Final Lab

This map shows the black population in America. The darker shades such as red and dark orange show a higher concentration where almost 30-85% of the population in those areas are black. According to this map the highest concentration of black people are in the South East in states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia. These are also the states in which the slaves were imported to during the colonial periods. It seems that many of those slaves who eventually won their freedom and their descendants were unable to migrate fully to other parts of the country. The only other places that have at least some sort of concentration of black people are in the global cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. This is probably because if those people who were able to migrate, probably wanted to migrate to where the jobs were most abundant and these large cities were probably able to provide that.



The Asian population map shows the concentration of Asians in the United States. The darker colors show the strongest concentration of Asians in the country. The highest concentrations are on the coasts while the only concentration that has 20-50% Asians is in San Francisco. Asians probably flock to the coasts probably because the West Coast is the closest to Asia and these coastal areas tend to have global cities which have the highest number of jobs. In places such as our Los Angeles, there are even specific areas which are dedicated to a certain Asian ethnicity such as Koreatown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and Little Saigon. These places probably exist in the other global cities too. San Fransisco has the highest concentration of Asians which are probably all remnants of the Chinese railroad workers during the 1800s.



This map shows the population of Some Other Race in the United States. These races probably exclude the main ones such as White, Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander. The highest concentration is in the Southwestern part of the United States, while the are almost nonexistent in the other parts of the country. If anything I think these three maps show how much diversity exists on the West Coast and the western area in general.

Conclusion
The three maps showed the different concentrations of the races Asian, Black, and Some other in the United States according the United States Census of 2000. I felt that there was an unfair concentration of Black people in the Southeast. It would be interesting to see the poverty rates in America and I wouldn't be surprised to see it in that rural Southeastern region. But there is a strong concentration of Asians, Blacks, and Some other race in California. I think this has to do with the proximity of California to the coast and just the appeal of the promise of jobs.

GIS is a very useful product in which to make maps in which the data is very easy to see. It makes seeing statistics such as the Census data extremely easy to visualize and it's not all that difficult to do. GIS is not only restricted to statistics as it can do depth readings of areas such as slopes and aspects. Also GIS can be used just as a map to give directions to those who need them. Overall GIS is a useful tool that can be used for a myriad of real world applications

Week 7 Lab

This is San Bernardino County, overlooking Big Bear Lake. It is a popular place especially during the winter for camping and snowboarding. However, it is not only restricted to winter activities as there are many resorts that cater to all seasons including golf, hiking, and mountain biking during the summer. The extent information is 34.3749999991 degrees north, -117.532777777 degrees west, -117.104722222 degrees east, and 34.1244444435 degrees south. This is based on the spatial reference for North America in 1983. The cell size is 0.00027777778, 0.00027777778 or 1 arc second.

Lab 4: Proposed Airport Expansion

I was surprised by the ease of use of GIS and how easy it was to follow the tutorials to get the desired layouts. I felt that it would be simple for anyone to use GIS to show simple information about a certain area. The maps were easy to create and was just as easy to view because of the legends, different colors, and various icons that were available. In this sense GIS makes it very simple to display and read data.

Not only is GIS useful in displaying map data but it is also able to display data in the form of a table. The table is also just easily able to display data for one to see. In this case it shows the different uses of land within the contour of noise. The different colors make the graph look visually appealing and the bar graph itself makes the data easy to read.

As easy and visually pleasing as GIS was there were some complexities to it as well. Often times I found myself confused by the steps involved by the tutorial and could not find the direct component or file which was necessary for a certain map or table. This was partially because the files were not located in the folder that was mentioned in the tutorial but in a temporary folder for lab and this ended up being only a minor setback.

Another pitfall I thought was relevant was that even though GIS is very accurate in being able to show the real world as data, it is still very complex. This comes as no surprise as our world itself is highly complex. But when I was working on this tutorial and creating these maps, I did not know what it was I was looking at until I finished the entire product and looked at it as a whole. I think often times it is difficult to know what one is working on and likewise if it he or she is doing it correctly until the product is finished and looked at as a whole. This calls for a lot of backtracking and unnecessary work.

Lab 3 Neogeography

View 2009-2010 NBA's Scoring Leaders in a larger map



Neogeography is great for making maps about what interests us. In this case it was the NBA scoring leaders as I have a very high interest in the sport of basketball and there is even more added interest with the upcoming playoffs. This sort of map can give us a visual of who the best scorers in the NBA are and where they play. It's not only limited to just dots on a map. There can even be lines to show your itinerary on a recent trip to show what you thought was interesting. This way other people can follow the same trail if they share the same interests.
The pitfalls of neogeography happens because of its ease of use. Because it's so easy nearly anyone can make their own maps whether they be good or bad both morally and quality wise. For example, one could make a map of where to buy certain illegal drugs but can give poor directions. In this sense the map is both morally and qualitatively bad. It gives you locations to where something illegal might be but it doesn't do so in a very good manner. Basically with neogeography there are not ways of quality control or a way to make sure the information given is correct.
Also with so much maps out there people may become overloaded with information that it is difficult for them to choose just one. Consequently they may choose to ignore the maps altogether and look somewhere else as a source of information. In the end the main question is, "Who cares?"

Week 2 Lab 2

1) The name of this quadrangle is Beverly Hill Quadrangle.
2) The adjacent quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood Quadrangles.
3) 1966
4) The datum used was topography, planimetry, boundaries, selected hydrographic data, National geodetic vertical datum.
5) The scale is 1:24,000
6)
a)1/24,000 = 5cm/D, D = 24,000*5cm = 120000cm. 1m/100cm*120000cm = 1200m
b) D= 5 in.* 24,000 = 120000 in. 1mile/63,360in. * 120000in. = 1.89miles.
c) 1/24,000 = d/1mile. d = 1/24,000 = 4.166*10^-5miles. 63,360in./1mile * 4.166*10^-5= 2.64 in.
d) 1/24,000 = d/3km. d = 1.25*10^-4km. 100000cm/1km * 1.25*10^-4km = 12.5cm
7) Contour interval is 20 feet
8)
a) 34 degrees 4 minutes 54 seconds latitude. 118 degrees 11 minutes 24 seconds longitude. 34.015 decimal degrees latitude. 118.243 decimal degrees longitude.
b) 34 degrees 0 minutes 9 seconds latitude. 118 degrees 29 minutes 49 seconds. 34.0025 decimal degrees latitude. 118.0031 decimal degrees longitude.
c) 34 degrees 7 minutes 10 seconds latitude. 118 degrees 24 minutes 37 seconds longitude. or 34.1195 decimal degrees latitude. 118.4103 decimal degrees longitude.
9)
a) The elevation of Greystone Mansion is 580 feet and 176.7754 meters
b) The elevation of Woodlawn Cemetry is 140 feet and 42.6699 meters.
c) The elevation of Crestwood Hills Park is 600 feet and 182.8711 meters.
10) This is in UTM zone 11
11) 3,763,000 km North, 361,500 km West
12) 1,000,000 km^2
13)
14) Positive 14 degrees
15) It is flowing southwards
16)

Lab 1: The Three Maps

Map 1: Responses to Google's experimental Fiber Network

This map is from a popular blog called Gizmodo which updates users on recent and relevant topics regarding technological innovations and inventions. This particular map is a map of the people in the United States of America who wish to participate in Google's experimental 1Gbps fiber optic(s) network. The smaller pink dots represent responses from the local government and the larger red dots represents communities with over 1000 respondents. Long story short nearly everyone wants to be a part of this experiment as Google received over 194,000 responses. This is relevant and extremely significant as 1Gbps for internet is extremely fast and would significantly boost internet usage and traffic for all the relevant cities.
Link:http://gizmodo.com/5504381/who-wants-in-googles-experimental-fiber-network-map

Map 2: Location Based Social Networking Map


This map is once again from the popular blog Gizmodo. This map shows random colorful dots popping at any given point in Austin, Texas during a convention called Geek Spring Break (SXSW). There is a legend on the left side which shows what each colored dot represents. And they all represent a growing trend with today's growing smartphone's and 3G coverage that come along with the new smartphones. Each dot popping up represents a user signing onto their preferred location-based social networking site at a given time. This shows the popularity of each social networking tool and social networks in general. These however, does not include probably the most popular social network site "Facebook" since it is not really based on location. I find this interesting since it's not only pretty to look at but also shows how many people actually enjoy participating in these networks.
Link: http://gizmodo.com/5502722/location+based-social-networking-looks-kind-of-like-a-cdc-h1n1-map

Map 3: Central Florida Hurricane Center Maps Hurricane Rita
This map is from Gizmodo's partner site Lifehacker, which focuses more on making everyday life more efficient and interesting tidbits all over the internet. This map is from Google Maps and it follows the path of Hurrican Rita in 2005. The map shows the location of the hurricane, the direction it's headed and the intensity of hurricane. This is extremely important and relevant in our everyday lives as maps are easily accessible on almost all phones today. As a result being able to track any sort of disaster such as an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane can help people evacuate away from the crisis. Also it is just interesting to be able to see the movement of any sort of huge disaster.

Link: http://lifehacker.com/127145/google-maps-hurricane-rita
Link: http://flhurricane.com/googlemap.php?2005s18#