Census 2000 Lab Exercise

The Black population across the US is larger than the other races mentioned later on in this blog. The dark red spots represent the percentages between 53 and 86. This means the black spots in the south eastern parts of the US have more than half the population. This is a very large number since every other person you observe here are black. This probably resulted because of the slavery that existed years ago in the US. Most of the black people still reside in the south eastern parts of the US.

The Asian population across the US is fairly small. Asians mostly reside on the west coast, but there are certain areas in the east coast that have an Asian population. The west coast Asian population resides mostly in California and Seattle. The dark red spots represent percentages between 20 and 46. We can kind of understand why this occurred since the west coast is closer to Asia than the east. As a result, we see more or a higher percentage of Asians in Hawaii since it is even closer.

This map shows the percentage of "some other race alone" population in the US. We see that California has a high percentage of this percentage, and the dark red colors represent the percentages between 22 and 39. The south central part of US also has a high percentage. However, the east coast has a very low percentage. Since light yellow is close to 0 percent, the east coast has nearly 0 percentage of this population.

The Census map series exercise was very interesting since it reveals the diversity of the US. If you look back into the history of the US, these results make sense. For example, the black population resides in the south eastern part since of slavery in the south. The Asian population mainly exists in the west coast since it is closer to Asia. By observing the Census, we can conclude and analyze results. It is a very useful tool to help understand more about the ethnicities of the US.

GIS and this class have taught me the significance of the GIS mainly. The GIS plays a very large role in deciding many factors in life and regulations. For example, on the last day of lecture I learned that GIS played a large role on public safety. By collecting data and analyzing the results, we can help avoid more accidents in areas of high death rates. The GIS helps us make spatial decisions and find causes of problems. The GIS is essential in the modern world today.

Week 8 Lab Exercise

This Map of LA County Station Fire shows the extent of the fire expanding as time goes by. On August 29th, 2009 we see a small area of fire, but by September 1st, 2009 the area of fire has multiplied. The fire was fully contained at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 16th, 2009.We can conclude that fire spreads very rapidly and takes a long time to contain. The date of origins is said to be on August 26th, 2009 at approximately 3:30 p.m. A total of 160,577 acres we destroyed as a result of the fire.

The second map on the right titled LA County Station Fire Thematic Map consists of many information. We shall analyze the affect or risk the spread of fire has on communities and natural areas such as parks. First of all, lets observe the parks or wildlife and trees that are endangered. We see that the center and the eastern part of the LA County consists the majority of parks. The Station Fire destroyed a large part of the wildlife already as we see in the map. It also overlaps the shaded park area colored light green, which means this area is destroyed. This seems like common sense, but fires tend to start where there are trees and this map indicates this theory.

After some research at the internet site (http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/forestfires/causesoffire.shtml) I learned some causes for forest fire. Fire needs fuel, oxygen, and heat to survive, and trees and bushes are a great source of this fuel. Therefore, as mentioned above parks help initiate and keep the fire alive. The cause can be either natural or by human. Natural forces such as earthquakes, thunder, and erupting volcanoes can cause fire. Humans setting trees or branches on fire with a lighter can also be a cause.

Going back to the second map, let us analyze the risk the station fire has on the community. The map consists of information about the airport, cities, and hospitals. The airports are very far away from the station fire, therefore it is not a problem. Airports are essential for transportation so the destruction of airports can be a problem. There are a few hospitals and cities that are near the borders of the station fire extent. This is definitely not a good thing since human casualties can arise. Cities are a place full of people and hospitals are significant to help the injured. There are many major cities and hospitals pretty far from the fire, but ashes cause by fire can still affect them. Forrest fire is never a positive thing and can cause injuries and sicknesses. It can cause sicknesses since the ashes inhaled by people can cause cancer. I also learned the risk of flooding and mudslides presented by scorched terrain left behind by the burning from the internet site (http://cbs2.com/goldstein/Station.Fire.Mudslides.2.1179087.html) This can be a problem for the nearby hospitals and cities as well.

The use of GIS can help us analyze these kinds of things. GIS specialists work with related software and programs to create and maintain data and/or maps that can be combined with geographically referenced data. These types of information can be used to predict the outcome of incidents that as station fires and help us make adjustments to fix these problems instantly. GIS is a very powerful tool to solve many types of problems including station fires.

Reference

http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm

http://gis.lacounty.gov/eGIS/?cat=11

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/

http://www.sacmetrofire.ca.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=138

http://cbs2.com/goldstein/Station.Fire.Mudslides.2.1179087.html

http://library.thinkquest.org/C003603/english/forestfires/causesoffire.shtml

Week 7 Lab Assignment

The area I was interested and chose is the Oahu Island of Hawaii. I will be going to visit Hawaii this winter break for the first time, so I believed it will be interesting to analyze this area. The coordinates are latitude : 21°26'20.08"N and longitude: 158° 0'0.20"W. The GCS North American 1983 is used here.

Shaded Relief Model

Slope Map Model




















Aspect Map Model

3D Image Model

Map Projections

There are several significances, perils, and potentials with map projections, and there are three types of map projects which include the conformal projection, equidistant projection, and equal area projection. Each projections listed above have their own strengths and weaknesses. Through this lab exercise, I was able to identify these, and the main question of this exercise was the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The first map projection is the conformal projection. The Mercator projection and WGS 1984 PDC Mercator projection are two examples of this. Conformal projections are significant since they conserve angular shapes. Using this projection, we can identify the shape of continents and countries efficiently. Nevertheless, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Conformal projections can not accurately conserve distance and area. Therefore, this is not a good projection to use to answer the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The second map projection is the equal area projection. The Cylindrical Equal Area projection and Sinusoidal projection are two examples of this. Equal Area projections are significant since they conserve area. Using this projection, we can calculate the area of countries and continents efficiently. However, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Equal Area projections can not accurately conserve distance and shape. Therefore, this is also not a good projection to use to answer the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.

The final map projection is the equidistant projection. The Equidistant Conic projection and Equidistant Cylindrical projections are two examples of this. Equidistant projections are significant since they conserve distance. Using this projection, we can calculate the distance between cities and countries. Nevertheless, there are weaknesses to this projection as well. Equidistant projections can not accurately conserve area and shape. Therefore, you will not use this projection to measure area and view shapes, but you will use this projection to calculate the distance between Washington D.C and Kabul.