Lab 7: Station Fire and My Map Interpretation

The Station Fire extended northwards and in uphill direction. When I researched from Wikipedia, I am shocked to know that the fire was the largest and deadliest of the California wildfires in 2009, burning 251 sq miles. The Station Fire burned on the slopes of Mount Wilson, threatening numerous television, radio and cellular telephone antennas on the summit, as well as the Mount Wilson Observatory. It started in the Angeles National Forest near the U.S. Forest Service ranger station on the Angeles Crest Highway. The blaze threatened 12,000 structures in the National Forest and the nearby communities of La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock and Altadena, as well as the Sunland and Tujunga neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles (Wikipedia).

My hypothesis for this incident is that fire tends to move towards uphill direction. As we can see from the temporal pattern from August 29 to September 2 on the map above, the fire expands its size from the lower to upper elevation. This can be proved by the hillshade which provides us a visualization of the slopes and aspects. One possible reason for the upward movement of the fire is that warm air and gas tend to rise. It is because they have lower density and thus less heavy. Besides lower density of warm air, the dry weather of California also facilitates extension of fire.  

In addition, the fire happened next to the network of highway. Thus, there might be a chance that a driver threw out his or her used cigarette from the car, which burned the nearby dry vegetation and caused the fire. Moreover, Relief work for the people who are suffered from the fire would be convenient. It is because there are lots of hospitals and freeways around the area. 

According to the map, I also indicate that the fire covered Angeles National Forest and some LA country parks. This implies that the fire damage lots of vegetations. Therefore, it caused tremendous environmental detriment. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, "the secondary effects of wildfires, including erosion, landslides, introduction of invasive species, and changes in water quality, are often more disastrous than the fire itself." Lost vegetation and exposure of bare ground increase the risk of flooding and debris flow. "Sediment, burned debris, and chemicals affect water quality" (Suite101).

Furthermore, wildfires worsen air quality. When inhaled, smoke and ash can cause negative and lasting health effects, including lung disease. On the other hand, wildfires may have some environmental advantages. The Department of the Interior mentioned that "Many species depend on wildfires to improve habitat, recycle nutrients, and maintain diverse communities." However, the destructions related to the fire outweigh benefits. The chemicals used to battle fires are also perilous to natural world (Suite101).

Works Cited

2009 California Wildfires. Wikipedia. 1 November 2010. 25 November 2010.    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires>

Map Share. UCLA. 18 February 2009. 25 November 2010. <http://gis.ats.ucla.edu//Mapshare/Default.cfm>

Maps & GIS. Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning. 2009. 25 November 2010. <http://planning.lacounty.gov>

Parent, Jason. “North American Wildfire-Causes and Prevention.” Suite101.com. 3 September 2009. 25 November 2010. <http://www.suite101.com/content/north-american-wildfires-causes-and-prevention-a144814#ixzz15lkuJoS3>

The National Map Seamless Server. USGS. 30 September 2010. 25 November 2010. <http://seamless.usgs.gov/website/seamless/viewer.htm>

Lab 6 DEMs in ArcGIS

         I selected the approximate area of Sequoia National Forest. The map’s spatial reference is NAD 1983 UTM Zone 11 N and the central Meridian is -117. The forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The national forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia trees which populate 38 groves within the boundaries of the forest. It also covers 1,787.87 square miles (4,630.55 km²), and ranges in elevation from 1,000 feet (300 m) in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to over 12,000 feet (3,700 m).The full extent of the area I posted is around -118.9014 degree for the left, -118.4361 degree for the right, 36.1952 degree for the top, 35.8693 degree for the bottom. Its columns and rows are 1463x1255. Its cell sizes X and Y are both 28.2525103 meters. There is only one band. Moreover, the area’s grid format is continuous source type. The slope map's mean is 18.96, while hillshade map’s mean is 170.208. Furthermore, the aspect map’s mean is 189.9564. Last but not least, I exaggerate the 3D map by multiplying 10 times with a base height of 10000, resulting in 100000 for Z unit conversion.

Lab 4 Introducing ArcMap

            

This was my first time to use ArcGIS, so I carefully followed every instruction from ArcGIS tutorial to prevent mistakes. In the beginning, I felt unfamiliar to use Arc catalogue to move files and export them. However, I had been able to copy the lab files correctly into my folder using Arc Catalogue. After a long process of trials and errors, I considered that the funniest part of this whole assignment was to see my final product, which increased my sense of satisfaction.  I was delighted about learning how to add and edit map elements, display and visualize attributes, manipulate fundamental spatial statistics and manual editing, and layout the map. These skills and knowledge are definitely valuable for my future to edit geographical data.

Through doing this assignment, I understand that ArcGIS consists of an optimized map service that allows us to produce high-performance dynamic maps. I noticed that map quality is good, and storage is efficient. Moreover, the software lets users easily share geographic content, such as maps, data, and layers. ArcMap data, such as a thumbnail, the extent, and spatial reference, is an easy-to-share package. Layer packages can be shared via e-mail or DVD or placed on network drives.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) benefit organizations of almost every industry. There is a growing interest in and awareness of the economic and strategic value of GIS, in part because of more standards-based technology and greater awareness of the benefits demonstrated by GIS users. First, GIS save costs because of greater efficiency. For instance, they encourage labor savings from automating or improving a workflow.  An example of labor saving by GIS is Sears, which implemented GIS in its logistics operations and has seen dramatic improvements.  Sears considerably reduced the time it takes for dispatchers to create routes for their home delivery trucks by about 75%. Another potential of GIS is better decision making about location. Common examples are environmental conservation, natural resource extraction, zoning, planning, real estate site selection, route/corridor selection, etc. Next, GIS-based maps help understanding situations and story-telling. It improves communication between different teams, departments, disciplines, professional fields, organizations, and the public. Furthermore, the system provides better geographic information recordkeeping with full transaction support and reporting tools. Furthermore, GIS have become essential to understand what is going on in government and many large corporations, including briefings about various geographic patterns and relationships of land use, crime, the environment, and defense/security situations. Finally, GIS implemented as enterprise information systems.  The systems are transforming the way that organizations manage their assets, serve their customers, make decisions, and communicate. Examples in the private sector include forestry and oil companies, and most retail businesses. Their assets and resources are now being maintained as an enterprise information system to support day-to-day work management tasks and provide a broader context for assets and resource management.

On the other hand, geographic information systems have injustices in assessing environmental health and equity. They also expose disproportion of certain populations to environmental hazards. Unresolved issues in mapping environmental equity and health are due to a lack of comprehensive hazards databases, insufficient realistic methodologies for determining the geographic extent of exposure and the characteristics of the affected populations, and the paucity of health assessment data. Since a spatial frontier may be overlaid on areas where peripheries are not well defined, some animals may not be distinguished in these margins. Therefore, GIS map may not fully represent the invasion of an ecosystem successfully. Another pitfall of GIS is that terrorists could possibly use GIS to detect high risk areas, commit crimes, and harm specific locations. Therefore, GIS has both good and bad sides. One should apply the systems carefully.

Lab 3: Create my own map =) Fun Eastern Washington Road Trip

View Fun Eastern Washington Road Trip in a larger map

      As for the potential of neogeography, online interactive maps assists to extend information rapidly and straightforwardly. User-created maps are well-organized methods of assigning important information to people who dislike a paper maps. Moreover, neogeography lets us share our individual analysis of the same geographical area. The individualized maps also add a social understanding of the vicinity. However, this extensive data source holds some risks according to how the data is explained and applied. 

      Because these types of maps can be edited with no trouble and they look proficient, they may endow with misinformation. People would be misinformed into trusting the wrong data. Furthermore, the fact that the advanced programming does all of the thinking for the users may lead to a dilapidation in users’ investigative skills. Another drawback of neogeography is a threat to privacy and security. Neogeography allows for an exchange of personal information among the crowd, such as sexual orientation and political alliance. This implies that people can be targeted for crimes. Last but not least, if we over-rely on online maps, we may get lost if the area does not have internet access on the way of our trips. Therefore, paper maps are still worthwhile and reliable to be used in addition to google or yahoo maps. 

Lab 1 Where I live in my life =)

This assignment will be finding three interesting maps and writing one paragraph about each map. I also need to identify the source of the maps, describe the maps, and discuss what I find interesting about the maps. Therefore, I found 3 maps online, which are closely relating to my life.

Map 1

Source: California City Poputlation Map, Californiamaps.us. Accessible at http://www.californiamaps.us/California-Major-City-Map.html 10:45am, Oct 1st, 2010

   This map is about California population. Most people live in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San diego. This illustrates that these are major areas in CA. The map implies that CA's five largest cities are Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, and Long Beach, and its capital is Sacramento. 


   I found this map interesting because I am now living in LA, which is one of the largest cities in CA. I learn more about population growth in CA. California's population growth includes natural increase and international immigration. A high population density may create the problems of traffic congestion, pollution, and crimes. However, more people bring more transactions and financial activities. I enjoy living in LA now, but traffic jam here is really serious.



Map 2

Souce: Washingington Road Map, Geology.com. Accessible at http://geology.com/cities-map/washington.shtml  11:47am, Oct 1st, 2010


   This map is about roads in Washington state (WA). As we can see from the map, Washington's North-South interstates include Interstate 5 and Interstate 205, while its East-West interstates are Interstate 90 and Interstate 82. Moreover, Route 2, Route 12, Route 97, Route 101, Route 195 and Route 395 are US Highways and State Routes in Washington. Cities with populations over 10,000 are Aberdeen, Anacortes, Auburn, Bellevue, Bellingham, Bremerton, Burien, Camas, Centralia, Kennewick, Des Moines, Edmonds, Ellensburg, Everett, Federal Way, Issaquah, Kelso, Kent, Lacey, Lakewood, Longview, Marysville, Moses Lake, Mount Vernon, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, Oak Harbor, Pasco, Port Angeles, Pullman, Redmond, Renton, Richland, Seattle, Shoreline, Spokane, Sunnyside, Tacoma, University Place, Vancouver, Walla Walla, Wenatchee and Yakima.


    I like this map because it shows all the cities' names and boundaries in WA. I lived in there for 2 years, and I stayed mainly at Bellevue and Seattle. I can calculate the land area of WA from this map, which equals to around 66,544 square miles.Many people may misunderstand that Seattle is Washington's capital, but Olympia is truly the capital of the state. Because of the rainy weather in WA which facilitates plants' growth, WA's nickname is  Evergreen State.

Map 3

Souce: Overview of Tropical Cyclones in August 2010, Hong Kong Observatory. Accessible at http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/tc2010/tc1008.htm 12:05 pm, Oct 1st, 2010


     This map is about tropical cyclones around Hong Kong. Amongst the five cyclones, Lionrock necessitated the issuance of tropical cyclone warning signals in Hong Kong. According to the map, Lionrock formed as a tropical depression over the northern part of the South China Sea about 600 km south-southeast of Hong Kong on 28 August and moved northwestwards. It intensified into a tropical storm the next day and turned to the north.

Being a Hong Kong citizen, I feel that one of HK's specialities is having typhoons.Therefore, this map is interesting to me. When  I saw this map, I  got more familiar with  five tropical cyclones formed over the western North Pacific and South China Sea in August 2010. Furthermore, it indicates clearly about the longitude and lattitude of the cyclones. Therefore, this map is a very useful tool to show me the locations of the cyclones.      I was spending my summer vacation in HK during that time. It is usually hot and humid during summer in the city. Honestly, I do not enjoy rainstorms.  The issuance of tropical cyclone warning signals caused by Lionrock prohibited me from joining outdoor activities with my friends. As a result, I just stayed at home and did nothing.