Friday, October 22, 2010

Lab 3 - Neogeography

Lord of the Rings Journey through Middle Earth (aka New Zealand, where everything was shot).


View Lord of the Rings Filming Journey in a larger map

Neogeography is a very cool thing. It allows for very specialized and personal maps to be created for whatever purporse, and then be spread amongst friends, classes, or the entire internet if you choose to post it on a blog or website. Therefore someone could create a map detailing the best restaurants to go to in Paris, or, using an example that i did several years ago, a map of all the places i was planning to go to in Mexico with my friend. That same friend could then add her own details to the map, and we would both instantly be able to see the changes, and absorb that information. This is the second very cool thing about neogeography, is its innate interactivity. Whereas maps used to just mean the passenger in the car looking at a big unfolded paper, now maps can be created, changed and used by just about anyone. Therefore a huge amount of very detailed, specific information can be spread.

However, by that same token, there are some negative aspects of neogeography. Because anyone can create a map about anything, and are not always creating it for academic purposes, the accuracy of the information can and should be questioned. Just because I've created a map about something doesn't mean that map is a good map. It's the same reason why other interactive tools, such as Wikipedia, aren't always taken seriously by the Powers that Be. The information can be bad, and often is.  

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lab 2 - EMILIE BARNETT

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

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

3. When was it first created? - 1995

4. What datum used to create? - Horizontal: North American Datum of 1927, and then updated with NAD 1983. Vertical - National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5. What is the scale of the map? - 1:2400

6. a. 5cm on ground = how many meters?
(1/24000)=(5cm/x); x=12000cm=120m
b. 5in on map = how many miles?
(1/24000)=(5in/x); = 12000in=1.89miles
c. One mile on ground = how many inches on map?
(1/24000)=(x/63,360in); x=2.64 in
d. 3km on ground = how many cm on map?
(1/24000)=(x/300,000cm); x=12.5cm

7. What is the contor interval? - 20ft.

8. Coordinates of things:
 a) Public Affairs = (34°04'30'';118°26'24'') or (34.075;118.436)
b) Santa Monica Pier = (34°00'24''; 118°29'55'') or (34.0067; 118.5)
c) Upper Franklin Canyon Resevoir = (34°07'22.8''; 118°24'27'') or (34.13; 118.41)

9. a) Elevation of Graystone Mansion - 580ft/176.784m
b) Woodlawn Cemetary - 140ft/42.67m
c) Crestwood Hills Park - 700ft/213.36m

10. What is the UTM zone? - Zone 11

11. What are the UTM coordinates of the lower left corner? - 361.5 Easting, 3763 Northing

12. 4356m squared

13.

14. Magnetic Declination = 14°/249mils

15. River flowing southward.


16.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Lab 1 - Three Interesting Internet Maps

Emilie Barnett

Three maps found online, and a quick description.

Map #1: Medieval Map of Exeter, England



This is a medieval map of the city of Exeter in England. It is of interesting to me because of the radically different perspective and style as compared to modern day maps. Clearly the systems of classification and control that we use today (ie grids, street names/numbers, cardinal points orientation, etc) had not come into existence then. This map was made by and for people who lived out their whole lives within a walled city such as this one, where streets were formed over the year according to daily usage (e.g fastest routes to important focal points such as the church, the market, the blacksmith, etc), and not according to an objective layout intended to create maximum ease of control for the powers that be. Also, the bird's eye view hasn't quite been utilized, which is almost a requirement for modern day maps. The map is also quite embellished artistically, with details and colors that just wouldn't be considered appropriate for most city maps today.

Map source: Exeter Tourist Information and History.
Viewed: 10/1/10 11:32am

Map #2: Walmart production map





This is a map that shows the proportion of Walmart products made different countries. Each country is sized according to the percentage of products made there. Therefore China, which by far comprises the majority of Walmart's stock, is the largest country displayed. Most countries are not even on the map, as Walmart doesn't have factories everywhere. I liked this map, because it's not a conventional map of the world at all. In fact, if you tried to use this map simply to look at where countries are, it would fail you miserably. Instead, it is used to display very specific information. The thing i find most interesting about this map, is that the second largest country is the United States, and not some other developing country most commonly associated with cheap manufactured items. i would have thought it would be Mexico, or India perhaps. I definitely didn't realize that we still make so much stuff.


Source: Digital aesthetics
Viewed: October 7th, 2010

Map #3: Middle Earth!!!





This is a map of Middle Earth, from the JRR Tolkein Epic Fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings. I admit that the primary interest for me in this map lies in the fact that I am a big fat nerd, and love LoTR, and how detailed the world that Tolkein created was. His original map included mountains, rivers, forests, important landmarks, etc. Everything that a real map would also include. However, the secondary point of interest for me, is that this version of the map, made for the computer or video game, is a reconstructed topographical map, with Middle Earth displayed as if taken from a satellite. Using all the information Tolkein provided in his original map, and within the books themselves, EA games has filled in the landscape as realistically as possible. very cool.

Source: EA Games
 Viewed: October 7th, 2010