Final Lab.

The Station Fire of 2009 started in the Angeles National Forest near the U.S Forest Ranger Station off of Highway 2. The fire directly affected areas of the North East area of the city of Los Angeles, and areas in the cities of Glendale, La Crescenta-Montrose, La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena and Altadena.
The map displays three stages of the fire between August 29, 2009, and September 2nd, 2009. The fire, however, began to be fought by the fire department since August 26, 2009, and was reported to have been fully contained not until October 16th, 2009. By the time the fire had been fully contained, it burned 160,000 acres, killed two firefighters, and destroyed 96 residences and commercial properties.
The map shows how rapidly the fire extended north into the Angeles forest.

     The map above shows the distance relationships to the fire from nearby water bodies. The success of the containment of the fire had been accomplished largely thanks to the aid of aerial combat strategies. The involvement in particular of S-64 Helitankers which dipped into the nearby lakes and reservoirs to drop water on the fire was of extreme importance.

     Hansen Lake was the closest to the center of the fire in it's beginning stages, being 10.5 miles away, but was only 3 to 5 miles away when the fire had expanded to the North East in the middle and last stages shown on this map. The Cogswell Reservoir was the second nearest, being about 11.5 miles away from the fire first began, but by the time it had expanded to its furthest East, it was only around 2.5 miles from this water body. Bigger water bodies such as the Flood control basin were considerably farther at 20 miles from the epicenter of the midle stage of the fire. The presence of these nearby water sources was of great value to the aerial strategy of the S-69 Helitankers.

     According to the report from the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Helitankers had by far the biggest involvement from the other tankers which sprayed gels and other fire retardants. The Helitankers flew an average of 6.18 hours per day during their fire suppression involvement, and released an average of around 1600 gallons of water per day collected from the near water bodies.

Thanks to the effectiveness of fire combat through aerial strategies such as the use of Helitankers, the LA County Fire Department emphatically asked that the ban for helicopters flying at night for combating fires be lifted. The ban was lifted last Fall.

Recently in 2012, more Helitankers and superscoopers have been incorporated to the equipment of LA County's Fire Department. The new aircrafts are capable of scooping larger volumes of water (up to 2500 gallons) in only seconds, and are reported to be ready for the next fire season.



Sources:

Tripp, John B., Chief Deputy, Emergency Operations, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Executive Review of Actions,
Los Angeles, CA: Report of November 17, 2009
url: http://statter911.com/files/2009/11/CA-Los-Angeles-County-Station-Fire-Report.pdf

InciWeb, Incident Information system, Station Fire, Incident update of 11/10/2009
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/

California Emergency Management Agency, 2009 Los Angeles County Wildfires, After Action Corrective Action Report, Executive Summary
pdf download through:
url: calema.ca.gov

Timothy Rutt, County takes SuperScoopers, helitankers for fire season.
Friday, August 31, 2012, Altadena Online
url: http://www.altadenablog.com/2012/08/county-takes-superscoopers-helitankers-for-fire-season.html

Paul Pringle, article: Forest Service ends ban on night flights to battle fires, Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2012

Lab 7

Source: US Census 2000 Beurau. Counties with a Black alone population Greater Than Zero, Ranked by Percent

We can note in this map the considerably larger concentration of black populations in the United States in the Southern and South Eastern part of the United States. We can also notice empty pockets containing counties with no black population in the upper middle of the united States.

In this map, as expected, we notice the Asian population congregating more in counties throughout the coast of California. Surprisingly to me, I have also noticed a heavy concentration of this group in northern Washington and the upper east part of Texas.

This maps shows a very marked difference in where other races choose to live in the United States by denoting a stronger preference by other races to congregate to the west of almost the very middle of the United States. The larger groups of this category, surprisingly, settle not just in California, but in several other parts of the South Western States. It would be interesting to dig deeper into how the US census came up with the various classifications for races and what prompted their criteria.

The creation of these census map series gave me a glimpse of the possibilities for map creation derived from data collection. It seems it may be possible to create maps from the census data tables that can reflect many different types of statistical data. Putting maps together from reliable sources of data could be fun and enlightening. 
Although I still find the ArcGIS software difficult to use and not very intuitive, I am very impressed with its capabilities. I've begun to understand the process and complexities involved in creating a map from structured research, and how to convert statistical data tables to a visual format, such as a map, that anyone can easily appreciate. I look forward to seeing the development of this software, perhaps in the near future to be produced also for the Mac operating systems which are usually more user friendly.
As far as GIS, in general, I find it a fascinating science. Geography had always interested me out of a curiosity since childhood for where and how people far away in other cultures lived. This course has given me a clearer idea as to how I had thus far come to interpret maps that reflect that data that had always interested me. It has also shown me the various steps involved in making a responsibly produced map and how is the product of a very structured process where from data collection to cartographic representation, the steps are to be very methodical.

Lab 6

Extent data:
Top: 39.829166666
Left: -105.788888888
Right: -104.96944444
Bottom: 39.3838888883

Spatial reference:
Angular unit      Degree (0.0174532925199)
Datum:   D_North_American_1983
 
Use of the ArcGIS software for this activity has become easier, but the interfaces are still not very intuitive, and the instructions to complete the lab make references to buttons, names or clickable areas in the software that don't exist or are outdated or changed. This makes it always challenging to move from one step to another as it takes quite a bit of guessing sometimes. I continue to find the instructions difficult to follow since they don't accurately reflect what we have on the screen.

Lab 5

Map Projections.

There is great significance in the availability of so many varieties of map projections. One may very aptly illustrate a point or series of points or data collection by choosing the projection that most strongly or clearly references such points or data. The disadvantages of so many options for projections lie in what and how much each distorts from the real world, and in how we must make our best educated decision as to our choice of projection.

We know that a mercator projection, for example, is perfectly accurate around the equator and no where else, but it became highly useful for nautical purposes because of how it represents lines of constant course. A stereographic projection proves almost exclusively valuable in planetary mapping for crater mapping. 

Equal area projections sacrifice accuracy of shape and of angles but are more accurate of the proportions of that area. The Mollweide projection is a good example of this. The Bonne projection focuses on the area accuracy mostly around the central meridian and the standard latitude where the shapes are not distorted.

Equidistant projections preserve distance from a standard point or line.

The plate care projection introduces such distortions that it is not suited for navigation, for example. Polar projections are useful applications of an azymuthal equidistant projection.

The risk in choosing a highly customized projection is that while it may enhance our view of a certain point, it can highly weaken the perspective on another, giving a false sense of reality in general. We must choose the one that best illustrates our point but which also introduces less distortion on other points.

Lab 4

   The Arc map software proved a bit more difficult to learn than I thought. Its tutorial was designed for an earlier version of the software that had significant differences in look and instructions. The software also was not as intuitive as I would have imagined.
   Once one becomes familiar with how to use it, I can imagine this software to be highly useful to GIS. It offers the possibility to produce highly customizable maps through its many tools for data inclusion.
   In my opinion, however, the software still has a very outdated look and requires navigation through many panels or tool sets to complete simpler tasks.
   I have yet to familiarize myself better with the software to get a better idea of its uses and exactness in illustration but so far, I am excited about continuing to use it.

Lab 3

View 5 Ancient wonders of the world in a larger map


Please note that the diamond shape area part of the assignment may not be visible upon opening this page and a zoom out may be required in order to view it. It lies in the central region of Iraq.


The pitfalls, potential and consequences of neogeography. 
Neogeography applications in todays world are extremely helpful for illustrative and non-formal uses. Anyone with access to a computer and minimal familiarity with google maps, yahoo maps, or a different online map service, can put together a map to illustrate a certain point or to give directions.
The fact that so many tools are now available for non-experts to create a map is terribly exciting for someone like me who has liked and had an interest in geography all his life. These tools not only allow one to explore various regions of the world such as boundaries and topography, but to also make assessments on various geographically related topics regarding any particular area. The danger with Neogeography is the high degree of responsibility, I feel, one must take in creating and presenting a map from a pre-existing toolset. As I've come to learn, all maps may reflect various degrees of distortions depending on their projection method, but also, depending on the point of view being illustrated by the person creating the map, biases must be considered. In topics of controversial relevance, particular importance and analysis of the map's creation method must also be considered in making an objective use of such map. There are many people out there, perhaps even a majority, who may think of maps as absolute points of reference. An awareness of spatial projection on a map, their methods, and the knowledge that not all maps are 100% accurate lead to a reflection on how best to use a pre-existing toolset for map creation, and also, most importantly, for what purpose.
Neogeography has brought a higher awareness of surroundings in people who have now begun to rely on online maps or navigation devices to realize their daily tasks by getting easily to where they need to go. This is a great result of the existence of these maps and navigation devices. People who may not have been aware of the topography or geographical general shape of their surroundings, now can see them projected on a screen. A risky consequence of the availability of pre-existing toolsets like this comes when people may use such pre-existing maps without considering it's source or creation techniques to illustrate points of social, religious or political nature. I believe we may be getting to the point where disclaimers on a map may need to be required as to their creation and source. Especilly when illustrating topics or points of controversial nature.

Lab 2

Lab 2 Answers:
 
1. What is the name of the quadrangle?
 Beverly Hills Quadrangle

 2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
      1. Canoga Park
      2. Van Nuys
      3. Burbank
      4. Topanga
      5. Hollywood
      6.
      7. Venice
      8. Inglewood

3. When was the quadrangle first created?
1995

4. What datum was used to create your map?
North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27). Projection and 100 meter grid:

Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) is shown by dash corner ticks.

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?
1 inch  on map = 24 000 inches on the ground (or 609.6 mts.)
5cm = 1.96 inches (on the map)
5cm on the map = 1194.8 mts. on the ground

b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
1 inch on the map = 0.37 miles on the ground
5 X 0.37 = 1.85 miles on the ground
5 inches on the map = 1.85 miles on the ground

c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
1 mile on the ground = 0.37 in on the map

d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?
If
1194.8 mts. on the ground = 5cm on the map
and
3 km = 3000 mts.
then
.05 mts (5 cm) X 3000 mts = 150 mts / 1194.8 mts = .12 mts.
3 km on the ground = 12 cm on the map.


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 of:
a) the Public Affairs Building;
Lat  34o 4'  Long   118o 26'     decimal:   34.06     118.43

b) the tip of Santa Monica pier;
Lat 34o 0' 50"   Long   118o 30'    decimal:  34.013     118.5

c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;
Lat 34o 6' 15''   Long  118o 25' 15"   decimal: 34.113       118.42    

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park);
580 ft

b) Woodlawn Cemetery;
140 ft

c) Crestwood Hills Park;
700 ft


10. What is the UTM zone of the map?
Universal Traverse Mercator, zone 11 10 000 foot ticks: California Coordinate System of 1927 (zone 7)

11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map?
Latitude 34o 00' Longitude 118o 30'    ( 30  / 118.5)

12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines?
1000 000 mts

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?
14o / 249 mils

15. In which direction does water flow in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon Reservoir?
Towards the South East

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

Geog 7 Lab 1

Map of Vienna in 1827.

Map source:  http://www.tonalsoft.com/enc/v/vienna.aspx
From the encyclopedia of microtonal music.

I was shown a similar map of Vienna from this era earlier during my music history class. I found it interesting for several reasons:
1) Because I lived in Vienna for 1 year between 2008 and 2009, and it is interesting to see, both, how the city has changed, and how in some areas it remains the same.
2) It shows how the city was so contained by its walls still at that time.
3) It shows how considerably vast the city was then, and yet, how much smaller it is compared to its size today.
4) From a music history perspective it is also very interesting to see what the city was like during the lifetime of the great composer Beethoven. For me this is of special interest, as I am a music major.
5) It is fun for me to see what the surroundings of the Theaters in Vienna where I have worked were like at the time (Wiener Staatsoper and Theater an der Wien).






2. Map of the region of North Rhein Westphalia in Germany.

source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_Rhine-Westphalia_topographic_map_04V.svg

This map shows the area surrounding Osnabrueck which I visit twice per year to visit my daughter.
It is always interesting to me to look at a map of her area so I familiarize myself better each time before I go visit there. We can see that The Netherlands border is quite close to  this area. In many visits to Osnabrueck (which is actually not shown in this map because it is technically in the region of Lower Saxony in its southernmost tip) I have not found it to be a region that offers much in terms of touristic activity, and I am always trying to explore its surroundings. I shall become interested in the near future in exploring the cities further to the south such as Cologne and Dusseldorf.







3. Map of the World's resources by country.

source: http://www.mint.com/blog/trends/mint-map-the-worlds-resources-by-country/

This map is interesting to me because it shows Mexico's raking in the worldwide production of silver. The city where I grew up, Guanajuato, Mexico, used to be the number one producer of silver in the world during the times of the Spanish Colony. After years of exploiting Guanajuato's mines we can see that Mexico's silver production has decreased quite a lot. It is also interesting that many of the mines that still produce silver in that area, are actually now owned by foreign companies.