Lab 4 - Proposed Airport Expansion

This week's lab is a two-week lab, as we have the midterm exam next lab session. Finally, in week four, we have really arrived at what is the real bulk of this Geography 7 class: ArcGIS. Specifically, we used ArcMaps to familiarize ourselves to the ArcGIS environment. In object of this lab session was to create a poster with numerous maps displaying information on a proposed airport expansion.

As expected, ArcMaps looks fairly complex and for a first time user, that means a big learning curve. Luckily, I am fairly computer savvy so I was able to pick things up quickly as I section wore on. Having worked with other powerful software such as SolidWorks and Photoshop, I knew what to expect and was not intimidated if something did not work immediately. However, I did run into a couple issues, but the TA was able to help me. For those who are not as familiar with computers and the Windows operating system, I think this lab would be very challenging. I would by no means call ArcMaps intuitive or easy to use. This is by far the greatest pitfall of GIS.

The map editor is another example of where GIS could cause misinformation. As I did in the computing lab, anyone could add roads and other information to the maps that do not actually exist. The general public needs to be careful when considering any user created maps.
The other students and I were all given a tutorial to follow that walked us through the lab. It was very straightforward and easy to follow, which helped make the experience much smoother. It was a great resource and really helped me learn, even if I was just reading through a tutorial.

Power is the strength of GIS. In a simple example, the lab demonstrated how relevant and useful GIS can be. Expanding an airport will cause more noise and residential neighbors will always complain about such things. The use of GIS in this situation could help designers expand the airport in such a way as to minimize the population density inside of the noise contour. And there are so many other areas in which it can be used. For example, the Professor uses it for studying populations of flora and fauna. The possibilities are endless with GIS.

Product of Lab 4

Lab 3 - Google Map

This week we made custom maps using Google Maps. I chose to focus on my month of vacation this past September. While this map is relatively small scale, many user-created maps are vastly complex and can become very disorganized and hard to read. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest pitfalls of neogeography. I believe that is it critical for any map to be easy to follow in order for the creator to be able to convey the information the map was intended to display. Another problem with neogeography is that is grossly subjective. Because all of the content is user-created, there is no way to ensure accuracy and  objectiveness. This is a problem because people may come to believe non-truths after seeing these maps and spread misinformation.
But let us turn to the positive aspects of neogeography. It allows users to share spatial information with each other. For example, people love to check in to places on Facebook and Yelp. These check-ins help people to remember where they have been as well as show their friends. One of my favorite parts of negeography is the geotagging of photos. It allows me to looks at restaurants before I go to see if I would like them, or use Street View to see where I'm headed.
Overall, I think neogeography is a great thing, as long as viewers remind themselves to always take  custom-made maps with a grain of salt.

Below is my map.
Link to Map



View September 2012 Travels in a larger map

Lab 2 - Beverly Hills Topgraphic Map

Lab 2


1. Beverly Hills
2.Adjacent are Topanga to the West,Venice to the South, the Pacific Ocean to the SW, Canoga Park to the NW, and Burbank to the NE.
3. 1966
4. National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929
5. Scale - 1:24,000
6
    a. 5cm * 1m/100cm *24,000 = 1200m
    b. 5 * 24,000 in =  120,000 in... * 1ft/12in * 1mile/5280ft = 1.893 miles
    c. 1mile *5280ft/1mile * 12in/ft * 1/24000 = 2.64in
    d. 3km * 100000cm/1km * 1/24000 = 12.5cm
7. 20 feet

8. 

   Public Affairs -  Lat: 34 degrees 4' 30" N     Long:118 degrees 26' 15" W     or       34.07, -118.439

   Pier - Lat: 34 degrees 0' 30" N      Long:118 degrees 30' W              or        34.008,  -118.5

   Reservoir -  Lat: 34 degrees 7' N   Long: 118 degrees 24' 50" W     or       34.117, -118.41

9. Center Point of:
       Greytsone Mansion - 560 ft or 170.7 m
       Woodlawn Cemetery -  140 ft. or 42.7 m
       Crestwood Hills Park - 700 ft or 213.4 m
10. UTM Zone 11
11. (37)63 Northing, 361.5 Easting
12. 1 km^2
13.

14. 14 degrees declination
15. Southwards flow
16.UCLA

Lab 1

Map 1 :

Link to article:http://medcitynews.com/2012/02/a-google-maps-glimpse-of-the-impact-of-the-medical-device-tax/

Link to interactive map:http://batchgeo.com/map/35b8aecb95e2d0d14e1892e94e21eabe

Fig 1: Companies against the medical device tax.

a) This interactive map was found on the medical news website MedCityNews.com. On the website, there was an article which highlighted the map and its creator John Eckberg, the spokesman for the Cook group medical device company. I have provided the link to the map as well as the article above the image.

b) The map shows the distribution of medical device companies in the United Stated which have petitioned Congress to repeal a controversial tax on medical device sales.  When the map is zoomed out, it clusters companies in groups based on geographic location. As you continue to zoom in or click on  specific clusters,smaller clusters and individual companies will appear.

c) I am a fifth year student and will be done with undergraduate courses in December. As someone planning to enter the workforce interested in the medical device industry, this new tax is very troubling.  The tax in question here is part of the ObamaCare initiative. Medical device companies will be taxed in order to help fund ObamaCare. The tax will be based off of sales, not revenues and will devastate these companies. Many have already announced lay-offs and I'm sure hiring will decrease industry-wide. As we all know, finding a job is not easy right now, and I do not want this tax to make it even more difficult for me.

Map 2:

 

 Link to map and article: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/blog/2010/04/forecast_6_years_til_home_prices_return_to_peak.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 2: housing recovery

 

 

a) This map was found on the website of the Baltimore Sun newspaper, baltimoresun.com. According to the article in the link above, the map was created by Fiserv and Economy.com.

b) This map is a prediction of when certain housing markets will make a full recovery and reach the prices they were at before the 2008 "Great Recession." Areas in red will be slow to recover and areas in blue will recover the most rapidly.

c) This map is interesting because unlike other housing price maps, which often show the percent change in price for some past time period, this map shows the number of years in the future until local housing markets will return to pre-recession peak levels. I am also curious to know why California, which is generally known for very high housing prices, is one of the slowest states to recover. Is it because the once-high prices allowed for bigger drops during the recession?

Map 3:

 

Link to maps and article: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670744/infographic-mapping-americas-fast-food-regions#1

 

a) This map was found on fastcodesign.com. This is a business and design website. It was created by Steve van Worley.

b) The top image is a map of the United States. The bottom image is just a close-up of the Western portion of the same map. I chose to single it out because it focuses on my home and current state, California. This map is an infographic map, meaning data or information is presented visually to the reader. This map displays data about fast-food hamburger restaurants around the country. Different color dots correspond to different fast-food chains. Red corrresponds to Burger King, black is McDonald's, purple is Jack in the Box, green is Carl's Junior, white is DQ, blue is Sonic, and yellow is Wendy's. 

c)We can see the certain parts of the country are more endeared to certain chains. Apparently, Jack in the Box is the California favorite. However, I'm disappointed that other chains, such as In N Out and Five Guys are not included in this map. I think Californians frequent In N Out more than a lot of other fast food burger restaurants in state.