Lab 8: 2009 LA Station Fire

     In 2009, California had multiple wildfires throughout the state. The deadliest was the Station Fire in Los Angeles which was the tenth largest in recent years. It burned about 250 square miles and killed two firefighters. The fire started in the Angeles National Forest in late August and lasted until mid-October. The the fire is suspected to be caused by arson after an investigation near the point of origin.

     Although some wildfires can get out of hand, California wildfires are common and natural to the environment. The Station Fire occurred in a mostly chaparral-type biome which sees a lot of fires; some plant seeds depend on the fires because the seeds would be dormant otherwise. The hot and dry Santa Ana winds that occurs between autumn and winter creates ideal conditions for fire, but the buildup in kindling can cause wildfires to go out of control.

     The buildup of kindling is due to over-efficient control on smaller fires at times, or the conditions were just not right for a wildfire to occur at all. Some chaparral plants have highly flammable leaves which aid in wildfires and that kindling builds up over a few years while smaller fires are unable to burn and get rid of them. There are also causes by arson and by accidents which could set ablaze a wildfire with more than enough fuel to pass the limits within control. Though there are intentional controlled fires to free the buildup of kindling, sometimes the fires become to overwhelming.

     Though, after the fire has done its job as an agent of the biome's homeostasis system, there are concerns of mudslides and landslides, especially in the hilly and mountainous areas. When the land is burned bare of most of the plants whose roots keep the soil very intact, a lot of that soil becomes very loose which could potentially cause a mudslide, especially after heavy rains. The rain runoff downhill carries some of the soil on top which makes the land even more unstable and eventually slide in large amounts.

      The Station Fire has also been of concern because the fire also burned through some urban areas which is at risk of mudslides. The precipitation map shows, on average, the amount of annual rainfall in the affected areas. The numbers are not safely low is most areas. The year following the Station Fire saw a heavy rainstorm throughout LA county which cause multiple scattered mudslides and flooded streets.

         

Works Cited

"2009 California Wildfires." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires. Web.

"After the Station Fire, a New Danger: Mudslides - Latimes.com." Los Angeles Times - California, L.A., Entertainment and World News - Latimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

"Fveg02_2_19g." FRAP Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

GRENINGER, MARK. "Station Fire Perimeters." LA County GIS Enterprise. N.p., n.d. Web.

II, Rong-Gong Lin. "'Niagara' of Mud Hits Homes." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

"LA County Detailed Street Maps." GIS at UCLA: Mapshare DB. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012.

"Rain60_1.gdb." FRAP Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 

Lab 7: Census

The North America Lambert Conformal Conic Projection was used for these maps.

Percent Black Population by County, Census 2000
     There is, at most, up to about 85% Black population by county, clustering mostly in the Southeastern and East Coast states. Historically, many African Americans lived in original American Southern states due to widespread slavery in those areas. Well after slavery, they gradually spread throughout the U.S, mostly towards the west. A significant portion of the population has moved towards Texas and another has grown in Southern California as well as parts of Central and Northern California.

Percent Asian Population by County, Census 2000
     After the surge of Asian immigrants, many West Coast counties have seen a growing number of Asian populations in terms of percentage (up to 40% in some counties), most significantly in California and Washington. Counties around New York is also. There was a large amount immigrants to New York because there was a large immigration gateway on Ellis Island from the late 19th century to mid 20th century. The West Coast was much more easily accessible from Asia by boat and, later, by plane.

Percent Other Race Population by County, Census 2000
     Many counties near the Mexican border on the Western half of the U.S. have a large amounts of  "Other Race" populations, which, based on the data provided on the U.S. Census Bureau's website, are most likely of Hispanic origins and several other racial origins. In recent years, there has been an increase in immigration as well as increased illegal immigration from Mexico and other southern North American Countries and several South American Countries. The tip of Florida is also populated by many Cuban refugees and other Hispanic immigrants.

     The Asian and Other Race population maps show the large flow of immigration in certain areas which immigrants were accessible to. Immigrants tend to flow towards counties that tended to have people from their countries, as well as for reasons of accessibility and social mobility. The large flow of African slaves during colonial times have deeply rooted a large African American population in the U.S. which expanded with the Westward expansion for pursuit of better conditions.

    GIS is able to show through data the demographics of places and relate them to issues, both social and economical. It can supplement historical evidence and support certain claims and conjectures. GIS can provide data for governmental decisions and for businesses to target certain demographic groups. It is a very widespread tool that is utilized by almost every field of research and by governments as well as many businesses. Although ESRI might have obtained monopoly over this tool, it doesn't significantly inhibit GIS's potential as a powerful tool and the amount of data it can provide.

Lab 6: DEMs in ArcGIS

1.
Extent of the maps (in decimal degrees)
Top:      47.7611111111
Left:     -122.542222223
Right:   -121.845000001
Bottom: 47.5238888889
spatial reference: GCS North American 1983
datum: NAD1983

For this lab, I chose the city of Seattle in Washington. Seattle has 41% of its area within city limits spanned by water. The land also has many hills and mountains, so for a DEM map, it is aesthetically more interesting.


2. - 4. Shaded Relief Map, Slope Map, and Aspect Map of Seattle

5. A 3D Rendering of Seattle

Lab 5: Projection in ArcGIS

Distance between Washington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan
Conformal Map Projections
Gall Stereographic - 11,508,681.769347 meters, 7,151.163312 miles
Mercator -  16,273,910.53682 meters, 10,112.139192 miles

Equidistant Map Projections
Azimuthal Equidistant - 13,424,227.861623 meters, 8,341.428471 miles
Equidistant Conic - 11,221,141.444613 meters, 6,972.494037 miles

Equal Area Map Projections
Craster Parabolic - 13,018,095.057657 meters, 8,089.069246 miles
Cylindrical Equal Area - 16,267,363.946687 meters, 10,108.071330 miles

     The map projections I used in this lab were Gall Stereographic, Mercator, Azimuthal Equidistant, Equidistant Conic, Craster Parabolic, and Cylindrical Equal Area. Mercator and Gall Stereographic projections are conformal maps that distorts area, shape, and distance. Direction is preserved and the coordinate lines meet at 90 degree angles. The Azimuthal Equidistant and Equidistant Conic projections are equidistant maps that preserve distance from a central point. The Craster Parabolic and Clyindrical equal Area projection are equal area maps that try to accurately portray the right proportions in terms of area.

     Due to many distortions caused by projecting a 3D object onto a 2D plane, different map projections were created to prioritize different characteristics in order to have the least distortions for those certain characteristics while sacrificing others to distortion. There are more characteristics to maps than the three presented. In addition to conformal, equidistant,  and equal area, there are also shape, bearing, and scale that map projections can distort. Depending on what is needed of the map, the specific map projection is chosen. On a very large scale map, map projection type has no significance because distortion is unnoticeable.

     The significance of map projections is being able use different projections for different uses based on what is needed. That is also a peril of map projection if the wrong projection is used for the wrong purpose. Also, using only one projection can greatly distort spatial conceptions of the world. Like the Mercator projection which is widely used in schools, it significantly distorts areas in the areas close to north and south poles to appear much larger than they actually are.

     The potential of map projections is the ability to change people's perspective about space. The different projections can show different points of views of the Earth instead of the static orientation of the Mercator projection. I  knew about the area distortion of Mercator projection but I never visually seen how much significant the distortion was. The equal area map surprisingly looked a bit alien and foreign. The danger of using only one map projection is that you believe that one map to be true and accept it, distortions and all. It limits different perspectives.

Lab 4: Introducing ArcMap

      ArcGIS is a very useful tool that allows one to make a map and layer it with data. The data can vary from topography to land use to boundaries to population. It allows the user to make observations based on the data and allow them to form geographic questions which could lead to a general hypothesis and then be proven or disproven with supporting data.
     ArcGIS is fairly easy to use. It is fairly intuitive, though it may require prior knowledge before being effectively able to utilize it. Though the tutorial was very helpful to start out and taught the basics, it only contained exercises. If I wanted to know how to do something aside from the exercises or wanted to know what a certain tool did, the tutorial failed to be helpful, unless there are more tutorials than just the tutorial we were given or a manual that came with the software, which the class had no access to.
     This software has potential to be much better because in respect to other software and technology, I feel like it's lacking in presentation and intuitive use. It is user-friendly, partially. The main pitfall would be the jargon.This seriously limits neogeography's full potential. But, this program is used for more demanding projects and data usage, so there is no need to make it completely simplistic.
     Overall, ArcGIS is a fairly sophisticated tool that could be improved in terms of presentation and user interface, but it does its job. And, it does it well. It is able to keep the data organized and has helpful tools to support geographic observations. ArcGIS could be used to support a hypothesis, to inform others of a correlation and/or causation, or to make a point (by obscuring some data and exposing others).

Lab 3: Neogeography

My Google Map
View Lab 3 map in a larger map     
     Neogeography has many benefits, but also some consequences. Neogeography is a very helpful way to show and share a lot of information with other people. It allows you to be very specific with location and detail about that location. It can allow others to shadow a specific trail you had travel or easily find a point of interest.
     But, with specificity, it exposes a lot of personal information that you might not want a lot of people to know. It is potentially dangerous because it could lead to easy stalking. It is also limited to the map you have (e.g. outdated map or an inaccurate map). Neogeography itself doesn't pose a problem, but where the one posts their neogeographic information poses a problem. The internet allows for a global network and connects many people together, but it's also a public setting where people must be wary of what they expose.

Lab 2: USGS Topographic Maps

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle
2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, Inglewood
3. 1966
4. North American Datum of 1927, North American Datum 1983, and Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929
5. 1 : 24,000
6. a) 1200m
    b) 1.89393939miles
    c) 2.64in
    d) 12.5cm
7.  20ft
8. a)Public Affairs Building
   Latitude:  DMS: N  34°  4' 28"   Decimal Degree: 34.074444
   Longitude: DMS: W 118° 26' 20"   Decimal Degree: 118.438889
    b)Tip of the Santa Monica Pier
   Latitude:  DMS: N  34°  0' 26"   Decimal Degree: 34.007222
   Longitude: DMS: W 118° 29' 59"   Decimal Degree: 118.499722
    c)Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir
   Latitude:  DMS: N  34°  7' 12"   Decimal Degree: 34.12
   Longitude: DMS: W 118° 24' 36"   Decimal Degree: 118.41
9. a)Greystone Mansion  ~560ft  ~170.688m
    b)Woodlawn Cemetery  ~140ft  ~42.672m
    c)Crestwood Hills Park  ~640ft  ~195.072m
10. zone 11
11. 3763000 Northing and 362000 Easting
12. 1,000,000 sq. meters
13. graph x and y axis- elevation(ft) in respect to easting

14. 14 degrees. 249 miles.
15. South because the elevation lowers as you go south.
16.