Lab 3 Neo Geography: My Own Map of Restaurants Options For My Girlfriend's Anniversary Date

View Restaurants Options For My Girlfriend's Anniversary Date in a larger map
Also, write a commentary (two paragraph minimum) about the pitfalls, potential and consequences of neogeography.

Neogeography has been blurring the line between the producers, communicators and consumers of geographic information. The new web 2.0 lets users interact between the world wide web. The relationship between professional and amateur is different across thi area. Geography is familiar to everyone, and the compilation of geographic data have become easier to obtain.
The new technology that is used for neo geography can be used by everyone from MapQuest to Google Maps, and it is a lot cheaper than buying a physical map. However I feel that as people are more dependent on virtual maps, they will also end up losing their sense of direction. People nowadays are very reliable on GPS systems and neogeographical technology that if it all stopped working, they would not have that good of a sense of direction and may end up being more lost than ever. I feel that the pitfalls of neo geography can include having information on the web that may not be as reliable. Since information can be volunteered by amateurs, the information may not be that reliable.
However, in the end i feel that neogeography and all associated technology will help direct people in their lives in a better and more efficient manner. It will give people the ability to have the world in their hands and they will be able to travel the world from their couch at home. It will also reduce the paper usages used in physical maps. The potential for neo geography is very beneficial for everyday uses, I know i use it almost every other day!

Week 2 Lab: USGS Topographic maps

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, Pacific Ocean, Venice and Inglewood

3. When was the quadrangle first created? 1966

4. What datum was used to create your map? NAD 27 and NAD 83

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?
1/24,000 = 5cm/D
D= 24,000 x 5 cm
120,000 cm
120meter

b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
1/24,000 = 5in/D
D= 24,000 x 5 inches
120,000 inches = ? miles
so 12 inches = 1 foot
120,000 inches = 10,000 feet
10,000 feet roughly 1.89 miles

c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
1/ 24:000 = D inches/ 1 mile
24,000 D in = 1 mile
1 mile = 5280 ft
D in = 63360 in. / 24000 in
D = 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?
Contour interval is 20 feet

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of: DO CALCULATIONS
a) the Public Affairs Building; 34-04.471 N , 118-26.354 W
degrees/minutes/seconds: 34-04.28.26 N , 118-26.21.24 W
decimal degrees: 34.0745166667 degrees N , 118.439233333 degrees W

b) the tip of Santa Monica pier; 34-00.446 N , 118-30.001 W
degrees/minutes/seconds: 34-00.28.25 N , 118-30.06 W
decimal degrees: 34.00743 degrees N , 118.500 degrees W

c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir; 34-07.235 N , 118-24.596 W
degrees/minutes/seconds: 34-07.14.1 N , 118-24.35.76 W
decimal degrees: 34.1205 degrees N, 118.409 degrees W

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park); 560 feet = 170.68800 meters
b) Woodlawn Cemetery; 140 feet = 42.67200 meters
c) Crestwood Hills Park; 800 feet = 243.84 meters

10. What is the UTM (Universal Transfer Mercador) zone of the map? Zone 11

11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map? 3,763,000 meters UTM north and 361,500 meters UTM east

12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines? 1,000,000 square meters in each cell OR 1 square km!

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

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

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

This image was courtesy of
http://www.nasa.gov/images/conte/403382main_portalBigPollution.jpg.
This map shows the carbon dioxide levels in the mid troposphere in the month of July in the year 2009. The levels of carbon dioxide have significantly risen in the past years on a human timescale and I find it interesting that our human influences can affect the global CO2 make up in such a drastic manner. While CO2 is found naturally, anthropogenic forces such as industry and automobiles have caused greater levels of carbon dioxide. I found that the website stated that "the United States accounted for almost 23 percent of all emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacture, by far the largest CO₂ contributor among nations. (China, with more than four times the U.S. population, is number 2.)" The red coloring over the US shows how the CO2 has high levels there due to industry, production, cars, and large cities.





The map from 1995 is courtesy of http://216.146.209.72/Publications/Reports/People_in_the_Balance/Interactive/peopleinthebalance/pages/?static=biodiversity and it depicts the estimated distribution of human population and the locations of the hotspots with high biodiversity and areas or major tropical wilderness. The hotspots are defined as the areas with the "most threatened of the species rich terrestrial areas of the world." I found this map interesting because it shows how the Los Angeles region, as well as many west coasts of continents, are considered to be areas of high biodiversity. I find this peculiar because Los Angeles is a major city and I would expect it to have low biodiversity considering that there is so much pollution and anthropomorphic disturbances.



This picture depict total ozone level of the world in the year 2002 in the month of January. This is another mapping courtesy of http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/additional/science-focus/ocean-color/ozone.shtml. This is of interest to me because the ozone hole that use to be apparent near the Antarctic in the 1970's and 19780's seems to have healed and the ozone seems to have been restored. The ozone hole was prevalent because of CFC's also known as chlorofluorocarbons came from hairspray or old refrigerators that would interact in the atmosphere to create chlorine which would eventually eat up the ozone. i find this map interesting because it shows that the Antarctic does not suffer from that problem anymore. The necessity of the ozone layer is to protect humans from harmful UVB radiation.