Lab 3: Neogeography

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Neogeography

As our technological world moves forward, neogeography is becoming a powerful and popular tool. Neogeography allows us users to create and share maps we find interesting and relevant with our friends. This can create a fun bonding experience between individuals. Websites like Yelp and other social sites also use the concept of neogeography to help users locate places based on other people's posts. This is useful because it gives users access to information about nearly any place around them. Often, any type of information can be found in one spot in a very organized and concise manner. Furthermore, neogeography increases awareness about geography since anyone can learn to create maps by watching very simple tutorials on sites like YouTube. Therefore, neogeography allows everyone to contribute to the development of our digital world.

Nevertheless, there are several disadvantages to neogeography as well. For instance, since neogeography is user-centric and user-generated, it can provide a large amount of unreliable information. This can have severe consequences if other people use that unreliable and false information to plan trips. The fact that it is user-generated also means that professionals are not needed to create a map. However, a lot of people do not know how to create useful and effective maps and can often include too much information that can overwhelm other users. On the other hand, they may also lack too much information, which can confuse other users. There is also the security and privacy issue. Neogeography allows anyone to track one's location, which can be very dangerous. Lastly, the expansion of our digital world also results in less exploration in the real world. People can now explore places online in a surprising amount of detail. First-hand experience and exploration with places can potentially become obsolete.

The Beverly Hills Quandrangle

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?
The name of the quadrangle is the Beverly Hills quadrangle.

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
The adjacent quadrangles are the following:
-Canoga Park
-Van Nuys
-Burbank
-Topanga
-Hollywood
-Venice
-Inglewood

3. When was the quadrangle first created?
The Beverly Hills quadrangle was first created in 1966.

4. What datum was used to create your map?
The datum used to create this map was the the North American Vertical Datum of 1927 (NAD27) and the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83).

5. What is the scale of the map?
The scale of the map is 1:24000.

6. At the above scale, answer the following:
a) 5cm. on the map is equivalent to how many meters on the ground?
5cm x 24000/1 x 1m/100cm = 1,200 meters.

b) 5in. on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
5in x 24000/1 x 1mi/63360in = 1.894 miles.

c) One mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
1 mi x 1/24000 x 63360in/1mi = 2.64 miles.

d) Three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?
3km x 1/24000 x 100000cm/1km = 12.5 centimeters.

7. What is the contour interval on your map?
The contour interval on this map is 20 ft.

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
a) The Public Affairs Building
The geographic coordinates are 34.0750ºN = 34º04'30''N and 118.4386ºW = 118º26'19''W
      Work:
          34º + (04' + 30'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 34.0745ºN
          118º + (26' + 19'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 118.4386ºW
         
b) The tip of the Santa Monica pier
The geographic coordinates are 34.0078°N = 34°00'28''N and 118.5000°W = 118º30'00''W
 Work:
          34º + (00' + 28'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 34.0078ºN
          118º + (30' + 00'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 118.5000ºW


c) The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir
The geographic coordinates are 34.1042°N = 34°06'15''N and 118.4108°W = 118°24'39''W

Work:
          34º + (06' + 15'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 34.1042ºN
          118º + (24' + 39'' x 1'/60'') x 1º/60' = 118.4108ºW
         

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park)
The elevation is approximately 570 feet or 173.74 meters.

b) Woodlawn Cemetery
The elevation is approximately 140 feet or 42.67 meters.

c) Crestwood Hills Park
The elevation is approximately 720 feet or 219.456 meters.

10.What is the UTM zone of the map?
The UTM zone of the map is zone 11.

11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map?
The UTM coordinates are 3763000 meters northing and 362000 meters easting.

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

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?
The magnetic declination is 14 degrees.

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

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

Andrea Castillo: Places I Call Home

 

 This is the map of Peru, the place where I was born and where most of my family comes from. This map can be found from the source listed following this paragraph. This particular map of Peru is a bit ambiguous. It gives a sense of direction since anyone can easily see and recognize the countries around Peru. Some of these include Ecuador, Brazil, and Chile. At the same time, this map does not show Peru's location in relation to the rest of the world and continents. Furthermore, this map shows some of the geographic content of this particular country. It tells us that Peru  is divided into the following three regions: the coast, the highlands, and the jungle ("Peru: Geography"). This map further shows us some key cities and places within the country. I found this map to be interesting because it reminds me of the time I lived in Peru and traveled almost all around the country. When I was younger, I used to think Peru was enormous mainly because its three regions result in different climates and landscapes. It is very interesting how having different geographical aspects within a certain place can make that place appear larger than it actually is. Now that I live in the United States, I realize that Peru's "vast" land is not even as big as Alaska ("Peru: Geography"). Also, the ambiguity I explained about the map in addition to the spotlight effect applied on the map work to make Peru look much larger.

Image Source: Peru Map. N.d. Map. Bugbog Travel Guides and PicturesWeb. 2 Oct 2012. <http://www.bugbog.com/maps/south_america/peru_map.html>.
Text Source: "Peru: Geography." The World Factbook. CIA, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pe.html>.

 

Glendale, as shown by the map above, was my second home. I found this image at the City of Glendale home page. While this map reveals a number of places around Glendale, Glendale is the focus of the map because it is placed in the center of the image with red star. This map also shows some of the mountainous areas surrounding Glendale by making the landscape appear like crumbled paper. Furthermore, the numerous cities and freeways show the proximity and availability of Glendale to other places around Los Angeles. The map also shows some main streets, which I find interesting because I would personally remove some and add others. It is interesting how the focus of the map is Glendale yet none of the main streets named are in Glendale. However, the number one aspect of this map that catches my attention is the freeways because when I am out somewhere, I like to be able to know where nearby freeways are located. I specifically like the fact that this map contains the several freeways surrounding Glendale because it shows what a great location Glendale is. Observing this map sparks my interest because regardless of how many times I look at it, the freeways are always what I initially notice.

 Glendale Quality of Life Indicators: Geography. N.d. Map. n.p. Web. 2 Oct 2012. <http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/planning/qol/indicators09/1_location_people/geography.asp>. 

       
Lastly, UCLA is the third place I call home. In the map, UCLA is not shown in detail, but the map does show some key locations such as the sculpture garden and Dickson Plaza. The map does not focus on the places around UCLA but rather on the location with respect to surrounding streets, especially the big ones. The map is well color-coded, for the yellow lines show the main and busy streets while the smaller streets are not named but only laid out. Furthermore, the map is so zoomed-in that only one freeway--the 405--is shown. Also, some of the local neighborhoods appear. What I find interesting is that this map looks like it could only be for directions. However, there are no smaller streets named in this particular map. Being on campus almost every day, I can see how inefficient a map like this can be for someone trying to get to a key spot on campus. Nonetheless, I do see how this map can work to get a general feel of the area around campus. I like that this map serves as a good reminder of the main streets to the people already familiar with the area.

NanoCAD Electrical Engineering, UCLA. N.d. Map. n.p. Web. 2 Oct 2012. <http://nanocad.ee.ucla.edu/Main/Contact>.