Lab 7 - Fire Mapping

The station fire was one of the biggest fires within the recent years to occur in Southern California. Figure 1 is a reference map of the Station fire perimeter and encompasses not only the map area near the fire, but also areas where the smoke from the fire was visible. The bellowing tower of smoke was visible from areas as far south as Commerce and Montebello. The reference map also chronicles the progress of the fire over the span of about a week - with the lighter color representing the area first burned and slowly progresses to a darker shade of color to illustrate the expansion of the fire.

Figure 2 and 3 are the hillshdae map and aspect map of the region respectively. The hillshade map merely shows the elevation change and the mountain range of the region with the lighter shade being the higher elevation. The aspect map, on the other hands, shows what direction the sides of the mountain faces. This is useful in that upon closer inspection the majority of the slopes face southward. This is an interesting feature because for one thing, the fire started on the southern slopes and slowly progressed northward, meaning the fire progressed up the slopes during the fire. This phenomenon is important because naturally, fires tend to migrate uphill due to the rising of eat and as it rises it raises the temperatures of the shrubery and will easily ignite the shrubery higher up on the hill. Hence, this becomes the rationale behind the station fire - the fire expanded northward - partly due to the increasing elevation of the mountain northward and the concentration of fuel source located to the North.

Figure 4 is a map of fuel load found in the area. Although its rather difficult to see on the map, there is a ceoncentration of more flammable material that is located to the North, in the mountains. The urban areas to the south of the moutain contained only a small amount of natural fuel sources due to the urbanization and destruction of th elocal vegetation in the development of the area. As a result, the fuel load is more prevalent in the mountain ranges - with a large source of oak and pine trees - providing adequate fuel for th fire to expand farther.

Figure 5 is the map of urban area plotted in the same region as the fire perimeter. As illustrated by the map, there is actually some overlap between the urban area and the fire itself. During the fire itself, the nearby communities were in danger but some were actually destroyed (but most were safe. If we look at both figure 4 and figure 5, the fuel load type found is the urban areas are not as volatile as the load found in the mountain. The natural vegeation in the mountain were found in large abundances that helped the fire expand, while the urban areas lacked such volatile fuel load, hence the reason why the fire more easily spread to the North.

The Station fire ultimately burned approximtely 250,000 acres of land within the span of four weeks. The fire had the largest growth within the first week due to the large amount of fuel load found in the mountains. And due to the steep elevation of where the fire was burning, the management of the fire itself was rather difficult as the elevation became too difficult for firefighters to handle. Ultimately, the fire only destroyed 89 homes but threatened up to 12,000 homes at one time. The fire burned for about 49 days before finally reaching 100% containment on October 16, 2009. The Station fire is actually the largest fire in the Los Angeles area up to date.

Sources:
"ANF Station Fire FAQs 11 04 09 Final.pdf." Angeles NF - Station Fire Burned Area Emergency Response - BAER Implementation FAQ.

"CAL FIRE - Incidents." Fire Information. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .

"National Map LANDFIRE Viewer." National Map/USGS Databse.


"Station Fire Threatens Hundreds Of Homes But Officials Believe Mount Wilson Is Out Of The Woods - cbs2.com." CBS 2 - KCAL 9 - Los Angeles - Southern California - LA Breaking News, Weather, Traffic, Sports. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .


"U.S. Forest Service report: Station fire terrain too steep to fight safely | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times." Top of the Ticket | Karl Rove talks about Sarah Palin -- and Top of the Ticket | Los Angeles Times. Web. 27 Nov. 2009. .

Lab 6 - DEMs

 

 

 

The images above are all maps with the central focal point on Boulder, Colorado. To the West of the area are the Rocky Mountains, while to the East is the Great Plains of Colorado, hence the reason for the drastic difference in elevation. And it is because of this comparable difference that I decided to choose Boulder, CO as the center of the map. The elevation of the area has a moderate range, with the Great Plains being as low as 1,466 feet to 3,708 feet in the Rocky Mountains. The slope map is a map of interest here because a large portion of the map is just colored red - indicating the severity of the slope. Because this area is where the Rockys meet the Plains, the area is located on the downward slope and the slope map portrays just that: a (severe) downward slope. The area of the Earth that these maps capture are set by the longitude and latitude boundaries of -105.59 to -104.85 (W to E) and 40.18 to 39.87 (N to S) respectively. The maps are extracted from the data collected in the GCS North American Datum of 1983. 

Lab 5 - Map Projections

 

Map projections such as the various projections portrayed above are useful tools in terms of displaying the Earth's spherical surface as an image on a flat surface. This allows the users to judge distance, navigational directions, and approximate locations in the real world by using such map projections. The various map projections that are available out there allow different projections to be made for different purposes: if only a nautical heading is needed, the conformal projections can be used, if only distance is needed, an equidistant projection could be used. With the need to answer the various geographical questions available out there, more tools such as the numerous projections allow for more ways to analyze geographical data.

The existence of the various projections available out there are the result that no projection is perfect - different projections are used for different reasons. As a result, without the basic knowledge of map projections, a user may have a difficult time in obtaining accurate information from the improper projection. For example, the actual distance from Kabul to Washington D.C. is about 6,944 miles. The most ideal projection to be used would be an equidistant projection. However, even though we have selected the most ideal projection, the projection itselfis very limited in displaying the distance accurately. To be more specific, an azimuthal equidistant map projetion would be more desired because the equidistant map, in measuring distances, is most accurate only when the locale of interest (the starting point for the measurement) is located in the middle of the sphere, otherwise distances would become greatly distorted. For example, the equidistant conic map is the more accurate measurement for the distance between Kabul and Washington D.C. of the two equidistant maps. Had the center of the map been focused on either Kabul or Washington D.C., the distance between the two would have been more accurately measured.

While equidistant maps are useful for displaying the distances on the map accurately, they still may distort the actual size of the landmasses drastically depending on how far away they deviate from the center. In order to preserve the actual size of the landmasses then, an equal area projection would be more useful. However, with equal area projections a compromise must be made in displaying accurate distances. For the Bonne projection, it relies on the central meridian being the point of reference, the farther east and west we deviate from the meridian, the more distorted the water becomes (which may cause an inaccurate measurement between distances). However, since the area is preserved, the distance between Kabul and Washington D.C. wasn't drastically affected because they are relatively close to the meridian. As for the Hammer-Aitoff projection, it uses the equator as the central point of reference, the rest of the parallels of the equator are curves - the farther north and west we deviate, the more distorted the distance from North to West becomes. Once again, the distance according to the aforementioned projection is 8,447 miles, a mere 1,000 something odd miles off from the actual distance.

Lastly, the final map projection that must be discussed is the conformal map projection. These map projections are used to preserve local angles - meaning they are great for navigational purposes, when a heading is needed. The drawback behind these projections is that the farther we deviate from the equator and the middle of the map, the more distorted the shapes become, thereby rendering distances to be unusable due to its large variations with different map projections. The Mercator projection is the most common projection used - it preserves local angles but not the shape or size of continents that deviate far from the equator. Hence, the distance from Kabul to Washington D.C. calculated in the Mercator is 10,006 miles. In comparison, the Gall Stereographic projects a sphere onto a flat surface of the Earth. The projection may not distort the shape and size of landmasses, however, the distortions are not as great as that found in the Mercator map. In addition, for the Gall Stereographic projections, the projection uses 45 degrees N and S of the equator as points of interest, which provides the map with an overall sense of balance on the map - no section will become drastically distorted. The distance measured between Kabul and Washington D.C. by the computer on the Gall Stereographic map is 7,162, much closer to the actual value than some of the other projections.

Based on the discussion mentioned above, there are limitations as to what a user can do on ArcGIS without delving too in depth with the content. Despite these limitations, because different situations call on different maps, there still exists a multitude of map projections available to analyze the data. As long as the user considers what is the feature that is being compromised on the map projection and what the purpose of the projection is, ArcGIS can become a very powerful tool in geographic analysis.

Lab 4 - Intro to ArcGIS

Attached below are the map outputs from the ArcGIS tutorial:

ArcGIS is a convenient mapping tool that allows users to create more complex maps that can relate geography to an interrelated phenomenon. ArcGIS may not be as easily accessible than other open source mapping tools or simple mapping tools such as Google, but its because of its complexity and capabilities that it restricts access to those interested in relating earth's geographic features to a wide range of subject matters - including societal and environmental issues. ArcGIS, in that extent, is a more professional tool that focuses on mapping to provide geographic information and relationships rather than a user-centric tool that focuses on providing miscellaneous information.

In my first exposure to ArcGIS, it seems that the tool itself is very comprehensive and has a lot of aesthetic options that can be used to customize the graphical presentations. More importantly, the tool itself is not difficult to use, its just tedious to go through the steps to get the results desired. As long as there is data present, the tool becomes very useful in graphically presenting the data. Because the class itself is an introductory course to GIS, the labs where we utilize ArcGIS provides us with minimal experience in using the tool to map out geographical relationships between the Earth and the people. ArcGIS is a great tool for those within the research/academia field in establishing geographical relationships and mapping them out to illustrate a point of interest.

Despite the convenience of ArcGIS, there are some shortcomings of the software itself. The entire process of data collection and creating the maps themselves to illustrate a phenomenon is a tedious task. The unfortunate flaw underlying the process is that if a human error occurs somewhere along the data organization, it's a painstaking process to retrace the steps and correct the error. In addition, because of its intended audience, ArcGIS does require some understanding of basic computer programming to fully utilize the functions of ArcGIS. The general output of ArcGIS may not be as flashy or physically attractive as other mapping tools, it is still more informative/comprehensive in terms of the information presented by its output.

The introductory lab tutorial for ArcGIS was a great way to expose students to the capabilities of a professional mapping tool rather than a neogeographical mapping tool like Google Maps. While neogeography is a prevalent form of mapping for the general public, it is limited in how much information can be presented in the maps. ArcGIS and other mapping software, on the other hand, allow for more comprehensive analysis of various phenomenons within a geographical range. ArcGIS, in that sense, is perfect for studying anthropologic and environmental effects on a global scale by comparing various phenomenons and analyzing the map outputs from ArcGIS. Through such analysis, we gain a better understanding of the natural world and the underlying processes that may have an adverse effects on the natural world itself and attempt to develop policies that may slow the growth of adverse effects.

Lab 3 - Neogeography

View The Relatively Essential Road Trips for a College student in a larger map

With the advent of continually developing technology, access to a wide variety of data has become more convenient. With this available data in rapid development, the way we approach maps has also changed. The coevolution of mapping technology and user interface development have allowed anyone to create their own quirky maps and perhaps share with other people. Neotechnology, has, in effect, combined a relatively complex tool and simplified it, allowing anyone direct access to a powerful tool without prior knowledge/understanding of the system. While this may be a convenience it has also become a crutch in our understanding of the world. As a population, we become more and more dependent on such simple tools in order to live a simpler life. The development of dynamic maps are beginning to replace the traditional paper maps once used by our predecessors, while this may simplify route planning, our demand for such types of maps increase, creating unrealistic expectations for these simple tools.

In addition to raising our expectations to an unrealistic level, tools such as google maps are being underrated as a geographical tool. no longer do people pay attention to the factual information reported by a standardized party (USGS) on a paper map, instead, we pay attention to the miscellaneous details that are provided by the dynamic maps - which aren't provided by USGS, but by everyday individuals. This distorts the facts of certain map features and causes us to overlook such important details. We simply see destinations as more of a point to point journey, locating a fast food restaurant on a road trip is no longer an exploration, rather, it's a simple process of following orders given by a third party through the use of dynamic maps. In essence, while dynamic mapping and its accessibility has given us a tool to relate our desires to locales on a map, we tend to become ignorant of the other features maps may offer.

Geography 7 Lab 2 - USGS Topo Maps

1.) The name of the quadrangle is the 1995 topographic map of the Beverly Hills area.

2.) The adjoining quadrangles are: Canoga Park to the NW, Van Nuys to the N, Burbank to the NE, Topanga to the W, Hollywood to the E, Venice to the S, and Inglewood to the SE.

3.) The topographic map was created in 1966.

4.) The North American Datum(s) of 1927 and 1983 were used to create the map.

5.) The scale of the map is 1:24,000

6.) In accordance to the above scale:
5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to 1200 meters on the ground
5 inches on the map is equivalent to 120,000 inches on the ground, or 10,000 feet.
1 mile on the ground is equal to 2.64 inches on the map
3 km on the ground is equal to 31.75 cm on the map.

7.) The contour interval on the map is 20 feet.

8a.) In terms of decimal degrees, the following buildings are located at coordinates:
Public Affairs Building at latitude 71.20 degrees and longitude 67.33 degrees.
The tip of Santa Monica Pier at latitude 63.83 degrees and longitude 61.66 degrees.
The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir is located between latitudes 73.33 degrees  and 74.20 degrees, and between longitudes 69.80 degree and 71.00 degrees.

8b.) In terms of degrees/minutes/seconds, the following buildings are located:
Public Affairs Building at latitude 75 degrees, 12 minutes, 0 seconds and longitude 67 degrees, 19 minutes, 48 seconds.
The Santa Monica Pier is located at latitude 63 degrees, 49 minutes, 48 seconds and longitude 61 degrees, 39 minutes, 36 seconds.
The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir is located at latitude 73 degrees, 19 minutes, 48 seconds and longitude 74 degrees, 12 minutes, 0 seconds.

9.) The approximate elevation of the following are:
Greystone Museum - 540 feet
Woodlawn Cemetery - 140 feet
Cresthill Woods Park - 700 feet

10.) The UTM zone of this map is 11.

11.) The UTM coordinates for the lower left hand corner of the map are approximately 3,763,000M North and 361,333M East

12.) There is 1000 sq meters within each cell.

13.) The elevation changes from West to East at the northing and easting intersection are: 

520, 600, 640, 520, 520*, 440*, 410, 340, 300, 250, 190, 140. 

The image of the graph is located at the bottom of the post (Fig. 2)

14.) The magnetic declination of the map is 14 degrees.

15.) The intermittent stream between the 405 and the Stone Canyon Reservoir flows south.

16.) Refer to Fig. 1 for cropped portion of UCLA.

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Geography 7 - Lab 1 - UPDATED

 

Shown above is the topographic map for the Central California portion of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with a focus on the Bishop area in California.  The map was acquired from an image excerpt from a website selling a topographic map of the Sierra Nevadas (http://www.boredfeet.com/mappages/map9780966534528.php). The area of Bishop was a main point of intrigue for me because that area is surrounded by numerous mountains and climbing enthusiasts can usually be found in what is known as the mecca for rock climbing in the United States - Bishop. In addition to numerous cliff climbs for rope climbing found in the Bishop area, there are also great boulders to be found for bouldering, with boulder fields spread throughout the local area - all as a result of the formation of the Sierra Nevada Mountain ranges. With the formation of the Sierra Nevadas (by subduction of the tectonic plates), a gorge (known as the Owen's River gorge) can be found running through the Bishop area in the Sierra Nevadas - as can be seen in the above map.

 

The second map above shows the population density for the country of Russia. This map is of interest due to the fact that Russia has the largest land area in the world but can be considered to be the one of the less dense countries in terms of the density per square mile for a country. The map was acquired through a website that hosts other maps of interset (http://www.roebuckclasses.com/maps/placemap/placemapindex.htm) for those with a curious mind. The density in the map is classified by the shade of red visible on the map - the darker the shade, the more dense the population within that area. Notice that the larger densities are located near bodies of water, with some cities found near rivers. By establishing settlements near bodies of water, the earlier settlements had the resources needed for sustaining life - water for farming and general sustenance of life for the inhabitants.

This final map of interest was acquired from the same source as the previous map, http://www.roebuckclasses.com/maps/placemap/placemapindex.htm , a collection of world maps, ranging from population maps to quirky maps such as lights of the world (above image). This map essentially shows an image captured from space of all the lights around the world that are visible in space. I'm sure there are people out there who have always wondered to themselves just how bright the lights of the world are and what sort of pattern can be observed if looked at from a macro standpoint - this map provides that information. Looking at the map, it's obvious that the developed nations of the world (countries of Europe and the US itself) should possess the greatest light density in the world, but another interesting phenomenon would be the country of India. For a developing nation such as India, it's intriguing just how bright the country is despite the fact it's still considered a developing country - it almost possesses the same density of lights as some of the other developed countries visible on the map.