lab#8

From 8/16/2009 to 10/16/2009, the California Station Fire is considered one of the largest wildfires in the history of modern day California. It is burned through 250 square miles, 90 homes and claimed the lives of two firefighters (Pringle). It began in the Angeles National Forest but soon grew so large that in total, it affected the areas of La Canada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Pasadena, Little Rock, Altadena, Sunland, and Tujunga (2009 California Wildfires). And over 3500 personnel from around the state were activated to extinguish the fire (Pringle). The map has pointed out three aspects of this terrible fire in three days (8/29/2009~9/1/2009). The first is the location of this deadly fire happened in northern mountains of Los Angles, and the rivers in the mountains can’t help people to stop the fire spreading. The second is the spread of the fire is from southwest to northeast and the speed is fast, in this three days the areas of fire become almost 20 times larger than began. The last is that the fire is burned from low to high in the mountain area.
Based on the color-coded areas, the map displays the growth and the spread of the fire from August 1th to September 1th. In August 1th layer (dark red color) seems quite small in reference to the total area affected. But that was only three days after the first started, the areas of the fire cover the yellow color seems to occupy majority of the affected area. According to LA Times, between August 31st and September 1st, the fire grew more than 122,000 acres overnight (Becerra, Fire grows). That can definitely be seen by the pale yellow shading on the map. And the map not only shows the growth of the Station Fire, it also shows the direction of the growth. From the additions in acreage, the fire spread from southwest to northeast, and covered a large number of forest mountain area, the spread eastward due to the reasons of wind direction as well as the vegetations in the forest and the summer temperature higher than before in L.A. mountain area. The temperature reported in degrees Fahrenheit at 1 p.m. LST. Humidity – The relative humidity (RH) represented as a percent of maximum for the reported temperature. Fires become more difficult to control when RH is low. Readings of 15 percent or less are cause for great concern (FIRE WEATHER DANGER TERMS AND EXPLANATIONS). Because the high temperature of L.A. in 2009 summer, the amount of precipitation was lower than any time before. The rivers around the mountain area didn’t have enough power to stop the fire spread.
We can also find information by looking at the elevation change of the areas affected. Through the DEM feature on the map, we could clear to see that the fire spread upslope through the Angeles National Forest and large parts of the San Gabriel Mountains. “At Mt. Wilson, the intensity and unpredictability of the blaze, which continued shifting directions, forced fire crews to pull back from the mountaintop. With the blaze burning on both sides of the only access road to the complex, firefighters could become trapped if the inferno suddenly raced up the canyon walls (Becerra, Fire Grows).” Also, the quick and large spread of the fire was also due to the steep terrain making it difficult for firefighters to reach the fire (Spread of Station Fire). The reason of fire spread upslope is the monsoon at this time in L.A. mountain area blow from southwest to northeast, and the high temperature make the forest dry then turn into a large number of comburent.
The second picture points out the aspect the influence of fire about river areas. According to the lines of rivers, all the rivers in the fire spread area were the same number as the other area, but the fire spread fast normally. We could find out that if the yield of water is not powerful enough, there was not any help to stop the fire spread. And the vapor of those rivers made the weather of this area worse than before, those vapor took more trouble to firemen to stop the station fire. High temperature water vapor killed the flora and fauna in the fire area, make the number of economic losses larger. And the burning gas mix with the vapor will contribute to acid rain spread to the broader area.
This lab allowed me to use the newly learned GIS skills in this semester and my creativity to create a reference map concerning the County Station Fire. But I am not only tested my knowledge about ArcGIS but also get aware of the extensive damage done by this terrible fire. Through the reference maps of the perimeters, it is noticed the area and direction of this fire well. For my theme, I chose to discuss the rivers area affected by this fire. The discussion of the perimeter shows the influence about rivers in forest fire, and the search the reasons why those rivers could not help to stop the fire spread. It definitely shows the large impact of wildfires on L.A. as well as the usefulness of ArcGIS.

Works Cited

"2009 California wildfires -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 18 Nov. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .

Pringle, Paul. "U.S. Forest Service blames steep terrain for Station fire's spread." LA Times 14 Nov 2009: n. pag. Web. 27 Nov 2009. .

Becerra, Hector. "Fire grows to more than 122,000 acres; officials hope for improved conditions." L.A. Now. Los Angeles Times, 1 Sept. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .

"Fire Weather Danger Terms and Explanations." County of L.A. Fire department. Web. 23 Nov. 2009.

"Spread of Station Fire couldn't have been stopped, feds say - LA Daily News." Los Angeles Daily News. Los Angeles Newspaper Group, 13 Nov. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. .

Lab#7

The first map displays the Asian population in America. In the map, there are six levels of Asian's density, with darker color representing high density and light color representing low density. We can tell from the color on the map that there is a great population of Asian people distributing on the West Coast and North-East Coast of America, while the population in the central part of America is small, which matches my experience before. UCLA has a big amount of Asian students while one of my friend who studies in a university in central America told me Asian students take up a rather small amount of percentage in her school. As we can see from the map, Los Angeles is one of the cities with most Asians.

THe second map represents the distribution of Black people in America. Like the distribution of Asian people, most black people live on the east and west coast. The most direct indication from the map is that there is a very distinct difference of the black population in the north and south area. The black people in the south area are much more than those in the north area. which can be contributed to the historical reason. Some areas in the central north have rather small distribution and the black people in certain south area can take up to more than 80%.

The third map represents the distribution of some other races in America.Same as the rule in the maps above, the dark color represents the high concentration while the light color represents the low concentration. We can tell from the map that in the border areas adjacent to other countries, the concentration of other races is high. For example, in the West Coast, the Hispanic population is big, which may result from the geographic position. The overall concentration of the concentration, however, is not very high.

In conclusion, the maps above indicate the diverse population in America. The most diverse population distributes on the coast areas where immigrants take up a big amount of percentage. In my opinion, as time goes by, the population of certain races on the coast areas will scatter and in the near future we might not see such a distinct difference of population distribution in America.

In this lab, we use the American Lambert Conformal Conic projection in GIS to represent a customer-friendly map of population. This projection provides the viewers a direct visual sense of how different races be distribute in a certain area, with different colors. GIS is a powerful tool to summarize and visualize geographic data and convey useful information to the mass.

Above is the image information of a mountain area in California. I chose this area because it can provide distinct data about the elevation. The top edge native is 27.5722 degree. The bottom edge native is 27.570833 degree. The left edge native is -112.9899999 degree and the right edge native is -112.9886111 degree. The data is from the GCS North American 1983. The four different maps display different views about the terrain, which includes a shaded relief model, an aspect map. a slope map and a 3-D representation of the map.

lab #5

The maps above are created to show different features using different geographic method. As we can perceive from these maps, the equidistant maps preserve the distance; the equal area maps preserve the area; the confrontal maps preserve the angle locally. These characteristic projections display contrasting information for the viewers: the equidistant maps always havee very skwed angles and areas; the equal area maps have distorted angles and distances ; the confrontal maps project skewed areas and distances.

Each kind of projection has its own purpose and needs to present the world. As the projections transform the 3-D reference ellipsoid into a 2-D map, the on different levels distort the earth surface depending on various needs of the map. Therefor no maps represent the exact earth surface. And each projection has its own advantages and pitfalls. For example, the mercator maps mainly serve for nautical purposes as they always preseve right angles at the intersections of longtitude and latitude, being able to display the linear scale towards all directions. In the equal area maps, relative sizes are shown, but shapes and directions are distorted. This kind of maps make it possible for a visual presentation of the land on the earth foratlases and classroom use.

Althought all these projections are useful for people's lives in one way or another, there are many perils in utilizing them because while each kind of maps correctly portray some aspects, they distort others aspects at the same time. In other words, there is no one single exactly correct maps and there is no best map. The best map is the one which can show certain characteristics which we are looking for.

Despite the pitfalls of map projections, there is still musch benefitial potentials in using projections: we are allowed to view the geographic data in a 2-D way in a convenient and fast way. And I believe that it is always our pursuit to find out a better way to represent the world with the lowest level of inaccuracies.

lab#4

It really left me a deep impression when i first used this geographic information system to complete my lab4. I was amazed by this powerful tool. People can be intimated by the various tabs and options provided by this system. However, once they start, they will find the tutorial to be a very specific guideline. Honestly speaking, although this system is user friendly, it can be very time consuming. It took me many hours to complete the whole project. Customer can easily get access to the system and follow the instructions step by step, but very few people can continue their projects to the end.

ArcMap has great benefits for GIS students. It allows the user to extract large amount of data into different layers on a map, which makes it possible show a variety of information on a single picture. The map to me was originally an object showing directions and positions. It totally changed my attitude towards maps after I completed this assignment.

There is a significant potential pitfall in ArcGIS. As it is a user friendly software, the data can always be misleading when reporting information due to the lack of professional knowledge of the user. And the readers can me misled by the professional looking map. And issues of accuracy may always exist because all the data is abstracted from reality.

Overall. ArcGIS has revolutionized the geography information system. Users can benefit from the large amount of information and make life much easier. However, it is very crucial that the basics of geography never be lost as ArcGIS develops through the years.

Lab#3

View Interesting Places to Go During Winter Break 2011 in a larger map
Neogeography has made it possible for mass people to make their own maps according to their personal preferences and tastes. For example, people can make their travel plans using neography, therefore enabling their lives become categorized and more convenient. But as map-making becomes less academic, people has to face the inaccuracies generated by mass people who lack the professional knowledge. Therefore, people can be misled by the false information. Compared with the easily accessible yet inaccurate information, what people need is the more professional and helpful information. After all, neogeography is an innovative idea to make people's lives easier and more colorful. People need such kind of technology to live a better life.

Assignment#2

Lab#2                                                                                                                                                              Yuqi Liang

1.       What is the name of the quadrangle?

Beverly Hills, CA 1995 quadrangle

2.       What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?

Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank,  Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, Inglewood

3.       When was the quadrangle first created?

1966

4.       What datum was used to create your map?

      Horizontal datum : North American datum of 1927 and 1983

         Vertical datum: National geodetic 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?  5*24000=120000centimeters=1200meters

b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?

5*24000=12000inches=12000*2.54*0.0000062137=1.8937miles

c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?

1mile=1609.344meters=160934.4cm, 160934.4/2400=6.7056cm=2.615184inches

d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?

3km= 3000m=300000cm, 300000/2400=12.5cm

7. What is the contour interval on your map?

(200-160)/2=20feet

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:

a) the Public Affairs Building;

North: 34degree 4 minute 16second=34.07 degrees North

East: 118 degree,26minute 34 second=118.44degrees East

b) the tip of Santa Monica pier;

 34 degrees  4 minutes 30 seconds North=34.075degrees North

118degrees 26minutes 30seconds West=118.44degrees West

c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;

West: 118 degrees 24 minutes 40 seconds   118.41 degrees West

   North: 34 degrees 6 minutes 30 seconds      34.11 degrees North

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:

a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park);

570feets=0.3048*570meters=173.736meters

b) Woodlawn Cemetery;

140feets=42.672meters

c) Crestwood Hills Park;

750feets=228.6meters

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?

Zone11

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

3763000meters northing

361500meters easting

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

1000000 square meters grid

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?

Positive 14 degree

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

It flows all the way from north to south

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

 

Lab#1

Source:http://artsytime.com/img/misc/old-maps/old-maps04.jpg
This is an antique map showing what the world was like from the view of ancient people. Despite some inaccuracies of certain details, the overlook of the main continents is acceptable. What makes this map outstanding and attractive is that the painter opened up the sphere and arranged it into a two-dimensional picture which is decorated by the delicate painting as the background.

The function of the map goes beyond just to show direction; it is a fine art which can entertain its viewers as well.

 

http://geoserver.isciences.com/DataBlog/?p=88

This is a map which shows the global population density according to the colors of different regions. We could tell from this map that the main populations locate in Asia, Central Europe and the United states of east and west coasts. The colors on the map give its viewers a direct sense of how the populations are didtributed around the world. I think the popultaion density pretty much associates with many factors such as climate, economics topograghy and so on. For example, there are most desert areas in central America and western China, so the population in such areas is small. I conclude from this map that a single map contains various factors from which we can draw clues and relate to each other.

 

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/stunning-maps-visualize-twitter-and-flickr-use/

These two pictures are by Eric Fischer, the top of which visualizes the use of twitter and Flickr in the United States and the bottom of which around the world. The viewers can tell the social networking intensity from the brightness and darkness in the picture. The viewers could see, for example, lower Manhattan is filled with white, which is the relection of the popularity of both twitter and flickr there. What's intersting about th map is that it shows us a networking picture in a 3-dimentional way and that there is still big room for social-networking to grow. It did not take a long time for Fischer to make these pictures. He writes,“It’s a C program that runs through the photos/tweets in chronological order, plotting the earliest ones the most brightly and stepping the brightness down for points that don’t show up for the first time until later on.”