Lab 8 - Fire Station

Land Use Urbanization

The Station Fire started in August 26 at the Angeles National Forest near the U.S. Forest Service ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway. It burned through an area of 650 km square, resulting in the death of two fire fighters. As shown in the reference map, the fire spread northwards from the original starting point. The fire progression rate intensified on August 30, but the fire barely progressed for the next two days before exhausting itself a few days later.

The theme I’ve decided to focus on is on how urbanization and terrain(slope) would affect the path and rate of fire progression. I’ve created maps that shows details on the progression of the fire in relation to the slope and land usage. The theme map on land use clearly shows that the urban area lies in the relatively flat areas south and west of Los Angeles. The north area is hilly and uninhibited. I chose this theme because I’m curious on how the spread of the fire can be affected by urbanization and terrain.

My first hypothesis is that urban areas acts as an effective barrier to the flames as modern concrete and steel structures that characterizes buildings in Los Angeles does not burn easily, depriving the fire a medium for progression. My second hypothesis is that the rate of progression of wildfire increases with a even terrain (where the slopes are more gentle). This is because the a rough terrain with steep slopes also acts as an barrier to the progression of flames. Flames spreads up-slope easily, but it is more difficult for a fire to spread down-slope.     

My first hypothesis is confirmed by the land use map I’ve generated. The land use map clearly showed that the fire just affected the fringes of the urbanised area. It did not spread far into the urbanized area. This is important information as it allows city planners to design effective fire breaks by developing infrastructure in between forested areas with a high fire risk. Though it's questionable on who will buy properties in such areas.

However, my second hypothesis is inconclusive. While the terrain(slope) map did show that the fire progressed at an increased rate on August 30, where the slopes are more gentle, it also showed that the rate of fire progression slowed drastically on the following days, where the land is relatively more flat. Hence, other factors may have caused the rate of fire progression to increase on August 30.

References:

1. “Current Fire Information.”, Californian Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

Web. 6 Dec. 2011

<http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_maps?incident_id=361>

2. "How Fire Works." How Stuff Works. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

<http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/fire1.htm>

3. "2009 Californian Wildfires." Wikipedia. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://earthsci.org/flooding/unit3/u3-03-04.html>.

4. Homes. "Angry fire' roars across 100,000 California acres" CNN-US. 31 August 2009. Web. 6 Dec 2011. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US.>

5. Adam Housley. "California’s Station Fire Surrounds Homes" Home - Fox News. 11 Sept 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2011. <http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/09/01/californias-station-fire-surrounds-homes/>

Lab 7 - US Census

This Choropleth map shows the concentration of Blacks by county in the United States in 2000. (Source: Census 2000) The map shows that the population of Blacks are mostly concentrated in the South-East sector of Continental United States; notably in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where Blacks accounts for more than half of the population in some counties. This demographic trend is most likely the direct result of slavery in the past. It seems most of African Americans in United States still resides at where their ancestors settled.

 

This Choropleth map shows the concentration of Asians by county in the United States in 2000. (Source: Census 2000) The map shows that the population of Asians are mostly concentrated in the West Coast of Continental United States and Hawaii in the Pacific. This is most notable in California and Hawaii, where Asians accounts for more than 20 percent of the population in some counties. This demographic trend is most likely the proximity of this territories to the Pacific Ocean and therefore, Asia. However, Asians are more evenly spread out throughout United States as compared to Blacks and Some Other Races. This might be due to the nature of Asians who likes to move around in search of better opportunities.

This Choropleth map shows the concentration of Some Other Races (95 percent being Hispanic or Latino) by county in the United States in 2000. (Source: Census 2000) The map shows that the population of Some Other Races are most concentrated in the West Coast and South West; notably in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where Some Other Race accounts for more than 9 percent of the population in most counties and exceeding 22 percent of the population in some counties. This demographic trend is most likely the result of the proximity of this area to Central and South America.

My experience with creating Choropleth maps based on US census data is really a rewarding one as it requires me to use all my previous lab experiences to create a useful map that clearly shows the demographics of different races in United States. As I’m a international student and unaware of the demographics of United States, and it came as a surprise to me that United States is not as homogeneous as I previously envisioned. In all three maps, the Midwest have the smallest concentration of minority races. The coastal regions seems to have more diverse populations compared to inland areas. The distribution also tells me that the descendants of early immigrants whom are minorities tend to stay near the location where their ascendants settled. 

My experience with GIS was highly informative and hands on. GIS is a vital tool for policymakers (most whom have a humanistic rather than scientific background) to rely on to analyse raw data. They can make better and more informed decisions with such spatial analysis tools. I’m very certain that this knowledge acquired will come in handy in my career when I return to Singapore to work in the government. It is definitely an rewarding experience to be able to gain such exposure.

Lab 6 - DEMs

Shown below are the 3D model, aspect map, slope map and shaded relief model of the San Francisco Bay Area. In the 3D model, the white and blue denotes elevation above the water body and the brown area denotes the water body. I chose SF Bay Area because it consists of both land terrains and water bodies and I’m curious of what the area would look like in a 3D model. The combined information from the maps and model provided a wealth of information about the terrain in SF Bay Area. For example, it provides a clear picture on how the land terrain would look like on the ground. It also shows slope gradient and elevation, making it is perfect for terrain analysis. 

Extent information (in decimal degrees):

Top edge: 38.126944443792 Degree

Bottom edge: 37.6891666659854 Degree

Left edge: -122.648888888802 Degree

Right edge: -122.138888888768 Degree

Geographic coordinate system: GCS North American 1983

Map Projections

 

Map projection is a process of mathematical conversion whereby a 3 dimensional world is transformed into a 2 dimensional world. Map projection is extremely useful as it allows us to stored data of our 3 dimensional world in a flat plane map. However, this transformation inherently causes distortions. The extend of this distortions depends on the way the map is projected. As shown in the above diagrams, the distances for Washington, D.C. to Kabul varies depending on the map projection.


No perfect map projections exist. Rather, there are thousands of different projections and each serves certain specific purpose only. Many of these map projections preserves certain properties of a 3 dimensional map. Some of these properties are shape, direction, area and distance. We need to be extremely careful in choosing the right type of projection for the job. For example, the World Azimuthal Equidistant projection, which preserves distance and direction from the center point, is used by radio operators to find out where to point their antennas to and what wavelength to use depending on the distance. The Mercator projection is used by navigators to plot their course as it preserves direction.

Note that the 2 equidistant projections presents vastly different distances. This is because the World Two Point Equidistant projection have two control points in which distances from any point on the map to the two control points are preserved. However in a World Azimuthal Equidistant projection, only distances and direction from the center of the map is preserved. Since neither Kabul nor Washington is at the center of the World Azimuthal Equidistant projection, the distances between the two cities is not preserved and hence inaccurate.

The preservation of specific map properties are not always important in map projections. Some commonly used projections do not preserve any properties of 3 dimensional maps. One example would be the Robinson Map projection. It is commonly used in textbooks in Singapore. The projection intentionally abandoned preserving any property for a compromise that results in a better world view. Maps may even be even be deliberately distorted for illustration or propaganda purposes. The preservation of metric properties may also not be as important in small area maps (ie. street maps etc.) as distortions are negligible.  

My ArcMap experience & Potential and Pitfalls of GIS

ArcMap is generally a user friendly software. It bares striking similarity to some other software used by the publishing industry such as Adobe In-Design and Page-Maker. The software developers have probably deliberately done so to make it easy for publishers to use the software. However, the instructions on the ArcMap tutorial are sometimes confusing as it sometimes does not match up with the software we’re using. It took me quite a while to figure out what’s going and familiarise myself with the software as a result.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is an extremely powerful tool for dissemination of information. It takes advantage of the fact that humans are far better at understanding pictographs than just words and numbers. It has a great deal of potential in enabling both the government and the citizen to make better decisions and inferences based on the vast amount of real time information available. GIS also stores historical data, making it an excellent tool for predicting future trend and consequences based on current and past changes. 

However, GIS has its pitfalls; GIS can be both used to inform and confuse. GIS works the best with accurate data. Due to the large amount of data presented in GIS, it is inevitable that some of the data stored may be incorrect or corrupted (sometimes on purpose). It is often very hard to find and identify these corrupt data. Another pitfall of GIS is that GIS is ultimately dependent on technology, which may not be reliable. While this may not seem to be an issue as GIS was not available at all in the past, the increasing reliance on GIS for both business and leisure have certainly made this a major issue.  

In my two years of service in the military, I’ve came to the realisation that Murphy’s Law (Anything that can go wrong will go wrong) definitely applies in GIS when I went into the field for an exercise with no maps (by order). It was a 3 day mission to test the effectiveness of Singapore’s new network centric warfare system whereby we were given tablet computers which gave updated real time information on ‘enemy’ positions. Perhaps due to the high heat and humidity, each of the 10 hour battery lasted only for 4 hours. I have to use hand drawn maps in the end. It is a sobering situation that people today have lost much of their map reading and navigational skills due to advancements in GIS technology. I think that the ability for a person to be able to navigate instinctively on a traditional map is extremely important. However, there is a great deal of potential of GIS with advancements in technology and its benefits cannot be ignored. 

Lab 3 - Neogeography

View Singapore's East Coast Bike Tour in a larger map



Singapore is a highly urbanized nation. Yet, it is also a beautiful tropical island with numerous parks and gardens. The most beautiful parks in Singapore are East Coast Park and Pasir Ris Park. Embedded above is a cycling route beginning with East Coast Park and ending at Pasir Ris Park I’ve used during my stay in Singapore.

Pitfalls of Neogeography

One for the most obvious pitfalls of neogeography is that anyone can make the map. Most of these “mappers” are generally not trained in mapping. Hence, it is often quite difficult to tell if the maps are accurate. However, this problem can be adverted by enabling neogeographers to draw their maps with an accurate map as its base, as used by Google's My Maps. This also enables users to easily check for errors on the mash-ups by comparing it to the base map.

Another consequence of neogeography is loss of privacy and security. In Singapore, there were incidents in which national servicemen released restricted information on camp activities and troop movements via the Internet through mash-ups. Privacy may also be a concern, especially when photos and videos uploaded are made available to everyone. Google have attempted to resolve this problem through blurring faces and car plate numbers on it’s street-view application. However, it is still unable to control the massive amount of information net users upload on its network. In my view, the best solution to this problem is through public education and self censorship.

Week 2 Lab 2: USGS Topographic maps

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?

Beverly Hills

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 your map? 


National Geodetic Vertical Datum

5. What is the scale of the map?


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?


1200 m

b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?


1.89 miles

c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?


2.64 inches

d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map? 


12.5 cm

7. What is the contour interval on your map?


20 feet

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
a) the Public Affairs Building

North: 118 degrees,  28 minutes, 34 seconds  118.48 degrees
West: 34 degrees 4 minutes, 22 seconds  34.07 degrees

b) the tip of Santa Monica pier;

North: 118 degrees,  00 minutes, 25 seconds 118.01 degrees
West: 34 degrees, 30 minutes, 34.50 degrees 

c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;

North: 118 degrees,  05 minutes, 54 seconds 118.10 degrees
West: 34 degrees, 27 minutes, 15 seconds 34.45 degrees

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park); 


550ft  168m

b) Woodlawn Cemetery;


140ft  43.7m

c) Crestwood Hills Park;


800ft  244m

10. What is the UTM zone of the map? 


Zone 11

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


361500m East, 3763000m North

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

1000 000 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? 

14 degrees East

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

South

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