Final project

Lab 8

Lab 8 Census 2000/2010

The first map I created is called Percent Asian Population. From the map, we can see that the majority Asian people are concentrated in the West Coast of United States, especially California. There is a relative higher percentage of Asian population in the East Coast cities, like New York. Recently, as more Asian immigrants started to move into cities like Chicago, Washington D.C., Boston and Atlanta.

The second map is called the Percent Black Population. The map clearly shows that the Black people primarily live in South East part of the US. Most live in States, such as mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. A few live in Southern California and Washington as well. The legacy of South America is a significant factor of Black demography.

The last one is the map of Percent of other race alone. The State of California  Arizona, Texas and New Mexico have the highest percentage of different races in the US. And those places are along the coastal line. The North Eastern part of the US. are still dominated by White population. Overall, the majority of immigrants are Asians, Latinos and Blacks.

I was surprised about how ArcGIS can create maps based for different purposes. Through graphic depiction of U.S. Census data, people and government can better share the information provided by the maps. The census map not only tells us how the races are distributed, but it also interconnects with American history. Immigration and Civilization all contribute to current census demography. Asian people concentrate in the East and West coasts, and black people are more gathered in the South. Before doing the tutorial, I was totally lost about how to finish the assignment, because we have to use selected population data. But after carefully following the instruction and using all the techniques I have learned from previous labs, I eventually figured out how to do the lab and finished it really quickly. The skill of creating maps is really helpful and everyone can benefit from it.

Geography 7 informed me a lot about Geographic Information Systems. Although it may be challenging at the beginning, but it is definitely rewarding to learn the skill of creating maps. This sill allows me to design massive programs, different types of maps and inputting various databases. Sometimes when I am confused about the lectures, I was able to have a better understanding after the weekly discussion, because I had opportunities to learn GIS by hand on hand operations. Before taking this class, I thought map creators are geniuses, because the map creating process seems like a rocket project to me. But after 8 labs, I found myself to be a genius since I learned the skill of creating maps for my own preferences. I really appreciate this class and GIS because it not only taught me more geographic knowledge but it also allowed me to generate maps with various databases.

Lab 7

Top: 39.383
Bottom: 39.336
Left: -123.691
Right: -123.784
Spatial Reference: Coordinate System GCS North American 1983
Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)

The area I selected was the portion of Santa Monica Mountains, California. I chose this area because it has phenomenal elevation differences.The map is projected from three different perspectives, including aspect, slope and area. Also, I think the 3D projection presents the most visual concept of how the elevation of the mountain is. The four images give us a complete idea of how Santa Monica Mountains look like.

Lab 6

GCS distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu: 7835.028179 Miles

Mercator distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu: Length: 10,112.118968 Miles.

The characteristic of conformal map projection is to preserve angles, so it distorts the area and distance on the map. The pitfall of this type of map projection is that it distorts the actual shape and area of countries. For example, the World Hotine completely alter the shape of the normal map we usually see. But the angles demonstrated are precise and accurate. In my opinion, this type of map projection is the most confusing and misleading one.

World Eckert IV distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu:7,835.028179 Miles.

World Cylindrical Equal Area distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu: 10,108.051114 Miles.

Although these two are all equal area projections, but the outcome of the features are different. The World Eckert IV projection distorts the features around the North and South poles. It is more of a spherical projection rather than a flat one (World Cylindrical Equal Area projection). While both of them preserve the actual area, the shape, distance and angles are distorted. Such map projection is often used for big area like the entire world, and mainly focuses on the areas around the equator. A potential of this type of map projection is that its contents are always accurate.

World Azimuthal Distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu: 8,426.406105 Miles.

World Equidistant Cylindrical distance from Washington D.C. to Kalbu: 5,061.578567 Miles

Equal distance map projection preserves the distance between reference points, and it is best used for small areas like cities. Thus the projection and estimation can be more accurate. Also it is commonly used by small countries.

In Azimuthal equidistant map projection, all distances measured from the center of the map along any longitudinal line are accurate, but the distances and directions to all places are true only from the center point of projection. Distance measurements are accurate between points. And other distances are distorted and thus incorrect. Distortion of areas and shapes increases with distance from the center point.

From this experiment of map projection, I learned different types of map presentations. Some of them preserve area and distance, and others preserve angles. Each map projection has distortion, thus some countries look different from the ones on normal maps. To illustrate the difference, this tutorial selected Washington D.C. and Kalbu as reference points. On different types of map projections, the distance measured also vary. Different map projections serve different purposes, including political, private and business expectations. The size of the selected area is also crucial when determining which map projection needs to be used. All in all, ArcGIS is a really helpful tool.

Lab 4

Potentials and pitfalls:

Unlike maps and neogeograhy, GIS is effective to organize and convey complex data. There are two different views in ArcGIS, layout and data view, which allow users to edit maps based on their desire in an organized way. By checking or unchecking the icon, layers can be shown and hidden. And layers are helpful in displays and presentations, because they demonstrate different purposes of the same location. For me, the tutorial is completely new to me, as I have never used ArcGIS before.

GIS is a great tool for the public and the government. By simply clicking and importing data, people can easily see the geographic distribution and their spatial information. For example, the information of land use is influential when the government is deciding where to build the airport. Functions like this significantly help us in our environmental impact assessment. Moreover, GIS has a great potential of creating or editing points, lines or arcs on a map. This way, the information on the map will be constantly renewed and won’t be outdated. In this case, governmental officials realize hot a proposed airport expansion would affect the area.

Nevertheless, there are pitfalls in GIS as well. The entire process of GIS tutorial is complicated and I am sure that, without several times of practices, only a few are able to memorize the entire system creation process. Also, it is easy to loose track of my storage information. Once a point is missed or messed up, it is most likely the entire work is vanished. GIS is not a user-friendly software. The tutorial started pretty easy to follow, but gradually became confusing so that I had to figure out on my own.

In addition, misinformation is also a great pitfall. Anyone who has the access to my storage in the computer lab can change anything on what is been saved. And if I want to email it to my mailbox, it takes too much space and will easily loose inputs. Despite all these pitfalls, I certainly enjoyed the GIS tutorial. This is a new technique and will definitely be helpful in the future.

Lab 3

View Fascinating life in Naperville in a larger map

The map I made for this lab is based on my life experience in Naperville, Chicago. I want to show others the most frequent places I used to go to when I lived there, and for those who are planning to stay there, I hope this could help.

Neogeography literally means new geography. It is a set of practices that allow amateurs to create their own maps based on their spatial values without professional geographic knowledge. The Google map for this assignment is a great example of neogeography. Since inexperienced geographer makes neogeography, there are several pitfalls. First, the information may not be comprehensive or efficient enough for the people that use the map, because the information contained in the map is what the creator values the most, instead of what viewers expect. Second, unlike professional GIS, the information of neogeography can be inaccurate or unreliable. Imagine you are using a map that is created by a random passenger! Anyone can make a map by using existing toolsets. There is no satellite or other supporting techniques to backup the accuracy of neogeography, thus people should question neogeography’s reliability.

However, one great thing I find about neogeography is that you have the chance to create a map that satisfies you own needs. For instance, would you want to stare at a map of Los Angeles, which contains almost every detail that you don’t care about, just to find a good restaurant? No. This is why you can create a map that presents all the good restaurants you have been to and this map can efficiently help other people that have the same purpose of using a map.

There are positive and negative consequences of neogeography. The good side is that everyone has the opportunity to create their own desired maps. Data and information can be accessed easily through media and websites. However, bias and inaccuracy are the bad side of neogeography. People need to be careful when making maps or using neogeography.

Lab 2

Lab 2 - 7.5 minute map questions

1. The name of the quadrangle is Beverly Hills, CA.
2. The adjoining quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Holliwood, Venice and Inglewood.
3. The quadrangle was first created in 1966.
4.  Planimetery derived from imagery taken 1978 and other sources. Photoinspected using imagery taken 1995. PLSS and survey control curent as of 1966. Boundaries, other than corporate, verified 1998. Selected hydrographic data compiled from NOS/NOAA chart 18744 (1964).The datum used to create the map was the  national geodetic vertical datum of 1927 (NAD 27), 1929 (NAD 29) and 1983 (NAD 83).
5. The scale of the map is 1:24,000.
6. a) 5 cm on the map is equivalent to 1199.6928 m on the ground.
    b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to 1.89 miles on the ground.
    c) One mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map.
    d) Three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to 12.499 cm on the map.
7. The contour interval is 20 feet.

8.  a) The Public Affairs Building: longitude is 118⁰26’30’’W (decimal degrees: 118.441667⁰W)  and latitude is 34⁰04’30’’N ( decimal degree: 34.075⁰N). 

      b) The tip of Santa Monica pier: longitude 118°29'55W (DD: 118.498889⁰W) and latitude 34°00'30N (DD: 34.008056⁰N)  

      c) The tip of the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: longitude: 118⁰24'35''W (DD:118.409722), latitude: 34⁰07'10''N (DD: 34.119444)

9. a) Greystone Mansion: 550 feet or 167.68 meters.
    b) Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 feet or 42.67 meters.
    c) Crestwood Hills Park: 700 feet or 213.4 meters.
10)  The UTM zone is Zone 11.
11) 3763000N and 3615000W
12) 1,000,000 square meters
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14) The magnetic declination of the map is 14⁰to East.
15) The water in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon reservoir flows from North to South.
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