Final Project

The Station Fire

          On August 26, 2009, there was wildfire, which was called Station Fire, started happening in Los Angeles County. The location of the fire was in the central of Los Angeles County that basically contained State Highway 2 and Angeles National Forest. In the reference map, the station fire started somewhere near the intersection of Interstate Freeway 210 and State Highway 2. On August 30, 2009, the station fire spread out toward northeast and northwest, but the fire spread out more serious to northwest than the other side. After about twenty one hours, the fire went toward northeast seriously. Then, the fire developed to east and west. Large section of the State Highway 2 was involved in the fire causing closure.

          In the theme map, it shows all the parks in Los Angeles County. The Station Fire was totally located in the Angeles National Forest. The Angeles National Forest was a huge forest that covered over 650,000 acres and its elevations were quite high (1,200 to 10,064 feet). The forest was an important habitat for animals, vegetation, and it included some water bodies such as rivers and watersheds. Thus, this national forest acted as a significant role for human and even the whole ecosystem because the huge amount of plants that were in the forest could absorb carbon dioxide and provided oxygen efficiently; on the other hand, rivers and watersheds provided freshwater. Besides, the Angeles National Forest allowed people to have some recreational activities like camping, hiking, fishing, cycling, horse riding, and so on. Therefore, when wildfire threatened the forest, it was not only affected the forest, but also influenced the ecosystem.

          Wildfire is caused by nature; temperature, humidity, and wind are the most essential reasons to cause the fire. Wildfire always occurs in the areas that have high temperature with extremely low humidity; then, high wind supports the fire to grow bigger and spread out further. The climate of Southern California has good conditions for wildfire in summer – very high temperature, dry, and windy. The other necessities for burning fire are fuels and oxygen. Since forest is full of plants, it is a region that contains lots of wood and oxygen. Hence, forest is an ideal region for fire to burn. As a result, the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County carries high potential to catch fire.

          Base on the theme map, it shows that the Station Fire spread out within the forest, but not toward south which are urban city areas. One of the reasons for the Station Fire to have this tendency was because fire tends to burn vegetation, especially wood instead of burning buildings and roads as wood is much more flammable. In addition, slope is another reason to lead the fire. Fire goes toward uphill rather than downhill owing to the density of air. Density of air is about hot air rise and cold air sink, so when the Station Fire was burning, hot air rose turning the temperature in uphill area became hot and the plants caught fire there. The steeper the slope is, the easier the plants in upper area hit the hot air. Moreover, when hot air rises, it creates wind to blow the fire up. Consequently, fire tends to move up to the steep slope.

          The Station Fire is the largest wildfire in the county that covered about 161,000 acres and it caused critical damages. First, animals and plants lost their habitat or even died in the fire. Second, soil lost its nutrition. Third, air quality became worst and could not recover within a short period of time. Fourth, some buildings were destroyed. Fifth, government needed to spend a huge amount of money for restoration. However, wildfire is a natural phenomenon that it is hard to avoid unless we have an efficient method to keep the forest moist.

Bibliography

“About the Forest.” US Forest Service. Web. 8 December 2011. <http://www.fs.usda.gov/main/angeles/about-forest>

“Natural History of Fire and Flood Cycles.” California Coastal Commission. 18 August 1995. Web. 8 December 2011. <http://www.coastal.ca.gov/fire/ucsbfire.html>

“Station Fire Restoration.” National Forest Foundation. Web. 8 December 2011. <http://www.nationalforests.org/conserve/programs/conservation/angeles>

“Station Fire Update.” Incident Information System. 18 September 2009. Web. 8 December 2011. <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/9549/>

“Wildfires.” National Geographic. Web. 8 December 2011. <http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/wildfires/>

Lab 7 (Week 8)

The black or African-American population totaled 38.9 million and represented 13 percent of the total population. The distribution of the black is more equal in the western part, where mostly contain about 12% of the Africa- American people. On the other hand, the distribution in the eastern part is more disparate. The majority of black people live in the southeastern part, which is around 87% of them. To know the attribution of the black distribution, we need to look back to the American history. In the very beginning of the U.S. history, our ancestors first settled in the eastern area. At that time, black people were brought to America as slaves. When time past on, they have been trying to move to the other regions, but the discrimination to the black people in other places is strong; therefore, black people are forced to stay and live in the southeastern part of America. Another reason is that small companies in this region needed cheap labor to work for them in the past. For example, people were needed to collect cotton. Since black people may wish to work as workers rather than slaves, they stayed in the southeastern to continue their lives.

As this map suggests, the distribution of Asians in the United States is not so even; in other words, Asians are grouped in certain regions. The most western and the most eastern part are the areas which Asians concentrate in. According to statistics, close to 66% of Asian-Americans live in five states: California, New York, Hawaii, Texas, and Illinois. These five states are mainly located in the western and the eastern part of America. The most concentrated part that Asians live in is in California – about 46% of Asians are living in California. The second most concentrated part is New York – about 18% of Asians are staying in that area. One of the reasons why they like to group together is that they love living near Chinatowns in major cities, such as San Francisco and Los Angles, since they do not familiar with places beside Chinese people area. However, this tendency has recently changed. Asians have started to move to some suburban area for their living.

Some other race alone means those people who do not belong to white, black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, or Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Mainly, Hispanic and Latino belong to this group. We can see people that consider as some other race congregate in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. It is because there is the United States-Mexico border in those states; Hispanic and Latino are likely to settle down there when they migrate to the US. Moreover, those four states were used to be a part of Mexico in the past, thus, many Hispanic chose to stay in there even those places became America. The other reason that they live in the southwestern is working opportunity. Since Hispanic is more willing to do labor work such as agriculture, and the conditions are very good for planting in southwestern region, they would like to work in there. As a result, there are high percentages of Hispanic and Latino in the southwestern US.

Concluding Discussion about Census Map Series

          In my map series, they show different races concentrate in different regions in the United States. Large percentage of African American is in the southeastern; Asian is in the most western and in the most eastern, and some other race is in the southwestern region of America. There are many reasons leading uneven population of all the races, such as their origins, discrimination, and working opportunity. I believe the pattern of population will not have dramatic changes as many of the people prefer to live in the neighborhoods where contains other people who have same races as them. It is because those people who are in the same races have same culture backgrounds and first languages, it is much easier for them to communicate and new immigrates can adapt to the new living environment easier.

Overall Impressions of GIS

          I think GIS is a very important system to everyone because it can provide organized information for all aspects that is about places. Using GIS to present information is especially common in education. When we read the knowledge that is about origins, distributions, locations, routes, and other that need using maps to explain, we are taking the advantages of GIS. Besides, GIS can help people very much on travelling. People who go travelling places that have never been to, we have to rely on maps for guiding us to reach destinations. However, GIS can show useful and detailed information because of its complicated system. After experienced several times of making maps with GIS program, sometimes, I felt it was quite hard to figure out how to do the steps. Therefore, I am looking forward the development of GIS program, so that users can create maps easier.

Lab 6 (Week 7)

For this assignment, I chose King County as the location. King County is located in the state of Washington. Seattle, the nation’s largest city is also in this county. Seattle is a major seaport that is surrounded by Puget Sound and Lake Washington, so its elevation is low in the west of the county. Low elevation occurs in the west of King County, but higher elevation occurs in the east. Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and Lake Sammamish are large water bodies in the west of the county. Lake Washington is the biggest lake in this county connects with several creeks and rivers. On the other hand, Mount Daniel, Cascade Range, Mount Si, and Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest are in the eastern region which leads to the existence of high elevation. Mount Daniel is the highest point in King County with almost 8,000 feet above sea level. In addition, Cascade Range is a huge range which extends from British Columbia, Canada to California, including Washington and Oregon. A very important thing is that King County is in the Pacific Ring of Fire; in other words, it is in the major earthquake zone.

Extent information:

Top: 47.7713888889

Left: -122.444444444

Right: -121.529166667

Bottom: 47.2811111111

Geographic coordinate system:

North American Datum of 1983 with UTM zone 10N

Lab 5

Map Projection
          Map projection is the method of transforming the three-dimensional sphere onto plane maps. There are many different types of map projection. Among these types, there are three kinds of projections are being used commonly – equal-area projection, equidistant projection, and conformal projection. In fact, none of the projections can transform a map perfectly; they can only preserve certain properties, such a distance, proportion, and area, accurately.
          Equal-area projection is a projection that keeps the size of areas equally with correct proportion. Albers conic, Mollweide, Lambert amimuthal equal-area, Hammer-Aitoff, Bonne, and sinusoidal are examples of equal-area projections. In this exercise, I have choosen Hammer-Aitoff and Bonne. Hammer-Aitoff projection to shows the Earth as an ellipse; Bonne projection is a pseudo-conic projection.
          Equidistant projection is a projection that maintains same distances at some reference points. An equidistant projection map is distances from the center of the projection to any other place on the map are uniformin all direction. Azimuthal equidistant, plate carree, two-point equidistant, and soldner are some examples of equidistant projections. I chose Azimuthal equidistant and plate carree projection in this assignment. Azimuthal equidistant projection uses center point of the map as a reference point; therefore, its information is accurate. The other one I chose, the plate carree projection, also called the equirectangular projection, preserves distances on all longitudes.
          Conformal projection is a projection that preserves the correct angle and shapes. In a conformal projection, parallels and meridians intersect at right angle. A conformal projection maintains equal angles at each point, including those between the intersections of arcs; therefore, the size of areas enclosed by many arcs may be greatly distorted. Conformal projections include Roussilhe, Mercator, stereographic, and Lambert conformal conic. I chose Mercator and stereographic to project my maps. Mercator projection projects the world using cylindrical map projection which means the portion that near the equator is more accurate; while stereographic projection preserves angles.
          In this assignment, we need to create six different projections in order to see the differences of distances between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan among different projections. After comparing all six maps, I realized that projections that are belong to same types of maps, the distances between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan varies. Hence, it is very important to choose the appropriate maps to present information as different kinds of map projections provide different accuracy of measurements because of distortion. The actual straight line distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan is 6923.39 miles, so the most accurate projection for measuring distance is Boone projection, which display 6730.70 miles. On the other hand, the other maps have about 3000 miles of differences to the actual distance. 

Lab 4

Experience of Using ArcMap; Potential and Pitfalls of GIS

          By finishing the assignment of lab 4, I have an opportunity to devote my first time on using ArcMap. After having an experience to use ArcMap, I realize that this program is very useful as we can put different data together for creating informative maps. Although it may take time for me to get used to this software, using computer to making maps is much more efficient than drawing maps by hands. When we use computer to create maps, it draws everything and calculates data accurately within a very short period of time. Moreover, it is easier to draw tidily and to express organized data on computer than by hands.

          However, this software is not perfect and sometimes creates error. Despite that ArcGIS 10.1 is the most recent version, I can suspect the bug in it. After I finished my mapping assignment, all the graphs and maps are in color, but in exported map, the histogram is in black and white. I had already followed all of the steps in the tutorial, but the output is different.  Another difficulty that I encountered is the differences between the tutorial version and the actual version of ArcMap that I used. I spent much time to figure out the location of some of the functions, such as the location of the tool bars.

          GIS stands for geographic information science, geographic information system, or geographic information studies; either one of these refer to a system designed to gather, manipulate, analyze, and present a large amount of geographically referenced data cohesively. In 1854, a British man, the founder of GIS, drew points on a map to show individual case; possibly, this was the earliest use of GIS. When time goes on, people have come up with many innovative ideas to improve this system in terms of graphic and features. The latest GIS system does not only let us map places; it can also map out useful information of objects. Natural resources, infrastructures, fire hydrants, water line, streams, and houses are examples of data that can be displayed in GIS. Although some paper maps can also include the above information, GIS can provide more information and show these in a three dimension which makes the readers easier to visualize the real environment. The other good thing about GIS is that it can help us to connect things that we think they have not relationship at all and make some kind of conclusion. For example, linking the population of different parties’ voters in different states can interpret the result of the election.  

          On the other hand, there are disadvantages of operating and using GIS to present a map to people. Adding vast of information in a single map is time concerning; we need to spent time to organize data before putting them into the ArcMap. Beside, GIS map is sometimes difficult for ordinary people to read. The geographically and statistically data on the map, such as elevation and precipitation, are some professional information may make the majority of people confused. That is the reason why people may choose to use some user friendly map, such as Google Map, which provide some ordinary and particle information.

Lab 3

View Amzaing places to go in the Bay Area, CA in a larger map

Neogeography

Maps were created for helping people to locate their positions or to get the routes to their destinations. During recent decades, maps have been changing from some boring pieces of paper to some fancy programs in devices. Neogeography is the most significant example out of these programs.

Since neogeography maps can be created by any person, the credibility of those maps is inevitably low. Meanwhile, these maps are inaccurate as the makers may use simple or even wrong geographic skills instead of professional knowledge to produce maps. These kinds of maps are also subjective since everyone has his or her point of view. For example, let say someone creates a map called "The Top 10 Places That Worth to Visit in L.A.", those places may not be the "top ten" of everyone's minds; it is just the opinion of the map maker.

Nevertheless, this type of mapping provides an opportunity for people to innovate maps. People can show their special talents with their creative maps. Throughout the creating process, people gain a chance to think more. They can also share their knowledge and experiences with the others. Moreover, neogeography has put human beings into a different generation of map. Before, map is a tool for telling the way to reach one destination; however, this latest map is more than getting people from one point to another; instead, it contains many useful information for the users, such as pictures, lengths of the routes, and detailed information of every places.

The benefits of having neogeography is that we have a chance to see more about the earth, where we live in. In addition, neogeography is a users friendly map. On the other hand, we are not able to put everything on the map because there are too many things exist on the earth. Also, we may be misled by certain fake information from neogeography maps.

Lab 2

1.      The name of the quadrangle is Beverly Hills Quadrangle. 

2.      The adjacent quadrangles: Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Pacific Ocean, Venice, and Inglewood. 

3.      This quadrangle was first created in 1966.

4.      Datum are: North American Datum of 1927 and North American Datum of 1983

5.      The scale of this quadrangle is 1:24,000

6.         a) 5 × 24,000 = 120,000 cm
        120,000 ÷ 100 = 1,200 m
        ∴ 5 cm on the map = 1,200 m on the ground
   b) 5 × 24,000 = 120,000 in
        120,000 ÷ 12 = 10,000 ft
        10,000 ÷ 5,280 = 1.8939 miles
        ∴ 5 in on the map = 1.8939 miles on the ground
   c) 1 ÷ 24,000 = 0.000041667 miles
        0.000041667 × 5,280 = 0.2200 ft
        0.2200 × 12 = 2.64 in
        ∴ 1 mile on the ground = 2.64 in on the map
   d) 1 ÷ 240,000 = 0.000041667 km
        0.000041667 × 3 = 0.000125001 km
        0.000125001 × 1000 = 0.125001 m
        0.125001 × 100 = 12.5001 cm
        ∴ 3 km on the ground = 12.5 cm on the map

7.       The contour interval is 20 ft

8.         a) Latitude:
        11.2 cm/14.3 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (11.2 ÷ 14.3) × 2.5 = 1.958'
        seconds = 0.958' × 60 = 57.48"
        minutes and seconds = 2' + 1' + 30" + 57" = 3' 87" = 4' 27"
        decimal degrees = 34 + (4 ÷ 60) + (27 ÷ 3600) = 34.07417
        Longitude:
        5.9 cm/12 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (5.9 ÷ 12) × 2.5 = 1.229'
        seconds = 0.229' × 60 = 13.74"
        minutes and seconds = 25' + 1' + 14" = 26' 14"
        decimal degrees = 118 + (26 ÷ 60) + (14 ÷ 3600) = 118.4372
        ∴ the Public Affairs Building: 34° 4' 27" N, 118° 26' 14" W or +34.0741, -    118.4372
   b) Latitude:
        2.6 cm/14.3 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (2.6 ÷ 14.3) × 2.5 = 0.4545'
        seconds = 0.4545' × 60 = 27.27"
        minutes and seconds = 0' 27"
        decimal degrees = 34 + (27 ÷ 3600) = 34.0075
        Longitude:
        11 cm/12 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (11/12) × 2.5 = 2.29167'
        seconds = 0.29167' × 60 = 17.5002"
        minutes and seconds = 27' + 2' + 30" + 18" = 29' 48"
        decimal degrees = 118 + (29 ÷ 60) + (48 ÷ 3600) = 118.4967
        ∴ the tip of Santa Monica pier: 34° 0' 27" N, 118° 29' 48" W or +34.0075, -118.4967
   c) Latitude:
        13.2 cm/14.3 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (13.2 ÷ 14.3) × 2.5 = 2.3077'
        seconds = 0.3077' × 60 = 18.462"
        minutes and seconds = 5' + 2' + 18" = 7' 18"
        decimal degrees = 34 + (7 ÷ 60) + (18 ÷ 3600) = 34.1217
        Longitude:
        10.1 cm/12 cm = y'/2.5'
        minutes = (10.1 ÷ 12) × 2.5 = 2.10417'
        seconds = 0.10417' × 60 = 6.2502"
        minutes and seconds = 22' + 2'+ 30" + 6" = 24' 36"
        decimal degrees = 118 + (24 ÷ 60) + (36 ÷ 3600) = 118.41
        ∴ the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34° 7' 18" N, 118° 24' 36" W or +34.1217, -118.41

9.         a) Greystone Mansion: 660 ft or 660 × 0.305 = 201.3 m
   b) Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 ft or 140 × 0.305 = 42.7 m
   c) Crestwood Hills Park: 680 ft or 680 × 0.305 = 207.4 m

10.   UTM zone 11

11.  UTM coordinates are for the lower corner of the map: 362000m E, and 3763000m N.

12.   Each square in this map obtains 1,000 square meters.

13.   

14.  The magnetic declination is +14°.

15.  The water flows from the north to the south because the elevation in the north is higher than in the elevation in the south.

16.

Lab 1

 

Source: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-counties-and-demographics/census/maps-visualize-us-population-growth-by-county/

Created by The Texas Tribune

This map describes the total population growth in the United States in 2010. The darker green areas on this map represent a higher population growth; on the other hand, the red areas represent a decreasing population rate. As this map describes, the eastern and western parts of our nation have relatively high population growth rates. What I love about this map is that the three dimension bars on each green region. These bars' height are depend on the population growth rate on that region, which means the tall the bar is, the greater the population rate increase. This design gives the readers a better vision on which state or area has a greater raise on population.

Source: http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/06/29/the-surprisingly-interesting-world-of-strange-maps/

Created by Stephen Von Worley

The majority of people may think that maps are usually showing infrastructures, views of communities, or direction; however, the above map shows different aspect from the other normal maps. This map depicts the location of all McDonalds in the U.S.. Each red spot is representing the location of a McDonalds. I like this map because I can easily tell the concentration of this fast food restaurant in an arbitrary area. Moreover, I like the uniqueness of this map.

 Source: http://funmapsusa.net/view/los-angeles-foodies-guide

Unknown creator.

This is a cartoon map that displays many characteristics of Los Angeles, including landmarks, main streets, main freeways, and, most importantly, famous places for dinning. In this map, we can clearly locate the best restaurants around Los Angeles although the locations may not be accurate. The most interesting thing about this map is that the creator draw a cartoon for each signature restaurant in order to attract the readers; in that way, people can have a easy way to memorize where the restaurant is around.