Station Fire

The Station Fire of 2009 is being called "the largest L.A. Country's modern history" (L.A. Times Now).  The total area of the burn totaled "160,577 acres" (Station Fire News Release).  While the burn area was quite large, it was managed well.  The cause of the fire was arson and it was set in an area where many lives were not in terrible jeopardy.  The total number of residences totaled 89, and many of them were trailers.  The main thing to know is that trailers burn quickly, thus once one trailer started to burn, an entire compound went down very quickly.

The good news about this particular fire, is what is bad about this fire; the location.  By looking at the reference map that is pictured first, it is easy to see that there are major arteries that go close to the fire perimeter.  This is good when getting personnel to the fire area.  The bad new is how close it was to major populations.  Many people live in Los Angeles, and in September of 2009 the population was "10,393,185" (Rosenberg).  This is a considerable amount of people, especially when thinking about how many lives could have been in danger.

The second map above is my thematic map for this topic.  What is depicted is the major roads, the major airports, and the hospitals of L.A county. The importance of all of these is obvious.  We need roads to get people out of the way of danger and we need airports to transport workers and people that don't live in the area.  The main thing that I included in the map was the hospitals, and these are very important for the obvious reasons. 

The roads that were available during the Station Fire were of course very useful.  We needed them to transport workers and machinery to the closest points of the fire.  But sometimes, accidents due occur to the roads that make them unusable.  "More than 40 miles of the Angeles Crest Highway from La Canada Flintridge to Islip Saddle have been closed indefinitely because of the Station Fire, which has burned off road stripping and destroyed guard rails and signage along the scenic route, Caltrans officials said" (L.A. Now).  By looking at either of the two maps above, the road that disappears in the fire perimeter is the road that was affected by the fire.

The effects of the fire is still hurting the area today.  "Last April, U.S. Forest Service crews planted nearly a million pine and fir trees to try to reclaim land scorched clean by the devastating Station fire. Most of them shriveled up and died within months, as skeptics had predicted" (Sahagun).  So still today, the fire is just as important as it was when it occurred.  Not only are the trees the natural environment of this area, they help preserve the hill from landslides during the rainy seasons.



Works Cited:

"L.A. NOW." Angeles Crest Highway Closed Indefinitely Because of Fire. L. A. Times, 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.

"L.A. Times NOW." Station Fire Is Largest in L.A. County's Modern History. L. A. Times, 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.

Rosenberg, Matt. "LA Population." About.com Geography. About.com, 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.

Sahagun, Louis. "Reforestation Not Taking Hold in Land Burned by Station Fire." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.

"Station Fire News Release." Incident Information System. InciWeb, 26 Sept. 2009. Web. 5 Dec. 2012.

2000 Population Census

 

 This a population density map from the the 2000 Census.  What can be learned from a map of this type is not only where people live, but how populated it is in a particular area.  This map was used by importing information from the government, and with the colors used, it is easy to see the urban sprawl.  I like the map shown above as it shows how really open the west is.  The only drawback to reading this map, and some could say it is the best thing about it, is the color used for the least populated areas.  On most maps, the lightest shade of color is usually used to depict the lowest amount, but this map shows it in a very hideous color.  I guess if you want to move somewhere, where you will never see your neighbor, go to the darkest area on this map.

This map shows the general population of counties in the United States.  It is very easy to read, and the colors blend nicely to show the information that it is suppose to show.  Again, as stated about the density map, it also shows how open the western states are.  The only drawback that I can see about this map is there should be one or two more brackets used to show the population.  For instance, we all know that Denver, CO does not have the same population as Los Angeles, CA, but if you were an outsider from another country, you may come to that conclusion by looking at this map.

This map shows the general migration of humans away from the plains' states.  It is very easy to read and shows that people are moving towards the cities.  What this map doesn't do is show just how much.  It is crazy to think that just as many people moved to Central Florida, as they did to Chicago.  So for this reason, as the previous map, it could use an additional color or two to depict better movement.  After all, 40,000 to 951,100 is a big jump to compare to.  What is good about this map is that it shows how open the northern plains are becoming.  This is good for all the rich republicans buying land to go hunt and fish... And the reserves that being put in place.

 

This map is showing the same information as the previous map, just in different way.  Instead of showing the numbers, it is showing the percent change.  Therefore, the map does look slightly different.  When looking at the Las Vegas area, its real easy to see the growth that occurred in the 90's.  Another thing that is shown really well is the lack of population growth in the Midwest.  I like the color ramp, and the numbers used to break them down are not far off. 

Digital Elevation Model

Geographic location for the information to create this Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is about 60 miles west of Denver, CO.  More specifically, it is about one mile west of the famed (if you know this area) Rabbit Ears pass. The extent of map is: top is 39.829, bottom is 39.384, left is -105.789, and right is -104.969. The geographic coordinate system used is North American 1983.  The three posters featured are Aspect, Slope, and Hillshade.  The last poster is a three-dimensional showing of the terrain. 

Map Projections

For this assignment we were instructed to create two different styles of projections for the three most common types of maps. As is demonstrated in the posters below, there are numerous ways to present the world, a couple of them are quite aesthetically pleasing, and others are pretty boring; but none the less, there are reasons behind every projection. This assignment was fun for me in the way that the world can look many different ways, and still be the same.

The equidistant map can be used for a variety of reason. The main reason of use is for preserving the distance for measuring reasons. The main problem with this style of map creation, is the loss of real area and angles, as these are not preserved when making these map.

Equal area projection preserves the directions of continents and size of areas, but the northern and southern latitudes are misrepresented. This is caused because this projection enhances the views of only the area size. Since only its area is preserved, it cannot be used for navigation like conformal maps or used to measure distance like equidistant maps. To me, the Bonne Projection above does a great job at preserving the world in terms of area size, but he Mollweide Projection does the best at conforming the map for better aesthetics.

 

Conformal map projections are the most common.  They are the type that is most used in classrooms and most likely to be used for any type of navigation purposes.  The main reason for this is because conformal maps preserve the lines of latitude and longitude.  By looking at the stereographic projection, it is easy to see the distance from the United States to Russia is shorter over the North Pole, but look at the size of Africa.  This is the reason there are other map projections. Conformal maps lack the preservation of area and distance. 



ArcMap Tutorial Project

This map poster was created with ArcMap, which a program within ArcGIS. This project was to manipulate data that was already created for me, by going through a tutorial booklet.  The end result is displayed above, which to me was an learning, but fun, experience.  Now that I have been through the tutorial a couple of times, I look forward to creating more maps, and other projects that this program can make.

The things that make this program great are many.  For one, this program was created for use on a PC, which I am more accustomed to working with.  The program uses many dialog boxes that allow the use to know what to do next.  The layout is fantastic.  The user can set which toolbars he or she would like, and this is helpful by not having everything opened at the same time.  With the inclusion of this feature, the screen is more usable and can be seen more clearly.  Another portion of this program that I liked, is the ability to switch views and manipulate the data very quickly.  The changes that are requested to be made are instantly shown on the work area, and this is helpful when determining if you have taken the proper step, or if you need to redo the set of steps to complete the current task.

Now, for the bad, not every program is flawless.  After all, ArcGIS is on update 10.1, so they have acknowledged the need for a better product.  This product is made on a PC, which has drawbacks.  It is not as user friendly as could be made.  There are many buttons that need be clicked in order to complete certain steps.  The drawing capabilities are lacking.  I tried to draw free-hand, and I will admit that this was a terrible idea. It is done by dragging a mouse on area, and hopefully the end result is desirable, which mine was not. 

Overall, like I stated above, ArcGIS is a fun product and one that I liked working with.  I turned my time with the program into almost a video game, as I conquered the next step in the tutorial.  After I learned the nuances of the program, I became addicted to working with the program.  Sure AutoCad is thrown out numerous times to combat any drawing program available, but to me this program can surely do the job.  I enjoyed the project and I look forward to using the program many more times in the future.



NBA Pacific Division Map

View NBA Pacific Division in a larger map

For my lab assignment this week, I chose to display the five teams that make up the Pacific division of the Western Conference in the NBA. The teams, when placed on a map, can be shown to describe why the NBA chooses a geographic reference as a competitive division. Of course with the major trades this year, especially Nash to the Lakers, this year promises to bring forth more rivalries and exciting basketball. I wish that the Clippers would "kick rocks" and head to Orange County or San Diego, but this won't always be a perfect world. For this reason, I did place the Lakers more geographically correct.

 I enjoyed this assignment and like working with Google Maps. There are, however, pitfalls to creating a map online. The biggest problem, to me, is how the geographical reference of the item that is being placed can override another point of reference on the map. This is very frustrating when trying to place a point exactly where the should be. The other big problem with Google Maps is that this service lacks creativity. There aren't many things that can be changed on the maps. If I want to exclude particular things from the map, this cannot be done.

Beverly Hills Quadrangle

1) Beverly Hills

2) a) Canoga park
    b) Van Nuys
    c) Burbank
    d) Topanga
    e) Hollywood
    f) Venice
    g) Inglewood

3) 2012

4) North American Datum of 1983

5) 1:24000

6) a) 1200 meters
    b) 1.89 miles
    c)  2.64 inches
    d) 12.5 cm

7) 20 feet

8) a) 34^o4'30"N 118^o26'35"W   34.075°N and 118.402°W
    b) 34^o0'30"N 118^o 29'59"W   34.010°N and 118.409°W
    c) 34^o6'10"N  118^o24'50"W   34.103°N and 118.414°W

9) a) 560ft 170.7m
    b) 140ft  42.7m
    c) 680ft  207.3m

10) Grid 11

11) 3,763,200 Northing and 361,500 Easting

12) 1000000 sq. meters

13)

14) 12 Degrees

15) South

16)