Lab 7 Assignment

Wildfires devastate the vegetation, property, and financial state of California. California used to have a typical “fire season” lasting from June to October, but more recently it seems that the fire season lasts year round. California’s worst wildfire occurred in October of 2007. These wildfires caused the largest evacuation in the history of California when 1,000,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes. The fires were so bad that Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and George Bush ordered federal aid to help fight the fire and help California. These fires left 9 dead, 85 injured, and 1,500 homes destroyed.

More recently, the Los Angeles County Station Fire of 2009 burned through LA. This fire was the largest of all the wildfires in California in 2009 and the tenth largest in California’s history. It lasted from August 26 to October 16—outside of the typical “fire season” and burned 251 square miles of land and destroyed 89 homes. It cost California $93.8 million dollars and took the lives of two fire fighters.

As shown on the second map, the Station Fire burned through Angeles National Forest, a park in LA County. The fire began in the forest by arson. It spread rapidly due to decades of fuel buildup, with lots of dead shrubbery and trees, and drought. Furthermore, brush strands were so thick and high that firefighters had difficulty accessing the fire, and consequently, it spread to a greater degree. After the fire ended, measures were taken to restore areas of the forest to how it used to be.

The second map also shows hospitals that were nearby the Station Fire. It is important to know which hospitals are close to wildfires in case a hospital needs to be evacuated or if injured people need to get to a hospital. For example with the Station Fire, one firefighter suffered a femur injury and had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital.

In conclusion, wildfires are an enormous problem in California. Not only do they destroy the national forests, but they injure and kill firemen and civilians, destroy property, and cost California millions of dollars. Knowing the nearby locations of hospitals is important in saving lives and implementing strategies to prevent the hospitals from suffering from fire damage. As fires become fiercer and more frequent in California, we need to better understand how to study them, map them, and prevent them.

References

Wikipedia contributors. "October 2007 California wildfires." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.

Wikipedia contributors. "2009 California wildfires." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Nov. 2010

"Station Fire". InciWeb (United States Forest Service). September 4, 2009. http://inciweb.org/incident/1856/. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

“Fire and Aviation Management.” United States Department of Agriculture. November 13, 2009. http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5167212.pdf. Retrieved November 23, 2010

“Station Fire 38% Contained: Evacuations Ordered.” Los Angeles Times. September 3, 2009. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-38-contained-evacuations-ordered.html. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

Lab 6 Assignment

1. The following is the extent information of my area in decimal degrees: Top = 34.306388888 N; Left = -118.835277777 W; Right = -118.561666666 W; Bottom = 34.1202777769 N. The spatial reference is the GCS North American 1983. The area I chose is located in Southern California. More specifically, my area includes the mountains of Simi Valley, the 118 freeway, and part of Rocky Peak Park. On the east, this area extends into Chatsworth and Northridge. I chose this region because I liked the mountainous terrain and steeply sloping hills that it contained. The following maps portray different characteristics of my area (relief, slope, and aspect). The final map is a 3D portrayal of the area.

Lab 5 Assignment

         Map projections are an essential part of ArcGIS and the creation of complex and detailed maps. However, like all technology, there are both large benefits and potential pitfalls and inaccuracies to the features of the software. The main benefits arise from an increased amount of information available via the creation of 2D maps, whereas the main pitfalls are inaccuracies and limits to what projections can do.

        The benefits of map projections are endless. First and foremost, they allow for the 3-dimensional earth to be viewed in 2 dimensions. This allows for a model of the earth to easily be folded up and carried around. Consequently, a road map can be carried with one in the car, a campus map can be carried with one around school, etc. It obviously would not be practical to always be carrying a globe or 3-dimensional projection of the earth around. Projections also allow the entire earth to be viewed at once, unlike on a globe, in which only around two-thirds of the earth can be viewed at once. In addition, map layers created by projections can be overlayed, and each layer can show different data. Consequently, large amounts of information can be shown on a single map.

        However, no map projection is a completely accurate representation of the earth, and this is the main pitfall of projections. Map projections either distort the distances between locations on the earth, the areas of certain places on the earth, or the angles between different locations on the earth. Consequently, depending on the projection used, a country that in reality is larger than another country might appear to be smaller. Or, two locations that in reality are very far apart might appear to be fairly close to one another on the projection. Normally, a map projection can only preserve one of the three previous qualities (distance, area, or angles). However, even equidistant map projections don't completely conserve distance--distance is only conserved in a certain direction. In addition, if two maps stem from different projections, they cannot be layered on top of each other because boundaries between countries and features would not align properly.

        Despite its inaccuracies, map projections comprise the core of cartography. Without them, maps would not exist. By using a combination of equidistant, equal area, and conformal projections, one can get a good idea of the layout of the earth. If a projection is used in combination with a globe, one can get an even better idea of the locations of the features of the earth. All in all, without map projections, many things we take for granted, such as GIS, road maps, and sailing the seas, would not be possible.

Lab 4 Assignment

My ArcMap experience was very positive, especially on my third time completing the tutorial. Initially, I found the program confusing and it was tedious to complete the entire tutorial. The third time completing the tutorial, however, went much more quickly, and I made fewer errors and more thoroughly understood what exactly I was doing. I began to understand how I could apply the techniques used to future mapping exercises.

The tutorial helped me to understand the enormous potential of ArcGIS. It can model future geographical plans, show how noise affects a spatial area, predict the outcomes of various policies, etc. It can easily zoom in and zoom out of maps, show various layers of a map, automatically create legends and scales, and can even graph data. It is also very visually appealing—background colors can be used, shadows can be added to maps, fonts can be changed, and items and features can easily be moved around on the map.

The numerous functions of ArcMap lead to an infinite number of different types of maps, graphs, and layouts that are possible; however, this can also lead to confusion and a lack of a standardized and regulated way to map—a pitfall of ArcGIS. In other words, sometimes there can be too many options. If all maps aren’t made in a structured and regulated way, it might be hard to draw comparisons between maps. It can be overwhelming to decide a certain color, line, shape, or chart when there are so many to choose from. In addition, since ArcMap is a computer program, it is destined to crash and for work to be lost.

Overall, I believe the potential of ArcGIS far outweighs the pitfalls. My ability to quickly pick up on simple ArcGIS techniques after only three tutorial trials shows that it is a fairly straightforward and easy-to-understand program. As long as there are guidelines and rules for professional maps, ArcGIS will serve as an excellent tool for graphing and mapping in the future, just as it does today.