Lab 8

Mapping the Station Fire in ArcGIS

The Station Fire happened on August 26th, 2009 was a huge disaster to Los Angeles county and it was not fully controlled until October 16th . This wildfire started in the Angeles National Forest near the U.S. Forest Service ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway ("New fire breaks out near Angeles Crest Highway; forces road closure"). The blaze threatened 12,000 structures in the National Forest and the nearby communities of La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock and Altadena, as well as the Sunland and Tujunga neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles ( "Station Fire Evening Update Aug. 31, 2009").

 In Southern California, the normal wildfire season begins in October with the arrival of the infamous Santa Ana winds, and it is unusual to see fires spread so rapidly at other times of year. However, temperatures throughout the southern part of the state exceeded 100 °F (38 °C) for much of late August. The combination of high temperatures, low humidity and a large quantity of tinder-dry fuel, some of which had not burnt for decades, allowed some of the normal fires to quickly explode out of control despite the lack of winds to spread the flames. These conditions, along with extreme terrain in many undeveloped areas that slowed access to burn areas, made firefighting difficult ("2009 California wildfires"). What was worse, two firefighters were killed on August 30 while attempting to escape the flames when their fire truck plunged off a cliff ("Firefighters Killed in 'Station Fire' Remembered").

The first map I made suggested the gradual expansion of the fire and its relative location in LA county. According to this map, we can see that the expansion speed of Station Fire was really fast in the first three days. The size of burning area almost doubled on August 29th and 30th. The map also showed the main highways of LA county. It showed that most part of highway was not affected, except  Angeles Crest Highway.

The second map I made suggested how Station Fire threat the citizens of LA county.  It was lucky that most populated area was not harmed by the fire because the fire was most active in the forest area. Besides, we can see from this map that populated area was not affected by fire until September, because of the expansion of fire and the difficulty to control it. Although the damage to populated area seemed small, there were still 209 structures destroyed in this disaster, including 89 homes ("Station Fire Update Sept. 27, 2009").

In conclusion, the Station Fire can be understood better with the help of GIS. Moreover, GIS can be helpful to fight wildfires. Firefighters can use GIS to observe the development of fire so that they can guess which direction the fire will spread next. Besides, many other factors and data can be joined into the fire map by using GIS. Obviously, wildfires can be controlled much easier by considering the temperature, moisture and wind direction as well. I believe if GIS can be used appropriately, the damage to populated area that wildfires caused will be smaller next time.

Reference

"New fire breaks out near Angeles Crest Highway; forces road closure" (2009). Pasadena 
            Star-News. Retrieved from http://www.pasadenastarnews.com

"Station Fire Evening Update Aug. 31, 2009" (2009). InciWeb. Retrieved from http://inciweb.org
            /incident/article/9360/

"2009 California Wildfires." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires

"Firefighters Killed in 'Station Fire' Remembered" (2009). KTLA-TV. Retrieved from 

            http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-firefighters-bio,0,7708207.story

"Station Fire Update Sept. 27, 2009" (2009). InciWeb. Retrieved from http://inciweb.org/incident
            /article/9640/

Lab 7

 Mapping Census 2000 with ArcGIS

1. This map shows the number of people that lived in the United States in 2000. Different colors represent the different population of that area. For example, the largest population is represented by purple, located at south California and area around New York. We can also see from this map that the population of the middle area is very small. In general, the darker of the color of the area is, the population of this area is larger.

2. This map shows the amount of population changed in the United States from 1990 to 2000. Different colors represent different amount of population changed. We can see from this map that the change of population at the middle area is slight, and at western and eastern coast, the change is very obvious.

3. This map shows the percent change of total population in the United States during 1990 to 2000. Different colors represent different percent of change. The values are calculated by subtracting the number of people present in the year 1990 from the number of people present in the year 2000, and then divide that by the number of people present in the year 1990, and then multiplying it by 100.

4. This map shows the population density of the United States in 2000. Population density is calculated by dividing the total number of people living in that place by the total land area. Different colors represent different population density. We can see from this map that the population density of some big cities is larger than that in some small counties.

This lab asked us to make four maps about the population issue in the United States during 1990 to 2000. I learned how to join attribute data to the map, perform simple calculations within the context of ArcGIS and work with classification schemes and shadesets in this lab. Moreover, I learned a lot about the population distribution of the United States. My overall impression of GIS is that it needs much knowledge of computer and some of its work is very tricky. However, GIS is very effective and convenient to show information on maps. People can get better know to the world around them through GIS.

Lab 6

DEMs in ArcGIS

 This area I selected is from course website, and the extent information about this area is (-105.789, 39.384), (-104.969, 39.829). Then I would like to post four maps of this area below.

1. Shaded Relief Model of The Area:

 

2. Aspect Map:

3. Slope map:

4. 3D Image of My Location:

Lab 5

  Different Map Projections

This lab asked us to create six maps using three different projections, conformal, equal area and equidistant. Map projection is a process that reshape the Earth from 3-dimensions into a 2-dimensional surface. It is important to us and used widely in our daily life.

It is known to us that globe is the best way to depict the Earth’s shape and to understand latitude and longitude, but it is not practical to use globe frequently in our daily life. As a result, we need flat map, which is much more convenient for us to understand the world around us.  For example, when we go out for a travel and get lost in a new place, an accurate map can help us get out of trouble. The three different kinds of map showed above have their features respectively. Conformal maps preserve the angles locally, so this kind of map is better to navigate people who want to keep the right direction. Equal area maps give the right proportion of the images. Finally, equidistant maps preserve the distance so that they are useful to measure the distance between two places.

Although map projection is significant to us, its perils are also obvious. Since every kind of projection has distortion, all maps have some misleading information. For example, in Miller Cylindrical Map, the Greenland is larger than the United States, which looks very ridiculous. Moreover, if someone wants to navigate direction by using a equal area map, he or she may get to a wrong place at last because the angles of this kind of map are distorted. Consequently, people should take care to choose map projection to accomplish their goals.

Considering the significance and the pitfalls of map projection, I think it has much potential. Now people can only find a suitable map projection to meet their needs. However, with the development of technology, some more comprehensive map projections that preserve more natural features will be created. Maybe there will be a kind of map projection with no distortion in the future. Personally, I believe that is not impossible.

Lab 4

 

Example Proposed Airport Expansion

GIS means using hardware, software and data to organizing, managing and analyzing geographic information. It is widely used in many places to solve problems by analyzing data. This lab asked us to analyze a issue about an airport expansion next to a school through a tutorial. We needed to consider many factors about this issue, including noise, population and land use, to decide whether to approve it. 

The software we used this time was called ArcMap, which is a main component of ArcGIS. First we needed to make a map about the area around the airport and found the connection about the airport and the school. Then we were asked to create a land use map and a table about population density. Finally we needed to work with map elements and organize those maps and table in right places. I really learned how to create a sophisticated map and manage geographic data through this lab. 

GIS is so popular because it has many merits. First of all, people can work more efficiently with the help of GIS so that problems can be solved much easier. Take this lab as an example, we can decide whether it is good to expand airport by analyzing the given data. Besides, it is easier to estimate the future by GIS since we have many data records like land use and population density. 

Nevertheless, GIS also has some pitfalls. Through this tutorial, I found the GIS software like ArcMap needs much  knowledge about using computer and I cannot complete this lab without the tutorial. As a result, this kind of software is too professional for many people to access. Maybe some easier programs like Google Map are more suitable to public.  Moreover, it is too complicated to collect GIS data and analyze them, so it costs much time to do that work. For me, I spent nearly 7 hours on this lab, which was the longest so far. 

Lab 3

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=202284496586944025909.0004cc0c07a00fc7208b2&msa=0&ll=30.246055,120.152664&spn=0.026063,0.045447

This map is about traveling West-lake, the famous scenic point of my hometown Hangzhou. I choose a route of journey that I think is the best one to appreciate the beautiful scenery of West-lake. This itinerary begins from Bai Di, a picturesque causeway in West-lake, and ends at Taiziwan Park, which is one of the most beautiful parks in Hangzhou. I guarantee that you will enjoy yourself and fall in love with attractive West-lake if you come to Hangzhou and follow this itinerary.

Neogeography applies many geographical techniques used for personal activities so it is unique and original. The contents of these maps are always very interesting, which are different from other official maps. As a result, neogeography can provide a new perspective for users to explore the resources of a place that they are interested in. However, I think neogeograohy also has some drawbacks. Sometimes the information provided by it is limited. Besides, neogeography contains many personal views so that it may cause some prejudices that can mislead people.

Lab 2

1. The name of this quadrangle is Beverly Hills Quadrangle.
2. The names of adjacent quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venlce and Inglewood.
3. Quadrangle was created in 1995.
4. National geodetic vertical datum of 1929
5. The scale of map is 1: 24000
6. (a) 1200
    (b) 1.894
    (c) 2.64
    (d) 12.5
7. 20 feet
8. (a) 34°04′00″，118°26′30″；34.07°，118.44°
    (b) 34°00′50″，118°30′10″；34.01°，118.50°
    (c) 34°06′00″，118°25′00″；34.10°，118.42°
9. (a) 500 feet; 152.4 meters
    (b) 140 feet; 40.7 meters
    (c) 800 feet; 243.8 meters
10. Zone 11
11. 3763000'N, 362000'E
12. 1000000 square meters
14. 14°E
15. The water in the intermittent stream flows from north to south. 
16.