Lab 8 - Mapping the Census

This map shows the black population within the United States in the year 2000. The black population, according to this map, is concentrated in the southeast region of the United States in states like Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. Most of the regions have at least 20-50% black communities. On the other hand. the western region of the U.S. is very densely populated with other ethnic groups other than blacks.

Here we can visually see the Asian population within the United States. It is evident that Asians are a true minority within the continental U.S. They appear to be more clustered and have higher percentages within California. It should be noted that although Alaska did not appear on this map, there is a decent population in the northern part of the state. The darker colors represent denser populations and the lighter colors represent smaller populations of Asians.

In the map of the continental United States, the population of "some other race" is represented in the year 2000. It is evident that  the population of "some other race" is more dense in the western part of the country. In states like Texas, New Mexico, and California, there are heavy populations of "some other race." The denser populations are not only on the western part of the United States, but are near the border with Mexico. This is no surprise because Mexican citizens are constantly migrating to the U.S.

Overall, I have had a great deal of frustration with GIS. However, nothing is easy and things take time to learn and adjust to. GIS is a tool that can help save lives and that is one of the reasons why I have taken interest in it, whether it be by helping firefighters create blockades in unknown territory or map diseases. My primary concern though is with designing cities for minorities that will help develop thought-provoking minds, minds that can stay away from crime and injustice. What I did not like about this exercise is that there was no point to it other than to map ethnic populations within the United States. I felt like this lab was a little more pointless than the last but I understand that I do need to have a grasp of the fundamentals. Also, using things like the census to create maps always leave uncertainty because there are margins of error that we cannot fix because we do no know if the census is entirely correct or not.

Lab 7 - Fire

The Los Angeles Station Fire of 2009 began its flames in the Angeles National Forest, just north of Pasadena and south of Palmdale. The fire burned well over 150,000 acres, destroyed more than 200 structures, about 90 of those residential homes. Fortunately, the area is a national forest, so there were not many residential communities that were situated within the main perimeter of the flames. The fire did, however, threaten many nearby communities, including La Cañada, Glendale, La Crescenta, Sunland, and Tujunga. 

Within the perimeter of the fire, there were many recreational and business establishments, however.  Certain cafes and summer camps were destroyed, including Hidden Springs Cafe and Camp Colby. Camp Clear Creek was saved however. It is a camp for LAUSD students who go to for a week and spend time doing many leadership and outdoor activities. I know this because I participated in this program one year. Within the perimeter of the fire, there are no more than 5 residential homes and unfortunately two were damaged.

Authorities say the fire was started by arson on August 26th around 3pm. The lives of two firefighters were claimed as a result of the inferno. It was the largest fire in about 100 years. The thick trees helped keep the fire burning because of their ability to trap heat. The brushes in the area only helped to spread the fire, as did the grasses. Also, due to the remote location of the fire, there were not very much water sources in the nearby area.
Many communities were ordered to be evacuated. Due to the harm from the flames and even the debris, smoke, and ashes, people were urged to evacuate their homes.

Overall, the fire was a difficult challenge for firefighters. It destroyed many homes, buildings, and even claimed the lives of a couple firefighters. Fortunately, the fire began in a forest in a remote area, far from a very populated community.

Taylor, Alan. "Wildfires in Southern California - The Big Picture." Boston.com. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/09/wildfires_in_southern_californ.html>.

"2009 California Wildfires." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires>.

Scot, Michon. "Station Fire Burn Scar : Natural Hazards." NASA Earth Observatory : Home. 18 Sept. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=40245>.

Lin II, Rong-Gong. "Los Angeles Fire Map: Mt. Wilson, Tujunga, Acton, Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, National and World News - Latimes.com. 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-la-fire-map-html,0,7464337.htmlstory>.

"'Angry Fire' Roars across 100,000 California Acres - CNN." Featured Articles From The CNN. 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US>.

Lab 6 - DEMs

The area shown here is a section of the Grand Canyon, unfortunately I wasn't able to zoom in on what I originally intended, Mount St. Helens. I have never been to the Grand Canyon, even though I do not live all that far from it. These maps gave me an idea of how steep the Grand Canyon really is. The maps included here are the aspect map, shaded relief model, and the slope map.

The extent information in decimal degrees:
Top: 40.4980555551
Left: -107.858333332
Right: -107.089166666
Bottom: 39.1311111105

Datum: Datum of North American 1983

The geographic coordinate system is the GCS North American 1983

Lab 5 - Projections

These images are different map projections, including conformal map projections, equal-area map projections, and equidistant map projections. Map projections are important because it is very inconvenient to carry around a 3-D globe in your pocket, so geographers convert the 3-D globe into a 2-D paper form. These 2-D projections are called map projections that are able to fit easily in someone's pocket. Map projections are necessary to make maps for people who use them for such purposes as navigation.

These images show three different map projections: conformal, equal-area, and equidistant. There are two types of conformal map projections displayed here, which include Mercator and Gall Stereographic. For the equal-area map projection I have displayed the Mollweide and Bonne maps. Lastly, for the equidistant map projections I have included the equidistant conic and the equidistant cylindrical. Conformal preserves angels locally, the equal-area preserves the area, and the equidistant preserves distance from some standard point or line.

When creating map projections there will always be distortions because of the the geometry of transforming a 3-D object to two dimensions. One evident problems is that distances are not uniform over all the different map projections. While one map said Washington D.C. was about 7000 miles from Kabul, the other said it was 10,000 miles away. Another problem is that some regions will seem larger in area that others when in reality they are much smaller. Also, some maps will seem as though some regions are not oriented in the directions they are truly oriented and it will seem a bit confusing.

Nonetheless, these maps are extremely useful. They have the potential to be combined to be able to make up for errors that can be lost in distortion. Also, the maps use such elements as angle to show projections so we can use multiple angles to get the correct image. Map projections have many potentials including the ability to be manipulated by geographers to achieve a desired goal using ArcMap.

Lab 4 - ArcGIS

AcrMap is an extremely useful tool for many people. For instance, urban planners probably use this program on a daily basis because it allows them to essentially create cities. My personal experience revolved around an airport area but that could potentially be called a city in itself. With ArcMap, we are able to see multiple feature and attributes on one map. We are able to add multiple layers of information to a single map and analyze them against each other. ArcMap does, however, have its problems.

I encountered a few problems while using ArcMap. When I wanted to insert a legend, not all of the layers of data appeared on the legend and I had a bit of trouble trying to add them. Another problem I had was trying to make lines go parallel to other lines. Also, I was confused as to what some numbers that we entered meant. For example, when using the lines and arcs the tutorial asked us to input such numbers as "400" and "900." The tutorial didn't clarify what these numbers meant. If in the future I need to make a line a certain length I will not know what number to input. I didn't understand some of the math and geometry that I was asked to input.

ArcMap was a bit frustrating as well. A couple times the tutorial would not match up with what the program was showing. At one point in the editing and snapping part, the I encountered a screen that asked me which file I wanted to edit but that did not appear on the tutorial. According to the tutorial, I should not have encountered that problem. Moreover, the ArcMap did not allow us to change the boundaries of the county, merely to change what was inside. I don't know if it is possible to do this but from what I saw it did not look possible. It was very frustrating to often undo a command. When I made a mistake I tried pressing "ctrl z" but that would often times make matters worse and undo another command. This was my most urgent problem so I often closed the program and reopened the file, restarting from my last saved position, often times the end of an exercise.

However, ArcMap is nonetheless a tool that can be used for many purposes. It allows users to differentiate features and to remove and add layers without affecting other layers. One thing I liked about ArcMap is that the maps are dynamic, meaning that if the maps are changed then so are the legends. ArcMap allows users to be very creative with all its available features. Also, ArcMap has other purposes such as making us aware of areas that are poverty stricken and it allows us to focus our attention there. It can tell us where people are more at risk for diseases and allows us to prevent people from getting sick.

Lab 3 - Neogeography

View Road Trip Through Mexico in a larger map

This map here details one of the trips that my family and I took while we were in Mexico this past summer. The trip is centered mainly around historical landmarks and religious iconographic images because of our family devotion to the Catholic faith. The trip because in northern Mexico, at the Mexico/U.S. border in the city of Tijuana. Here there is a famous arch that is meant to welcome visitors with its sign that reads "Bienvenidos A Tijuana." The next stop is 5 minutes from my dad's hometown village in El Verde, Sinaloa. Here rests the corpse of a famous Mexican singer whose songs are still frequently played on Spanish radio stations. After that we traveled down to Mazatlan, a major tourist city notable for it beaches and nightlife. The seafront here is referred to as "el Malecon." Next, we visited the church where lay a famous Catholic Saint in the heart of Zacatecas, where my mom was born. Furthermore, we visited a site where there is a enormous architectural body of Jesus Christ. Later, we went to El Zocalo, an outdoor plaza where the citizens gather for several types of activities including entertainment and political occasions. Then we made our way to the Temple of Kukulkan that attracts numerous tourists each year because of its awe-inspiring scenery. Lastly, we cruised around the Caribbean Sea in a boat that left from Cancun, also a major tourist site.
Using the Google Maps interface allows any user to become a neographer, a beginning geographer who can design his own maps but with limited knowledge. The pitfalls of using this program is that we are limited in the features that are available to us. The main features we have are plotting points and making descriptions. Aside from that, the interface is user-friendly and offers a tutorial that gives instructs a user about the main features available. With a program like this, we are able to share our own knowledge of the world with other users who may happen to run in to it. We are able to share it with friends and family who we may not see frequently. A pitfall about Google Maps is that it is like Wikipedia, we do not know if the information is valid or not. The only thing we can do is trust that users are using it with its intended purpose: to share knowledge.