Lab 4; Due 11/1/10

This week I was afforded the unique privilege of working with the program ArcGIS. Overall, I found the experience to be tedious and dry. Granted, I wasn't working on my own project and was completing a general tutorial, so perhaps my lack of interest stems from my lack of engagement with the topic of study. The tutorial was, however, very explicit in its instructions and very easy to follow. After completing it thrice, I felt like I could complete the exercise a fourth time from memory. I attempted to connect my Mac remotely to complete the lab, but after many failed attempts I ended up having to come to campus to finish. In retrospect, I should have come to the SSC labs first instead of attempting to connect remotely; connecting remotely was a sufficient waste of time and the labs are a phenomenal resource.

Logistics aside, the ArcGIS program is pretty amazing. It seems like it has unlimited potential to overlay spatial data and present it in an understandable format. I had no idea how much it can do. It can make roads, legends, scales, spit out formulas, merge data tables--thousands of other things, I'm sure. I enjoyed seeing the end product of my work: the maps. It was nice to see that tangible output, that visual aid. GIS goes beyond data tables, beyond Excel, and shows people what they want to see. Who wants to analyze tables of data? No one. Let Arc do it for you, and analyze the picture. People always love pretty pictures.

ArcGIS is a computer program, and thus dealing with its pitfalls takes a large amount of patience. Computers are tricky; one click of the mouse can delete everything or ruin all that you've worked to finish. I suppose all that can be avoided by saving with frequency, but it was still frustrating at times. Little glitches are inevitable in any software, and I ran into them occasionally when working through the tutorial. Zooming was particularly troublesome, and the colors were limited. (Granted these are trivial, personalized complaints.)

I'm excited to work more with the program, as I know it has the capacity to accomplish amazing things. I can't wait to input my own data, and work with issues that apply directly to me or what I'm interested in studying. As a geography student, I recognize the potential GIS has for improving/adding to research projects and papers. As a person in society, I feel lucky to play with and learn about this expensive and widely used program. My brother in law works with GIS daily, and he loves his job. GIS is an up-an-coming field; the job market loves to see "ArcGIS" under the skills section of a resume.

I guess what I'm saying is that GIS has different potentials and pitfalls for everyone depending on their personality and their place in the world. For me, it probably doesn't mean a career in spatial data analysis and overlay. It's kind of dry, tedious and frustrating. Still, I'm happy to be learning about it. It's an integral part of a well-rounded geographic education, and it has the capacity to help me in life. Maybe.
Check out my maps below. (Note that when saving as a jpeg file, the graph lost its color profile.) Stay posted for next time, loyal reader!

Lab 3; Due 10/18/10

WWF's Ten to Watch 2010

The World Wildlife Fund's "Ten to Watch" is a list of animals which will likely become more threatened in the near future. This map allows the user to see where they are, what they look like and what plagues them. All included information was obtained from www.wwf.org/ on October 12, 2010. Be sure to zoom in on China to see panda population detail.

View WWF's Ten to Watch 2010 in a larger map


On Neogeography:
The biggest pitfall of neogeography is the potential for reduced accuracy levels. When VIG (volunteered geographic information) is utilized to create a data set, it is rarely edited for correctness and thus can lead to imprecision. There have been studies about such publically controlled sites as Wikipedia showing that they are accurate most of the time. Nevertheless, the chance of error in neogeography is greater than that of a government-issued map and remains its biggest pitfall.

The potential of neogeography is limitless. The general public now has the opportunity to create whatever maps it wants, whenever and wherever it wants to—on a mobile phone or a desktop or in a library. Neogeography will lead to more public sharing of information, from restaurant reviews to traffic reports to Toys ‘R Us sites. It has the potential to meet every person’s private wants while satisfying the needs of the public, because the private is becoming public.

Neogeography is changing our expectations of technology; a sort of democratization of mapping is about to ensue. As people become more comfortable with maps, the world will be a lot easier to navigate—not only physically but also socially. People can find all information they need on the internet, and now they can learn where to find it in the real world. Neogeography is merging information with location for the everyday citizen. The consequences of that are sure to be unalterable.   

Lab 2; Due 10/12/10

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2. The adjacent quadrangles are as follows, starting from the NW corner and continuing clockwise: Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Hollywood, Inglewood, Venice, (ocean), Topanga.

3. The above-used map was first created in 1966.

4. The North American Datum of 1927 and the North American Datum of 1983.

5. The scale is 1 : 24,000.

6. At the scale 1 : 24,000,
a) 5 centimeters is equivalent to (1200) meters on the ground.
b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to (1.91) miles on the ground.
c) 1 mile on the ground is equivalent to (2.62) inches on the map.
d) 3 kilometers on the ground is equivalent to (12.5) centimeters on the map.

7. The contour interval is 20 feet.

8. The approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
a) the Public Affairs Building; 34° 4' 23" N, 118° 26' 30" W or 34.073° N, 118.44° W
b) the tip of Santa Monica pier; 34° 0' 30" N, 118° 29' 30" W or 34.01° N, 118.49° W
c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir; 34° 6' 0" N, 118° 24' 45" W or 34.1° N, 118.413° W

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park); 560 ft, 170.688 m
b) Woodlawn Cemetery; 140 ft, 42.672 m
c) Crestwood Hills Park; 700 ft, 213.36 m

10. The UTM zone of the map is 11.

11. The UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of the map are north 3,759,900 and east 361,500.

12. 1,000,000 square meters are contained within each cell of the UTM gridlines.

13. 

14. The magnetic declination is 14°.


15. The intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon Reservoir runs north.

16.