Week 3: Neogeography - Google Maps

View u. c. l. a. in a larger map

          Being so busy with classes and clubs I found myself being swept away by the culture defined and strictly limited to time efficiency; so, this map served as a reminder to stop and really look around. And as I set out to take all the pictures for this map, I was overcome by feelings of excitement and mystery that usually coincide with exploration. Simply making this map has let me see this campus in many new lights.  This map shows UCLA in a way that is, hopefully, new and exciting for many people. The points represent places or things; the line highlights the main streets that surround campus. It highlights little or lesser known things and places of UCLA that many people can easily overlook and underlines the theme that Professor Shin has made in class that these maps can show us how much we really don't know about a place. It also allows the user, ironically through a digital map, to appreciate the smaller things in life and not be swept away by never-ending deadlines. 
          Neogeography is exciting from the mapmakers point of view and it offers insight on a personal level. And that is why neogeography can be amazing. It can create maps filled with personal experiences and insights, and with this maps with such in-depth local analysis can be open to the public. These sorts of maps can be very useful on a local level. It is because of these same reasons that neogeographic maps can be misleading. Though these maps offer insight on a personal level, the information provided is most likely biased. As you can see with my own map, most of the points I made were very nature-like, with plenty of flora.  Since the information on neogeo maps can be biased, an uninformed user can easily misinterpret the map and the location it defines. Though neogeo maps have plenty of potential and pitfalls, it can certainly change the way people look at the world around them. 

Video Source: PokeWixKev826. (2009) [Youtube video] Video: "UCLA UC Regents Protest: 11/18/09, 11:34 A.M."    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahMlae-zB08
Picture Sources: Jessica Canet (2010) [All photographs] Album: u k l a. 
           http://s1027.photobucket.com/albums/y335/jeccacanet/u%20k%20l%20a/
URL Source: http://www.e3la.org/organic-garden-on-campus.html

Week 2: USGS

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?

          Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?

           Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, Inglewood

3. When was the quadrangle first created?

          1966

4. What datum was used to create the map?

          North American Datum (NAD) 1983 and National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGD) 1929

5. What is the scale of the map?

           1 : 24,000

6. a) 5 cm (map) : 1200 m (ground)

    b) 5 in (map) : 1.894 mi (ground)

    c) 1 mi (ground) : 2.64 in (map)

    d) 3 km (ground) : 12.5 cm (map)

7. What is the contour interval on the map?

          20 ft

8. a) Public Affairs Building:

          34° 4' 23" N     118° 26' 12" W

          34.073° N        118.437° W

    b) Tip of Santa Monica Pier:

          34° 0' 32" N     118° 30' 0" W

          34.009° N        118.50° W

    c) The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir

          34° 7' 11" N     118° 24' 32" W

          34.120° N        118.409° W

9. a) Greystone Mansion: 580 ft, 176.784 m

    b) Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 ft, 42.672 m

    c) Crestwood Hills Park: 700 ft, 238.56 m

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?

         11S

11. What are the UTM coordinates of the lower left corner of the map?

          3,763,000 N     361,500 E

12. How many square meters are contained in the cell of the UTM grid?

          1,00,000 m ²

^13.

14. What is the magnetic declination of the map?

           14 ° E, 249 mi E

15. In which direction does water flow in the intermittent stream between the 405 fwy and Stone Canyon Reservoir?

          The stream flows from North to South.

16.

Week 1: Mental Maps

2005 World Consumption Cartogram. mnn.com 9.29.10 [http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/blogs/types-of-environmental-impacts]

          I am an environmental science major and this map is very meaningful to me. It is a World Consumption Cartogram from 2005. It distorts the sizes of each country to show, relative to other countries, how much natural resources each country consumes on a per capita basis based on the 2005 Global Footprint Network. It comes as no surprise that the United States is stretched far beyond its normal means and other third world countries are extremely thinned. The peach colored countries are in an ecological deficit, the deeper progressive reds are in even more ecological deficit, meaning they are  consuming natural resources unsustainably. The beige neutral countries have no ecological deficit but neither do they have any negative ecological deficit (an ecological gain), their net ecological balance is 0. The green colored countries have a negative ecological deficit, which is positive, which means that they are producing more natural resources than they need. Needless to say, this map is very interesting to me, simply because the economics of ecological resources is intrinsically interesting to me. 

A Map of the Los Angeles Metro Green Line. Metro.net 9.29.2010 [http://www.metro.net/around/rail/green-line/

           This is a map of the Los Angeles Metro Green Line taken from Metro.net. It shows where the Green Line stops relative to LAX, and vaguely highlights where certain cities are. The stops are labeled with the street names and certain stops are specially labeled as they are transfer points to different lines. This map doesn't show it, but the Green Line travels along the 105 freeway and ends at the 605 freeway along with the 105 freeway. Though I suppose if one were to ride the Green Line, they wouldn't really need to know the freeways. This map isn't exactly interesting to me, but it is important to me because I endure an hour-long bus ride on the #6 Culver City Bus to reach the Aviation/LAX station then ride the Green Line all the way to the Norwalk Station to get home on some Fridays. 


 

Lightning Strike Density Map of the World. Modern Survival Blog. 9.29.2010 [http://modernsurvivalblog.com/weather-preparedness/lightning-strike-safety-preparedness/].

           This map is a Lightning Strike Density Map taken from ModernSurvivalBlog.com. It shows where and how often lightening strikes the earth. It shows that there's more lightning striking the earth at the lower latitudes than the higher latitudes and  either more recorded lightning or simply more lightning strikes occurring over the continents. The color legend on the right of the map shows what each specific color means in lightning strike density. I grew up in Southern California where lightning storms are somewhat sparse, and this past summer I vacationed in the Philippines where there were lightning storms every night. The lightning was amazing, so powerful and so quick. So, lightning has captivated me and therefore, I find this map interesting. I also find this map interesting because I don't understand why lightning strikes are concentrated over land as this map suggests; I believe that this map may be biased because lightning strikes may not be recorded over the ocean as diligently as they are recorded over land.