide.com I realized I didn’t even really know some streets names! For example if I were telling someone how to get to the mall in Palm Desert from my house in Cathedral City I would say, “go down Date Palm away from the freeway and then turn left on 30th avenue until you hit the dead-end and turn right. Go past the cemetery and take a left at the light and go all the way until you get to the light before the casino and turn right. Go all the way down until you see the river and turn left at highway 111 and it will be on your left hand side. You can’t miss it!”.  A little bit of landmark knowledge I suppose!

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