Lab 3 - Neogeography

View Semester at Sea Fall 2012 in a larger map

Neogeography is very useful because one can share practically anything about anywhere to anyone. In my case, my map  can give my friends and family a better idea of where I will be going and what I will be doing while on Semester at Sea. Being able to put in pictures and videos is a great way for people to visualize what the location looks like other than on a map and can give great background information. Neogeography is continuing to be developed  and has so much potential in our technology-driven world. Soon we will probably be able to integrate our My Maps into Global Positioning Systems and share the maps through those devices. One consequence of neogeography, though, is the potential lack of privacy. If everyone is making maps with their home labeled right on it and a vacation mapped out, it will not be hard to tell where they live or where they are going. People who use the My Maps feature and other neogeography tools should be sure to be careful with who they are sharing their map with.

Though there are definite benefits of neogeography, there are some pitfalls that could be worked on. For example, I had trouble embedding my YouTube video into my map. Even my friends that are computer science majors could not figure it out. Eventually I realized that I had to use a completely different code than what I was given. In addition to the video problem, drawing the line for my trip was difficult to do because there was no way to extend the line after I accidentally ended it. Technological discouragements like this are expected to happen and hopefully will soon be fixed so that neogeography can become even more advanced.

Lab 2 - USGS Topographic Map of Beverly Hills

1.  The name of the quadrangle is the Beverly Hills Quadrangle.

2.  The names of the adjacent quadrangles are Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood.

3.  The quadrangle was first created in 1966.

4.  The horizontal datum used to create this map is the North American Datum of 1927 and the North American Datum of 1983. The vertical datum used to create this map is the National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929.

5.  The scale of the map is 1:24000.

6.   a) 5 cm x (1 m/ 100 cm) x 24000 = 1200 m

     5 cm on the map is equivalent to 1200 meters on the ground.

b) 5 in. x (1 ft./12 in.) x (1 mile/5280 ft.) x 24000 = 1.894

     5 inches on the map is equivalent to 1.894 miles on the ground.

c) 1 mile x (63360 in./ 1 mile) x (1/24000) = 2.64 inches

     1 mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map.

d) 3 km x (100000 cm/1 km) x (1/24000) = 12.5 cm

     3 km on the ground is equivalent to 12.5 cm on the map.

7.  The contour interval on the map is 20 feet.         

8.   a) Public Affairs Building:

     34° 04’ 28” N, 118° 26’ 21” W

     34.075, -118.439°                             

b) Tip of Santa Monica Pier:

     34° 00’ 25” N, 118° 29’ 52” W

     34.007, -118.498

c) Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir:

     34° 07’ 15” N, 118° 24’ 36” W

     34.121, -118.410

9.   a) Greystone Mansion:

     570’

     173.736 m

b) Woodlawn Cemetery:

     140’

      42.672 m

c) Crestwood Hills Park:

     750’

     228.6 m

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

11. The UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of the map are ³61.5 Easting, ³⁷63 Northing.

12.   1,000,000 square meters are contained within each cell of the UTM gridlines.

13.  

14. The magnetic declination is +14°.

15. The water flows south in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon Reservoir because the elevation decreases as you move south along the stream.

16.