Geog 7 Lab 8 (Final Project

            The Station Fire, which stormed across the Angeles Forest between August 26, 2009 and October 16, 2009, was the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County.  The fire burned 160,557 acres and led to the destruction of 209 structures, including 89 homes (“Station Fire”).  In addition to the properties damaged, two firefighters were killed in the struggle, and 22 residents were injured by the flames (“Firefighters honor two comrades killed in ‘Station Fire”).  The fire was determined to be arson, after a suspicious item was found at the location where the fire ignited (“Station Fire”).  The collection of very hot temperatures around L.A. County and the severe lack of precipitation during the time leading up to the fire led it to expand out of control, reaching its largest extent on September 2.

            The conditions within the station fire made it very susceptible to extreme burning.  For one, there had not been a fire in this area in 40 years, allowing tall shrubs and fire-susceptible vegetation to grow out of control (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  In addition, the huge slopes of the area, totaling between 2,000 and 6,000 feet above sea level made it very difficult to contain (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  Compared to standard levels, precipitation levels leading up to the fire were 30% lower than usual and humidity was under 10%, leading to extremely dry conditions which are ideal within essentially all California wildfires (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).  This fire managed to be the largest in the history of Los Angeles County, without any significant winds fuelling it, indicating that huge winds are not necessary to fuel a massive wildfire (Thompson, Kaplan and Gomberg).

            The reference map shows the area of the fire on August 29 on top, and the area of the fire on September 2, which is obviously far larger.  In addition, local highways and major streets for this area are displayed on this map, as well as the thematic map.  As can be displayed by this reference map, the Angeles Crest Highway, a section of the 2 Highway running within the heights of the Angeles National Forest, is the only major road running through the area of the fire.  As the fire grew larger, the Angeles Crest Highway was shut down, closing off the main escape route for people in this area (Weikel).  However, this highway will be opening again June 3, after nearly two years of being closed (Carpenter).  Luckily, the range covered by the fire is not very densely populated, so this did not have as adverse an effect as it would have in a much more densely populated area.

            The thematic map deals with the issue of analyzing how local hospitals might have been affected.  As is displayed in the thematic map, there were really only a couple of close hospitals in this region, the closest being Verdugo Hills Hospital, about 2 miles from the edge of the fire, and close to the 2 Highway.  The issue with having the hospitals so close is that they could have possibly been put in danger of evacuation because of the fire, which would have been disastrous because of all the ill patients a hospital must carry.  Luckily, there were no indications of any hospital evacuations from any resources researched.  However, because of the huge extent of the fire, the smoke would extend to greater distance, so it is very likely that hospitals experienced an increase in walk-in patients dealing with breathing-related issues during this time.  Despite the large amount of hospitals throughout the affected regions, it is still likely than some became overcrowded and had to divert patients to other surrounding medical centers.

            The other issue that arises with this thematic map is examining how much access people in the area of the fire had to hospitals.  As mentioned before, the range of the Angeles National Forest burnt in the Station Fire was not densely populated.  And for the people living there, most escaped early due to mandatory evacuations in the region, which was helpful (“Station Fire”).  However, with the closure of the Angeles Crest Highway, it is unlikely that local people would have had sufficient access to local hospitals.  They would have had to take local streets to get out of the fire zone, which can often be difficult within mountainous areas, because all the roads are generally so windy.  All in all though, because of the low population density and quick evacuations, injuries for this massive wildfire were limited.

           

Bibliography

Carpenter, Susan. “Angeles Crest Highway to Reopen Friday.” Los Angeles Times. 2        June 2011. Web. 2 June 2011.

“Firefighters Honor 2 Comrades Killed in Station Fire.” KTLA. 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 1        June 2011.

“Station Fire.” Incident Information System. 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 1 June 2011.

Thompson, Richard, Curt Kaplan and David Gomberg. “The Station Fire: An Example of             a Large Wildfire in the Absence of Significant Winds.” National Oceanic and   Atmospheric Association. Web. 2 June 2011.

Weikel, Dan. “Angeles Crest Highway closed indefinitely because of fire.” Los Angeles    Times. 4 Sept. 2009. Web. 2 June 2011.

Geog 7 Lab 7

The first map in the top left corner shows the change in population throughout the country from 1990 to 2000, the years when the census was taken.  The values were calculated by taking count within the census, and applying the data within the tables.  The map's color ramp is appropriate for this kind of data because the areas of greatest change are denoted by dark green, denoting that this area is prospering.  Like crops, the greener it is, the better.  The pink colors seem appropriate because they are very light and show that population is lightening up in these areas.  In fact, it is decreasing in these areas.

The second map in the top right corner shows the number of people in different areas around the country in the year 2000.  The values in this map, much like the values in the other map, were likely calculated by the counts taken within the census in the year 2000.  The map shows similar statistics to the first map.  The middle of the country, encompassing the Great Plains and much of states such as Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, has the least population, with much of these towns averaging less than 10,000 people.  The color ramp, like the other map, seems appropriate, because the greatest populations are the darkest, while the lightest populations are in a light blue color.  The colors clearly transition nicely from the middle of the country outwards, as the greatest populations do seem to be near the coasts, such as in California, New York and Florida, and cities like Chicago which is near Lake Michigan, another large water source.

The third map in the lower left corner shows the percentage change in population between 1990 and 2000.  This is likely the most accurate depiction of the population change in different areas, as it is based on percentages based on the areas' original numbers, not just a display of actual numbers as in the first map.  In that map, it is obvious that the big cities will have the greatest amount of people, but that does not necessarily mean that the percentage change is the greatest.  These values were calculated by taking the rough count of the change in population and likely dividing this by the midpoint between the population of 1990 and 2000.  This color ramp is very good for this type of map because it clearly displays the areas which have a greatly increased percentage in population, and also a very obvious color for areas which have decreased percentage in population greatly.  Everything else in between is rather nonchalant, which shows just basic percentage changes in population either way

The fourth map in the lower right corner shows the population density calculated in the year 2000.  These values were calculated by dividing the populations of different towns by the entire national population.  Based on these numbers, the map can be created to show which areas have the greatest populations.  And as this graph shows, the greatest population density, not surprisingly, is centered around the major cities throughout the United States.  What is also apparent from this map is that, besides the major populations centers, there seems to be much greatest population density overall in the eastern half of the United States versus the western half.  The color ramp seems appropriate because it clearly displays the areas of greatest population density, yet at the same time shows clearly which areas have the least population.  The most important part though is that one can also distinctly see which areas have medium population density, as these closer are distinct from the areas of highest population density as well as the areas of lowest population.

Geography 7 Lab 6

For this lab, I chose to take a digital elevation model of the San Fernando Valley, where I am from.  It was an easy choice since I am from there and live there when I'm not at UCLA, so I know the area best.  The San Fernando Valley is exactly as it name implies, surrounded by mountains with a wide valley below.  The surrounding mountains reach a peak of about 1,700 feet, and the lowest point in the valley drops down to 300 feet above sea level.  As is clearly displayed in the 3-D model in the bottom right corner, the highest mountains are in the northern portion of the valley, leading into Santa Clarita and Valencia and Newhall, among others.  The mountains leading into West L.A. on the south of the valley are not as high comparatively.  The extent of this digital elevation model 34.358 degrees at the top, 34.099 degrees at the bottom, -118.686 degrees on the left and -118.281 degrees on the right.  The UTM Zone for this area is Zone 11.

Geog 7 Lab 5 (Week 6)

These maps, the GCS and the Mercator projections, are different in a few different ways.  For one, the distances between Washington D.C. and Kabul on each map are significantly different.  It is 7,000 miles approximately between the two cities on the GCS projection, and about 10,000 miles between them on the Mercator projection.  The Mercator projection distorts distances far more, as the GCS projection is far closer to the actual distance.  The GCS projection also has equal area squares on its map, while the same is not necessarily true for Mercator.  The GCS projection preserves direction, distance, shape and area, which makes it a fairly accurate projection.

A mercator projection is a cylindrical projection.

 The two equal area maps shown are the Sinusoidal projection and the Mollweide Projection.  Sinusoidal projections show size, or area, relatively accurately, but distort shape and direction.  The Mollweide projection preserves area as well, but distorts shape.  The sinusoidal projection looks more horizontally stretched, thereby distorting direction between the land masses.  The Mollweide on the other hand does not seem to distort direction because the relative locations of the continents are kept in check, as it appears to just be like an oval on its side.  Though each 30-30 latitude-longitude square is equal area on each map, they still look different comparatively, which comes naturally with the different manners in which the maps are projected.  Both maps are made using a pseudocylindrical projection.

The two equidistant map projections shown are the Plate Carree projection and the Equidistant Cylindrical projection.  The Plate Carree projection preserves distance and direction, but distorts area, and is also not conformal.  The Equidistant Cylindrical also preserves distance and direction, but also distorts area, and is not conformal.  The features on the maps look different in the sense that equidistant cylindrical map seems to distort area even more so than the plate carree map.  It appears to be more scrunched up, which therefore accounts for its very short estimated distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul.  The Plate Carree map still distorts area, but seems to make land masses larger, as the estimated distance between Washington, D.C. and Kabul on this map is 10,000 miles.  The Equidistant Cylindrical projection is made using a cylindrical projection.  The Plate Carree map is also made using a cylindrical projection.

Geog 7 Lab 4

This is the result for exercise 1.  The blue part of the map shows the area of the airport, and the lines within it show the runway.  The shape surrounding it represents the raise that the noise from the airport can travel, and the map also includes surrounding roads.  In this first exercise, it is important to determine which schools, represented by the little dots throughout the map, are within the airport's noise contour.  This helps determine where to avoid building schools in the future.  From the map, it appears that only a couple of schools are within the noise contour, including Northwestern Prep, which was required to be labeled for this particular exercise.  ArcGIS technology allows us to know where to build schools, as well as providing information for other practical uses.

This map in the second exercise shows the original map from exercise 1, in addition to a bar graph and a map of the distribution of land use within the noise contour.  Based on these images, it appears that there is lots of agricultural and residential development within this noise contour.  This implies that there are lots of families that could potentially be bothered by this noise contour extending out from the airport.  Surprisingly this exercise does not show a huge amount of commercial development around the airport area.  With the air traffic noise in that area, it is possible that homes are cheaper within the surrounding area.  With cheaper homes comes more buyers, which leads to more residential development.

 This map in exercise 3, specifically the map added at the bottom, displays the population density in this particular city presented in this tutorial.  Based on the map, it appears that the population is by far the densest in the center of the city, where the major roads intersect.  This major population center is about 15-20 miles from the airport.  This is typical of many major cities, since airport areas generally are not the spots of major populations.  The dark green parts of the map probably represents the downtown of this particular city.  Outside of this huge population concentration, the population is relatively light throughout the rest of the city, where not many major roads intersect as they do in the downtown area.

This map in exercise 4 is not much different from the previous exercise.  In particular, road names are added to the original map at the top.  In addition, this exercise showed how to add a new feature to a data range, which in this case meant creating a new street, called Airport Road.  The ability of developers to easily create new features on an ArcGIS map makes it possible to design and plan city centers much easier than ever before.  Developers can decide how to use the land and where to develop based on the technology available her in ArcGIS.

This final exercise, exercise 5, sums up the entire airport expansion plan into one complete layout view.  First off, exercise 5 introduced a new map, a very general map showing in the red box in the top left corner the airport expansion area.  This map does not need any features, but rather is very direct and shows clearly the general area where the planned airport expansion is set to occur.  This type of layout view with multiple maps is an exceptional tool at the disposal of developers everywhere because it simultaneously shows roads, schools, land use charts, land use graphs, population density and a general view of the proposed airport expansion all in one simple layout view.

Geog 7 Lab 3

View West San Fernado Valley Driving Tour in a larger map


Neogeography is arguably the most unique subsequent field of geography in existence today. Dealing with lots of satellite imagery available free to people everywhere around the world with an internet connection, there are certainly lots of positives but also lots of possible consequences associated with this new technology.

The potential of such technology is enormous. People can view the world like never before. GPS was just becoming popular in the early 2000s. Portable GPS devices did not become popular until just a few years ago. Now people can go on their computers or even on their phones and view satellite images of places as they would see them from the air. There are even street views so people can walk around and simultaneously see the same images on their phones. With mash-ups, people can create personalized maps of specific subjects, such as located cafés in an area, or indicating wi-fi hotspots on a map. The subject range of mash-ups is essentially limitless. People can prevent deforestation and assist in other environmental issues by using satellites to map out which areas need to be protected from logging, mining and other harmful activities. These potential pluses are all possible thanks to neogeography.

There are however some pitfalls with such revolutionary technology. The main problem is the invasion of privacy. With satellite images, anybody at any place can look up someone’s home address and see a real aerial view of their residence. There is a strong worry that terrorists can use this technology to plan attacks, though the U.S. government and other governments have even further superior technology, so this is not a huge concern at this point. Especially with street views of public streets in some major U.S. cities, privacy is further invaded. With such advanced technology, it is only a matter of time before live street views of large portions of cities are available, which once again would very invasive of people’s privacy. These are some of the major pitfalls and consequences associated with neogeography.

Geog 7 Lab 2

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle
2. Directly adjacent quadrangles are Topanga and Venice. Nearby quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Hollywood and Inglewood.
3. The quadrangle was first created in 1966
4. National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 and North American Datum of 1927 and 1983
5. The scale of the map is 1:24,000
6. a. 5 cm on map is equal to 1,200 m on ground
    b. 5 in on map is equal to 1.894 mi on ground
    c. 1 mi on ground is equal to 2.4 in on map
    d. 3 km on ground is equal to 12.5 cm on map
7. The contour interval on the map is 20 feet
8. a. 34˚ 4' 30" N and 118˚ 26' 20" W; 34.074˚ N, 118.439˚ W
    b. 34˚ 0' 28" N and 118˚ 29' 55" W; 34.008˚ N, 118.499˚ W
    c. 34˚ 7' 20" N and 118˚ 24' 45" W; 34.122˚ N, 118.413˚ W
9. a. Greystone Mansion is about 560 feet high or 170.688 m
    b. Woodlawn Cemetery is about 140 feet high or 42.672 m
    c. Crestwood Hills Park is about 580 feet high 176.784 m
10. The UTM Zone on the map is Zone 11
11. The UTM coordinates for the lower left corner are about 37,630,000 ft. N and 3, 610,000 ft. E
12. Each cell of the UTM gridlines contains 9,290,304 square meters
13.

14. The magnetic declination of the map is 14˚ E
15. The intermittent stream flows north to south
16. 

Week 1 - Lab 1

Map 1 - This is a map of the San Fernando Valley, a region north of the city of Los Angeles.  This map is interesting because it maps out the grid design of the San Fernando Valley very thoroughly, dispalying its major streets and freeway intersections that crisscross throughout its area.  The map does not delve as much into the topographical features of the valley, rather choosing to focus on the streets and different towns which make up the San Fernando Valley.  Being from Granada Hills, in the north San Fernando Valley, I can attest to how convenient it is that the valley is designed in one giant grid, making it fairly simple to get around and find places, as you can just stay on one major street generally and be on the right path.

 http://www.losangeles.va.gov/visitors/directionssep.asp

Map 2 -  This second map is a map of the path of the Iditarod race which occurs annually across Alaska.  the map displays the various checkpoints for racers across the 1100-mile journey.  I have never personally witnessed this race, or even been to Alaska for that matter, but it fascinates me just how long this race is, especially for dog-sledding.  The race takes well over a month I presume, and seems as if it would be physically grueling.  This map just puts into context how long this race really is.  It is incredible how these racers, and their sled dogs for that matter, have so much endurance to go through these brutally cold weather conditions for such a long extended period of time.

http://www.iditarod.com/checkpoints/large_map.html

Map 3 - This third map here is a map of the rail system, including subways and light rails, of the city of Tokyo.  As displayed by the map, Tokyo has a very expansive rail system, with more than 10 different lines that intersect each other, all working in conjunction to cover every corner of this major metropolitan city.  Having visited Tokyo last winter, I can attest to how hectic this crisscrossing of rail lines can be to navigate, especially if you don't speak the language, which I did not.  Despite all these various intersections of rail lines, the trains are amazingly always on time, and problems rarely arise within the Tokyo rail system.  Even though the there are so many specific lines to choose from, train stations everywhere are always still extremely crowded, which makes sense since the city is one of the most populated in the entire world.

http://mappery.com/map-of/Tokyo-Rail-Map