Week 4: Working with ArcGIS

I inserted my images as individual maps to allow me to stagger inputting them based on when I finished with each one. This proved to be beneficial to me, because the ones I finished and uploaded during week 4 weren't able to open during week 5 when I kept working on the project. One major pitfall that I ran into while working with ArcGIS was that the source of the information in a map has to be extremely organized. If a researcher was working on their own personal computer and did not have the task of moving files around, it wouldn't be as big of a hassle, but for me, working in a lab and then saving my files to a USB, the files were unorganized and the sources were lost, resulting in empty maps. I followed as many instructions as possible, yet I still ran into a bump.
Another pitfall of ArcGIS is that each step is so complicated and going back in the case of an error is difficult. Even after going through the program multiple times for this lab, I struggled with knowing exactly what I was doing when I was following the instructions. The terminology is very complicated and it would probably take me weeks or months of using the program daily to understand the big picture of what I was working with. Given that opinion of the program, I can appreciate the complicated and extremely important tasks it can complete when used by an expert.
Geographers use ArcGIS and other GIS programs to synthesize information in an extremely beneficial way. I see how important these processes are and the complicated nature of the program itself is understandable when seeing the amount of information it can bring together in countless ways.
Without GIS programs like this, a lot of information that is used to better our communities, cities, counties and countries would be much harder to come by. The process of creating a visualization to information that is otherwise numbers and tables is so useful, and those individuals that created this program and continue to learn more though it are true visionaries.

The real world of Curb Your Enthusiasm

The HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" starring Larry David uses countless shots of real L.A. locations. Going to UCLA, I've noticed many of these backgrounds around my own area. This map is a compilation of as many locations as I can find from specific Curb Your Enthusiasm scenes.


View The real world of Curb Your Enthusiasm in a larger map


Neogeography, or translated more literally, new-geography, is indeed just that. New. There are always positives and negatives about things that are "new", and this is true with neogeography. Traditional geographers seem to be generally more comfortable with the old ways. Old maps, old techniques, standard definitions and ways of doing things when it comes to the discipline they love and study. Neogeography opens a door of chaos into these standardized, traditional methods. Some forms of neogeography disregard data and facts they way that old geography cherished them. For instance, online maps like Google maps and mapquest turn traditional mapping into a more unspecific, generalized form. There is less accuracy, and less of an emphasis placed on accuracy. GPS's turn traveling into a thoughtless task.
Just last month, I went on a trip to Oregon with my dad. We had never been there before, and after we landed in Portland, we took out the GPS, inputted our hotel address in Eugene, 2 hours away, and watched the GPS screen guide us there. There was very little navigation involved, and from my experience, I can say that I don't remember names of places along the way like I might have if I had to study signs and search for our off ramp. In more personal experience, my grandpa is a retired teacher and principle and loves giving me little lessons, usually regarding a map. He has numerous atlas books and fold out maps that immediately remind me of the old geography USGS maps we've studied in lab. To me, "old" or traditional geography maps make me view the world as something much larger than neogeography. Looking at Google Earth, seeing the whole world and being able to zoom in anywhere versus looking at a 7.5 minute map which includes so much detail, for instance, buildings, elevation, and bodies gives very different impressions of our world. Thinking about how many 7.5 minute maps make up the earth make me think that the earth is a huge planet that would take years to study by quadrangle maps. Google Earth shows me the entire planet on a computer screen and is interactive.
A loss of what is considered traditional and safe and standardized seems scary and unwelcome, but the benefits of neogeography can't be ignored. These interactive online maps are giving people who would otherwise know nothing about geography a chance to explore the world they live in, albeit in somewhat inaccurate ways.

Week 2: The 7.5 minute map

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle
2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice and Inglewood are adjacent quadrangles.
3. The map was first created in 1966
4. National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1927 and the North American Datum of 1983
5. The scale is 1:24000
6. a) 1200 meters b) approx. 1.89 miles c) 2.64 inches d) 12.5 cm
7. 20 feet
8. a)Public Affairs Building- 37°4'26'' N, 118°26'20" W; 34.074N, 118.439W
b) Santa Monica pier- 34°0'28" N, 118°29'59" W ;34.008N, 118.499W
c) Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir- 34°07'10" N, 118°24'37"W; 34.119N, 118.410W
9. a) 581 ft, 177 m
b) 141 ft, 43 m
c) 636 ft, 194 m
10. UTM Zone 11 is used.
11. 3763000 northing and 362000 easting
12. 1,000,000 sq. meters (each side 1,000 meters)
13.

Intersection (West-East)	Elevation in feet
1	520
2	610
3	640
4	520
5	520
6	440
7	400
8	345
9	295
10	250
11	190
12	145

14. 14 degrees
15. The stream flows south
16.

Map Quest

This is a map of the number of women that identify themselves as a minority in the U.S. It was on the website for New America Foundation and the source is cited on the map itself. This map shows me that most of the women who considered themselves minorities live in either border states, like California and New Mexico, or in very densely populated states, like New York, which a high percentage of immigrants flock to. The midwest region of the U.S. has very few minority women. Alaska and Hawaii report large numbers of minority women, which makes sense to me because many native people like the Inuits and Hawaiians live in these states and have for centuries before white people came to America. I find that this map is interesting because it's a visualization of information that I have taken for granted and it makes me appreciate that I live in California which is rich with ethnic diversity.



This is a map of the prisons that are in California. Through Google, I found it on a blog that discusses the prison system in California. By looking at the map, it is obvious that the prisons are located in places where population is more dense, for the most part. I find this interesting because it would seem more logical to remove prisoners from populated areas and transport them to more remote locations, however I can also see reasons for keeping prisoners in cities. It is important to be near courthouses and the legal system, as many prisoners are still undergoing appeals. It is also interesting that there are so few juvenile prisons, and that they are not spread out, but in two clusters near Los Angeles and the Sacramento area. This could be because of population.



This map is of the foreclosures in the United States in 2007. The map was posted on the Belmont University website with an article about the extreme number of houses in foreclosure. It cites RealtyTrac, which is a firm that tracks residential properties in foreclosure and reports its findings. This map shows the density of bank foreclosures in the United States. I find it interesting because this map not only shows the areas with the most population density, but those areas that have significantly less money than other areas. In some cases, population density and a lower average income coincide. I was personally interested in this map because I work for a property management business that has considered purchasing property in foreclosure and just last month acquired a condo that was foreclosed.