Lab 3 : Neogeography

Here is my map of Lyon, France, which highlights where to discover the Roman and Renaissance past of the city, the most delicious gastronomic restaurants & cafés, and the best entertainment. All of the locations are from my own experience and memory as a student living in the city for a year.


View Abroad in Lyon, France in a larger map

This was my first time making a map online, and it was interesting to be able to recreate a place anywhere in the world online for others to experience (with photos, videos, and URLs). My map is like the ultimate photo album/scrapbook. Instead of just having photos and perhaps some hand-written descriptions of the places I discovered while abroad, I can add the geographic locations of each photo and videos as a way in which to interact with the places even after returning home. I can even show distances between places and map out walking routes and areas on the map. If I had seen a map like this before leaving for Lyon, I think I would have really appreciated it. But at the same time, it would perhaps have taken the fun out of discovering these places on my own, spontaneously.

Despite the possibilities Google Maps opens up, I found some problems with it. For example, the walking route is automatically drawn and it would not select the streets I wanted it to, and certain places (ie. cafés, landmarks) are marked on the Google Map but I have no idea how they were chosen and I think that many important places are left out while other not-so-important places are included. More importantly, the Google map doesn't show topography, which is really important in a city like Lyon, where the city is dominated by two large hills. These two hills are important to the city's past; combined with two prominent rivers, these topographical features played an important role in the choice of many ancient peoples to live there, including the Gauls in the 5th century BC. Due to both the possibilities and problems of Google Maps, I think there have been and will continue to be many consequences, both good and bad. One of the biggest consequences I see is that as more information is put online, less of it will exist in a tangible form. For example, sometimes I would prefer to sit down with an actual book than read it online. The same can go for a photoalbum or trip diary. I think that humans can find technology novel and appreciate it, but I think that we will still sometimes want to experience things tangibly, in reality, and so it's important to maintain a balance with the cyber world and reality.

Lab 2 : Topographic Maps

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

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?

1. Canoga Park, 2. Van Nuys, 3. Burbank, 4. Topanga, 5. Hollywood, 6. (Ocean), 7. Venice, 8. Inglewood.

3. When was the quadrangle first created?

1995.

4. What datum was used to create your map?

North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) and North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) [horizontal data] and Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 [vertical datum].

5. What is the scale of the map?

1 to 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?

x = 5cm * 24,000

= 120,000 cm. / 100

= 1,200 meters.

b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?

x = 5 in * 24,000

= 120,000 in.

120,000 in. / 12 in. = 10,000 ft.

10,000 ft. / 5,280 ft

= 1.894 miles.

c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?

1/24,000 mi = 1 mi on the ground
(1/24000) * 63360 in.
= 2.640 inches.

d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?

1km = 1000 m = 100,000 cm

100,000 cm * 3

= 300,000 cm / 24,000

= 12.5 cm.

7. What is the contour interval on your map?

20 feet.

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:

a) the Public Affairs Building;

Latitude - 34º4'28" N, or 34.0748º
Longitude - 118º26'35" W, or -118.439º

b) the tip of Santa Monica pier;
Latitude - 34º0'27" N, or 34.0075°
Longitude - 118º30'0" W, or -118.5°

c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir;
Latitude - 34º7'16" N, or 34.1211º
Longitude - 118º24'35" W, or -118.4097º
11/2 inches = 2'30" or 150"
1/2 inch (UFCR) = x"
150"/2 in. = 75" in. * (2/11 in.) = 13.6363"
34º7'30" - 13.64" = 34º7'16"
D + (7/60) + (16/3600) = 34.1211º

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:

a) Greyston Mansion (in Greystone Park);

580 ft.; 176.784 m.
1 ft = .3048 m
580 ft * .3048 m.
= 176.784 m.

b) Woodlawn Cemetery;
140 ft.; 42.672 m.
1 ft = .3048 m
140 ft. * .3048 m.
= 42.672 m.

c) Crestwood Hills Park;
680 ft.; 207.264 m.
1 ft = .3048 m
680 ft. * .3048 m.
=207.264 m.

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?

Zone 11.

11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map?

³61.5 Easting

³⁷63 Northing

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

1000 m. * 1000 m. = 1 million sq. meters.

13. 

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 water flows South.
16.