Assignment 4

This map can be used to look at land use, schools, and population density within the specific proposed area of airport expansion. These maps give access to further analysis of how the airport expansion will effect the area and it's residents. 

My overall experience with ArchMap was slow and at times tedious. The step-by-step tutorial was a helpful guide to this exercise although some of the steps and pictures were outdated which led to some technical glitches and bouts of frustration. I felt like this exercise was pretty complex for our first contact with the GIS software and think that a better conceptual understanding of what we were doing and why would have been extremely helpful. 

Although this was my first experience with the software it is clear that GIS has the potential for extremely detailed analysis of specific geographic locations. In the case of this exercise for example, we can see how various factors will be influenced by the expansion of the airport. GIS is a tool for using past and current data to examine the effects of potential future changes or developments. This decision enabling ability is a huge potential of GIS. 

A possible pitfall of GIS is the fact that if depends largely on the data that you are using. If your data is accurate and reliable then you will have no problem, but if the data you are using is inaccurate then GIS will give you inaccurate results. With the rise of web 2.0 and neogeography, there has also been a rise in user generated content which isn't always the most reliable. Overall, I think the potentials of GIS far outweigh the pitfalls because it allows detailed analysis specific geographic locations. 

Assignment 3

Neogeography, or "new" geography has expanded the way maps are made and used on the web. Neogeography allows anyone to create a map of anything they choose and share it with a network of friends. It has also allowed for many "mashup" websites to become extremely useful. Mashup websites are those that combine data from two or more different sources - like a store's website that also includes a map of their various locations, or a website like Yelp.com that provides restaurant reviews but also a map of where those restaurants are. Neogeography has shifted the dialogue of map making from something that was prescribed often very costly, to something that has unlimited opportunity, free, and user-friendly . 

Because neogeography gives almost everyone the ability to publish a map there can be a great deal of inaccuracy and misrepresentation. Like other sources of user generated content on the internet, there is no regulation and so amateur map makers can publish maps that are poorly constructed, hard to read, or misleading. Viewers need to be wary of the reliability and accuracy of the content provided on a user generated map. Although this can be an issue with many things found online, this side of neogeography has the potential to sour a user's map reading experience. The more inaccurate maps there are, the more carefully someone has to search for a map they can trust and use. 

Aside from this pitfall, neogeography has the potential to greatly change the way we interact with the geographic spaces around us. The ability to create your own map that focuses on anything you like allows for creative and personalized attention to be paid to geographic location. Due to the popularity of "checking-in" to a location on Facebook, we can see that people love to share their physical location with friends. Neogeography adds this aspect of social interaction to mapping as well. Now people can create maps of their favorite coffee shops or a map of their last vacation (or in my case a map of a vacation I will be taking in December) and add links, photos, and videos to enrich the viewing experience. 

View Adventures in Southeast Asia in a larger map

Assignment 2

1. The name of this quadrangle is the Beverly Hills Quadrangle
2.  The names of the adjacent quadrangles are: Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood

3. The quadrangle was first created in 1995
4. The datum used to compile this map was the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) and National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929
5. The scale of the map is 1:24,000

6. At the above scale: 
     a) 5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to 1,200 meters on the ground
     b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to 1.89 miles on the ground
     c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map
     d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to 12.5 centimeters on the map
7. The contour interval of the map is 20 feet
8. The approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
     a) the Public Affairs Building: W118°26'20'' (-118.4389), N34°4'20'' (34.0722)
     b) the tip of Santa Monica pier: W118°30'00'' (-118.5), N34°0'25' (34.00694)
     c) the upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: W118°24'30'' (-118.4083), N34°7'15'' (34.12083)
9. The approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
     a) Greystone Mansion: 560 feet/170.7 meters
     b) Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 feet/42.7 meters
     c) Crestwood Hills Park: 680 feet/207.3 meters
10. The UTM zone of the map is zone 11
11. UTM zone coordinates for the lower left corner of the map are 3763000 N and 361000 E
12. There are 1,000,000 square meters contained within each UTM
13. Elevation profile of the UTM grid intersections along the UTM northing 3771000: 

14. The magnetic declination of the map is 14 degrees
15. The intermittent stream runs from North to South
16. And here is UCLA, cropped from the map:

Assignment 1

This map shows how many major cities can fit inside the Los Angeles city limits. It is from an article posted on LAist, a blog that covers news, culture, and events in Los Angeles and can be viewed here: http://laist.com/2012/06/30/map_how_many_major_us_cities_can_fi.php. The article does state that the original source for this map is unknown. The map shows that St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Manhattan can all fit neatly within the city limits of Los Angeles, with some room to spare. The white space within the city limits make me wonder if there are perhaps other major cities that could fit snugly within this puzzle. After moving to Los Angeles from San Francisco just a couple of weeks ago, I am still struck by the immense size difference between the two cities. This map is an effective display of just how big the city of Los Angeles really is. It also acts as an interesting way to put the relative sizes of these major cities into perspective.

This map from the New York Times website shows the number of times sweet potato casserole recipes were searched for on the night before Thanksgiving of 2009. Above is a screenshot, but the map found here is interactive: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/26/us/20091126-search-graphic.html. As you scroll over each state you can see the number of searches for sweet potato casserole and how that compares to the national average. I chose to show this particular map because this was the most common recipe that was searched for on that day, but the website does provide the distribution of the top 50 searched recipes - pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, and pecan pie were the next most popular searches on the list. These maps show that although Thanksgiving is a national holiday, we do see differences in the cooking trends and traditions within the country. It is interesting to see the clustering of above average searches in the southern states. It is tempting to conclude that sweet potato casserole is just a southern tradition, however the map simply shows who searched for the recipe and not necessarily who actually consumed this casserole in question.

This next map, also from the New York Times website, is a display of how states may vote in the presidential election this November. These results are based on polling, previous electoral results, and the political geography of each state. This is the link to the interactive version on the New York Times website: http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/electoral-map. The size of each state indicates the number of electoral votes that state has and the color indicates if that state is a strong Democratic state, a strong Republican state, a state that is leaning in either direction, or a tossup state. I think that displaying the size of a state based on the number of electoral votes it holds is a clear and simple way to portray the power and influence they may have over the upcoming election. While the map does clearly show clustering of political views throughout the country, it does not show variation of views within each state. It is interesting that many of the yellow tossup states are sandwiched between strong Democratic states and strong Republican states. The tossup state of Nevada, for example, is situated between the strong Democratic state of Oregon and the strong Republican state of Utah. I think this map is an effective visualization of the political views across the country and how those views may influence the results of this election.