Lab 3 Neogeography

View Important Archaeological Sites In Southern California in a larger map

Neogeography is a revolutionary new concept within geography built upon the foundation of the social web. Through interaction and collaboration, neogeography makes geographic information easier than ever to share. Take for example the map above, in which the locations of several archaeological sites are noted. Such information isn't widely available to begin with, but through the neogeography tools offered by Google it is all there in one place complete with a driving route. Given the versatility of tools like this, it's possible that neogeography could be useful in helping to gather support for strengthening the laws protecting these sites and in further promoting civic activity in the public at large. Best of all, these maps are easy to create and anyone can make them.

Neogeography is not without its problems however. First and foremost is the issue with reliability. Anyone can go out and create a neogeography map, but there's no guarantee that the information presented within will be accurate. Also, these tools appear to be less precise than professional GIS solutions. In the shapes labeled "CA-ORA-83" and "CA-ORA-85" I had to try and eyeball the shape of the site off of another map. If I had been able to look at the topography I probably could have made these shapes more precise. I imagine that with a professional GIS solution I will be able to create a more accurate representation of these important sites.

A final thought that I had on neogeography occurred to me as I was setting up the map itself. Google offers the ability to either share these maps publicly or keep them private. I decided to keep this map private because of the sensitive nature of the Newland site in Huntington Beach. It is located in a park where children can often be seen riding bikes or playing in the grass. The thought of teenagers from a local high school finding out about the site and deciding to go and disturb what remains in the ground made me realize that while neogeography has the potential to make information easier to share, the information that we decide to share through these tools need to be carefully considered.

Lab 02

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?
The Beverly Hills Quadrangle.


2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
 The names of the adjacent quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood.


3. When was the quadrangle first created?
The Beverly Hills Quadrangle was first created in 1966.


4. What datum was used to create your map?
The datum used to create this map were the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929, North American Datum of 1927, and North American Datum of 1983.


5. What is the scale of the map?
The scale of this map is 1:24,000.


6. At the above scale, answer the following:
      a) 5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to how many meters on the ground?
          5 centimeters on the map is equal to 1200 meters on the ground.
     b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
         5 inches on the map is equivalent to 1.894 miles on the ground.
     c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
         one mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map.
     d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?
          three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to 12.5 centimeters on the map.


7. What is the contour interval on your map?
The contour interval on this map is set to 20 feet.


8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
     a) the Public Affairs Building;
         34 degrees 4' 26" N by 118 degrees 26' 20" W or 34.074 degrees N by -118.439 degrees W.
     b) the tip of the Santa Monica Pier;
         34 degrees 0' 25" N by 118 degrees 27' 0" W or 34.007 N by 118.500 W.
     c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;
         34 degrees 7' 12" N by 118 degrees 24' 36" W or 34.120 N by 118.41 W.


9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
     a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park);
         580-540 feet or 1276.78-164.59 meters.
     b) Woodlawn Cemetery;
         140 feet or 42.67 meters.
     c) Crestwood Hills Park;
         680 feet or 207.26 meters.


10. What is the UTM zone of the map?
This map falls within UTM Zone 11.


11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map?
The UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of the map are 3762950 Northing, 361600 Easting.


12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines?
Each cell of the UTM gridlines contains one million square meters.


13. Obtain elevation measurements, from west to east along the UTM northing 3771000, where the eastings of the UTM grid intersect the northing. Create an elevation profile using these measurements in Excel (hint: create a line chart). Figure out how to label the elevation values to the two measurements on campus. Insert your elevation profile as a graphic in your blog.

14. What is the magnetic declination of the map?

The magnetic declination of this map is 14 degrees east.


15. In which direction does water flow in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon Reservoir?
The stream flows from north to south.


16. Crop out (i.e., cut and paste) UCLA from the map and include it as a graphic on your blog.

Lab 01

http://laist.com/2010/10/05/map_porn_density_maps_overlaid_with.php#photo-1

     This map was originally from an environmental impact report filed by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and was blogged on the website LAist. It shows the population densities of neighborhoods in Los Angeles County in relation to LACMTA transitways and rail lines. I find this map interesting because of the way that the rail lines hug and bisect through high-density areas. It shows the role that geographic data plays in policy related to public transportation in Los Angeles County. 

http://www.zerogeography.net/2012/04/interactive-wikipedia-mapping-tool.html

     This map was posted on the blog Zero Geography and is from the Oxford Internet Institute. It shows the distribution of Wikipedia authors across North America, inferring a correlation between population centers and number of Wikipedia authors. This map is interesting because like the McDonald's map shown in lecture it could be mistaken as a satellite image of North America at night.

http://museumsanfernandovalley.blogspot.com/2011/02/red-car-celebrating-100-years-of-van.html

     This map was pulled from the blog for the Museum of the San Fernando Valley and was originally from the Pacific Electric Railway. It shows the routes of the Red Car electric train lines that used to service the greater Los Angeles area before they were taken out and replaced with roads and highways. Also shown in this map are motor coach routes. This map is interesting to me because when compared to the first map above, the number of trains servicing the public in the Los Angeles County area reduced dramatically as the twentieth century progressed.