Lab 3

View European Tour of 2007 in a larger map

For this assignment, I created a map mash-up of my European trip of 2007. During the summer of 2007 my best friend and I spent 22 days on a Contiki tour traveling through eight different countries. This map depicts our general itinerary.  I have included pictures of all of our main stops and excursions along the tour.

This map illustrates one of the many uses of neogeography. Neogeography, literally meaning “new geography”, is an informal form of geography in which users can create and generate online geographic content. Using web based toolsets created by providers such as Google, Bing, and MapQuest, people can create detailed maps with embedded links, images, videos, etc. The content created is interactive and can be made available to the general public. The interactive and user friendly nature of neogeography increases the accessibility of geographical information to those outside of geography professionals. As a result, location information is now more so a part of everyday life.

With all of neogeography’s assets and advantages, there are some detriments as well. Neogeography is open to everyone and the content that can be created is almost limitless. Consequently, many inaccuracies can be found. Unlike formal geographical projects, the content of geography is biased by the user creating it and restricted by the toolsets provided. For example, within my map, there are several route inaccuracies. My map depicts my general itinerary, but it is not based on an actual route that could be traveled, (i.e. it does not display the best roads or highways that one should travel from destination to destination).

Neogeography, like other user created web content, is extremely useful. However, one must be aware that what they are creating, reading, using is not guaranteed to be legitimate data.

Lab 2

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?

Beverly Hills 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: North American Datum of 1927 and North American Datum of 1983

Vertical: National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5. What is the scale of the map?

1:24,000, 1 inch represents 24,000 inches or 2000 feet

6. At the above scale, answer the following:

a) 5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to how many meters on the ground?

1200 m on the ground

5 cm * 24000 = 120,000

120,000 cm / 100 = 1200 m

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

1.89 miles on the ground

5 in * 24,000 = 120,000 inches

120,000 inches to miles = 1.89394

                120,000 / 63360

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

          2.64 inches on the map

1 mile = 63360 inches

63360 / 24000 = 2.64

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

          12.5 cm on the map

3 km = 300,000cm

                           300000/24000 = 12.5

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;

34^o04’30” N, 118^o26’15” W

34.075^o , -118.438^o

b) The tip of Santa Monica pier;

34^o00’27” N, 118^o30’00” W

34.008^o , -118.500^o

c) The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;

         34^o07’15” N, 118^o24’30 W

         34.121^o , -118.408^o

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

a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park);

The elevation of the Greystone Mansion is between 560ft/ 170.69m and 580ft/ 176.78m

b) Woodlawn Cemetery;

The elevation of the Woodlawn Cemetery is about 140ft/ 42.67m

c) Crestwood Hills Park;

The elevation of Crestwood Hills Park is about 720ft/ 219.46m

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?

Zone 11

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

3763000mN and 361500mE

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

 1,000,000

                1000m * 1000m = 1,000,000 m²

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?

14^o East

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

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

Map 1

http://www.dailyyonder.com/getting-gas-without-hazards/2011/11/07/3590

The "Lower 48 States' Shale Plays" map displays the location of natural gas reservoirs in the continental United States. As the map is a standard US physical map with the shale locations overlaid, it is able to portray the location of the natural gas in reference to mountain ranges, lakes, and major river systems. The location of shale plays has risen in importance in the last decade as natural gas and its extraction (fracking) was highlighted as "green" and an American-based replacement for oil.  However, the potential health and environmental hazards of fracking, such as groundwater contamination, have recently come to light. The toxicity and danger of the hundreds of chemicals used in current fracking methods is the main source of concern. The recent movies Gasland and Promise Land highlight this. A map such as this one shows the interaction between the location of fracking (the shale plays) and the water sources that are potentially in danger of pollution.

 

Map 2

 

http://downtownvoices.org/2008/11/29/us-population-and-growth-trends-by-county-1970-2030/

The "US Population and Growth Map" illustrates the projected population change in the counties of the United States. It is both color coded and in 3D to highlight various features. The map can be slightly misleading as the height of the bars represent the overall population density of the county and not increase or decrease. It is the colors, ranging from blue to orange, that display the population change. One interesting facet exemplified by the map is  that most population decline takes place in the rural areas of the Midwest (North Dakota and Montana south to western Texas) and the old industrial regions along the great lakes (Detroit, Cleveland, etc.). This coincides with places that were most devastated during the height of the Great Recession. Surprisingly, another population decline hotspot is the Northeast. Population growth is predicted to be greatest in the Southwest and, surprisingly, in Florida.

Map 3

 

http://mhermher.blogspot.com/2011/11/college-football-map-part-iii.html

This is a state map of the United States. The states are represented and broken down by their college football fan base. For instance, Southern California is equally dominated by the Bruins and the Trojans. The map illustrates how important college football is socially to Americans. It exemplifies a very unique and narrow geographic view of the US. However, it is also very biased. The blogger who created the map had to revise it several times because commenters where unhappy with how their school or their school’s competitor was displayed. Alaska is not shown on the map because there are no NCAA division I, II, or III colleges in the state.