Geog7-Mini Project: Mapping the Station Fire on ArcGIS

Overall, the fire was spreading at a large speed after the fire began at the midnight of August 29. The fire started at the southwest side of the Angeles National Forest, where the weather is hot and dry that day and the vast amount of vegetation provides stuffs to combust.  As we see on the first map (08/29, 2:48am), the fire was already near places where people live. Just on the first day, the fire went north and east, to a very large extent. Three days later, on September 1, the fire was under control and stopped to expand. However, between September 1 and 2, the fire did not start to diminish.

The distribution of schools in this area has been put on the maps. On the first day of the fire (August 29), there were already two schools that were within 1mile from the fire perimeter. They are Palm Crest Elementary School and Paradise Canyon Elementary School. As the fire spread, the number of schools under the threat of fire increased on the south side of the fire because the schools are mostly distributed on the south side of the fire. Fortunately, due to the protection provided by the California Fire Department, the fire did not spread further south.

  However, as the fire went north and east, one of the schools was cover in fire on August 31, as shown on the fifth map (08/31, 2:34am). The name of that school is Gateway school.  Fireman managed to keep out the fire from that school on the next day, preventing it from further damage.  As for the schools on the south side, they were not out of danger, since there were nearly ten schools that were within one mile from the fire perimeter on September 2.  Students were dispersed from schools near that area.

The distribution of roads and highways has been put on the maps. On the first day of fire (August 29), the Angeles Crest Highway was the only road that passed through the fire perimeter, as shown on the first map (08/29, 2:48). As the fire spread, the Angeles Forest Highway and the Big Tujunga Canyon Road were both covered in fire. Luckily, the number of roads in the fire perimeter is small, so that the major transportation was hardly disturbed by the fire (ie. Transportation can be made through some alternative roads).

Notice that on the fifth map (08/31, 2:34), a road that passes through the school in the fire perimeter was also covered in fire as the fire went north and east. The name of that road is Little Tujunga Canyon Road.  The fire was put out on the next day “without much wind”¹. However, some of the roads on the south side of the fire perimeter were still in under the threat of fire as they were within one mile from the fire perimeter.

Bibliography

¹ Jessica Garrison, Alexandra Zavis and Joe Mozingo “Station fire claims 18 homes and two firefighters.” Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2009

Shapefiles and data used to map are from:

² GIS Data Library. “Transportation: road base.” California Department of Transportation.

http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/gis/datalibrary/gisdatalibrary.html  (accessed November 30, 2011)

³Geography Division. “2009 TIGER/Line Shapefiles for: California”, US Census Bureau.

http://www2.census.gov/cgi-bin/shapefiles2009/state-files?state=06  (accessed March 22,2011)

⁴Newman Library, Baruch College, US ESRI. 2008

http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/geoportal/data/esri/esri_usa.htm 

⁵Markgreninger, “All Station Fire Perimeters (as of September 2, 07:02) – Complete set.” Los Angeles County Enterprise GIS. September 2,2009.

http://egis3.lacounty.gov/eGIS/index.php/2009/09/02/all-station-fire-perimiters-as-of-september-2-0702-complete-ste/

Geog7-Lab7: Census 2000/2010

This map is showing the percentage of black in the US on the basis of counties in 2000. Notice that high percentage counties, from 50% up to 86.5%, are mainly located on the southwest coast due to historical event of immigration. Since the map is based on percentage, there are counties that only have several thousand people, but a huge percentage of black, whereas some big counties have huge population, but a small percentage of black. In other words, the deeper color does not imply greater number of black directly.

This map is showing the percentage of Asian in the US on the basis of counties in 2000. Notice that the main portion of Asian, from 10% up to 46%, is distributed along the west coast(mainly California), the Mississippi river and some parts of the east coast. The high percentage on California makes sense: we see a lot of Asians in our school every day! The high percentage on the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the immigration of Asian refugees from the World War II.

This map is showing the percentage of some other race in the US on the basis of counties in 2000. As indicated by the definition provided by the US Census, this category mainly consists of Hispanic and Latino Americans such as Mestizo and Mulatto. This is not a standard category since it depends on how the prior categories are defined. Notice that high percentage of some other race, from 15% up to 40%, is distributed on the southwestern part of the country.  



Overall, this project is based on data from 2000 US Census. Notice that the legend scale of each map is made to be different because of concerns of clarity. From the scales we can conclude that among those three categories, black has the largest proportion of people in the US. There are some counties that are “blank”, indicating that no one of that certain race lives in that area. Interestingly, same for all three maps, the coast is where large portion of immigrants live and thus large percentage of those race.



ArcMap is really helpful in combining graphics with data. Data can be collected county by county and presented in a table (either in the form of .xls or .dbf). Also, ArcMap makes it possible to convert xls files into dbf files and then apply it to the county layer. When I was joining attribute table of the county layer to the 2000 Census data I found out that in some counties, the percentage of certain race is presented to be “null”. This is because those counties do not appear on the raw table (.xls), indicating that no one of that race lives in that area.

Lab6: DEMs in ArcGIS

These are maps of the center of Yellowstone National park in Wyoming and the west part of the Yellowstone Lake. The datum used is the North America Datum 1983. The geographic coordinates of the left top corner are 44.6989 degree North, 110.8258 degree West, and the geographic coordinates of the right bottom are 44.2475 degree North, 110.1708 degree West. Notice that, on the Slope Map and the Aspect Map, there are some places where they are indicated to be flat. This area is part of the Yellowstone Lake.

Geog 7 - Lab 5 - Projections in ArcGIS

Different map projections can make a big difference. This project is designed to illustrate examples of 3 different kinds of map projection: conformal, equal-area and equidistant projections.

According to GCS WGS 1984, which is the current reference system being used by GPS, the distance between Washington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan is 6,934.478105 miles.

Notice the scale bars in some maps are different from others due to clarity concerns.

a)      Equal-area projections  

Mollweide Projection 

“The Mollweide projection is a world map projection that minimizes area distortion while sacrificing the accuracy of shape and angle. It is a representation of the world map on an ellipse with a 2:1 ratio. Although it is not widely used today, the Mollweide projection has been influential in the development of other projections.” (Mollweide Projection page, wiki.gis.com) The distance measured on Mollweide projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 7,925.557346 miles.

Sinusoidal Projection

“The Sinusoidal projection is an equal-area world map projection that has straight, horizontal parallels spaced equally at their true distances. The central meridian is straight, and the others are curves that derive from a true division of each parallel.”(Sinusoidal Projection page, wiki.gis.com) The distance measured on Sinusoidal projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 8,098.076483 miles.

b)      Equidistant projections

Azimuthal Equidistant Projection

“Azimuthal equidistant projection is a map projection in which all distances measured from the center of the map along any longitudinal line are accurate, however, distances and directions to all places are true only from the center point of projection. Distance measurements are accurate between points along straight lines through the center. All other distances are distorted and thus incorrect. Distortion of areas and shapes increases with distance from the center point.”(Azimuthal Equidistant page, wiki.gis.com) The distance measured on Azimuthal equidistant projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 8,341.411788 miles.

Two-point Equidistant Projection

“The two-point equidistant projection is a map projection first described by Hans Maurer in 1919. Distances from any point on the map to two control points scale to the geodesic distances of the same points on the sphere. The projection is commonly used in National Geographic Society atlases for maps of Asia, and it sometimes appears in diagrams of air routes.”(Two-point Equidistant Projection page, Wikipedia) The distance measured on Azimuthal equidistant projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 6,648.754559 miles.

       c) Conformal Projections
     
         Stereographic Projection

“In geometry, the stereographic projection is a particular mapping (function) that projects a sphere onto a plane. The projection is defined on the entire sphere, except at one point — the projection point. It is conformal, meaning that it preserves angles. It is neither an isometry nor area-preserving: that is, it preserves neither distances nor the areas of figures.” (Stereographic Projection page, wiki.gis.com) The distance measured on Stereographic projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 9,878.038997 miles.

Hotine Projection

“The Hotine (Oblique Mercator) world map projection is a cylindrical, conformal map projection.” (Hotine Projection page, wiki.gis.com) The distance measured on Hotine projection between Washington D.C. and Kabul is 9,628.552081 miles.

Different kinds of map projections preserve different properties. For instance, conformal projections preserve angles between two lines; equidistant projections preserve ratio of two distances; equal-area projections preserve ratio of two areas.

Map projections must have some distortion. For example, in two-point equidistant projection, the South Pole is bigger than Africa; in Hotine projection, the area of the US is much larger than that of Asia!

According to the properties of their projection, maps projected differently can be used in various circumstances. For example, Sinusoidal equal-area projection is frequently used in atlases to show distribution patterns and often used by the USGS to show prospective hydrocarbon provinces and sedimentary basins of the world; Stereographic projection is by the USGS for maps of Antarctica and American Geographical Society for Arctic and Antarctic maps; Azimuthal equidistant projection is useful for showing airline distances from center point of projection and useful for seismic and radio work.(Map Projections, USGS, http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html).

On the contrary, maps projected differently may be used by people such as businessmen and politicians to give the public a biased view of the world. For instance, politicians may have their maps projected to show the degree of poverty. Some maps would overestimate and some would underestimate the situation. In this case the public are not aware of the truth.

Assignment 4: Introducing ArcMap

One of the potentials of ArcMap is that it enables the input of data using various formats. In this case the input format is geodatabase files (*.gdb). Data is stored in a clear format and other people can access database via different kinds of software. On the other hand, ArcMap has many output formats also. Maps can be printed, saved as map files (*.mxd), or exported as graphic files (*.gif, *.jpg).

Moreover, the ArcMap environment has a clear layout of functions so that people  can easily edit both data and geographic features. For instance, we can edit data just as easy as using Microsoft Excel; we may do calculations with the data; it is also possible for us to draw maps perfectly in detail.

In addition, ArcMap relates data to geographic representations. After the data being edited, features will be updated immediately. It is also possible for us to output data in forms of tables and graphs.

ArcMap does not have serious pitfalls actually, but it requires people using this software some knowledge of basic computer skills and some fundamental ideas of GIS. People without those skills may find it hard to access ArcMap.

Assignment 3: Neogeography

As we can see, neogeography, which implies that everyone can create and access maps for personal uses, has become a common phenomenon in recent years. Neogeography brings certain merits. People are able to personalize their own maps, plan their trip on the maps and record their experience on the maps. Moreover, Web 2.0 makes things easier for people to share their self-made maps online. It enhances people's awareness of geographic knowledge, uses and techniques.

In contrast,  neogeography also brings demerits. People can create and publish maps based on their own opinion. In other words, maps published in this way can be misleading and untrue. For example, some firms publish maps online or on TV, which hide some weaknesses and overly emphasize on the strength of      their product. Consumers will find it hard to distinguish between truth and untruth.

View Distribution of Automobile Industry 2010 in a larger map

1.       Name of the quadrangle: Beverly Hills Quadrangle    

2.       Names of the adjacent quadrangles:

 North: Van Nuys;  South: Venice;  East: Hollywood;  West: Topanga

3.       Year of the first creation: 1995

4.       Datum used: North American Datum of 1927 & National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5.       Scale:    1:24000

6.       a) 1200 meters    b) 1.92 miles   c) 2.64 inches   d) 12.5 centimeters

7.       Contour interval: 20 feet

8.       Approximate geographic coordinates in

a)      The Public Affairs Building: 118°26’19’’W  34°04’23’’N;  118.44°W  34.07°N

b)      The tip of Santa Monica Pier: 118°29’55’’W  34°00’35’’N;  118.50°W  34.01°N

c)       The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 118°24’26’’W 34°07’11’’N;  118.41°W 34.12°N

9.       Approximate elevation in

a)      Greystone Mansion: 480 feet, 146 meters;

b)      Woodlawn Cemetery:  140feet, 42.7 meters;

c)       Crestwood Hills Park: 800 feet, 244 meters

10.   UTM zone 11

11.   UTM northing 3763000, easting 361400

12.   1000000 square meters in a cell

13.   

14.   The magnetic declination of the map is 14°

15.   Flow from South to North

16.   Campus map