Lab 3

View Ivy League Colleges in a larger map

     Neogeography is about people using and creating their own maps, on their own terms and by combining elements of an existing toolset. Neogeography is about sharing location information with friends and visitors, helping shape context, and conveying understanding through knowledge of place (A. Turner, 2006).

     Neogeography has huge potential for three reasons. Firstly, neogeography develops along with Internet. As the database becoming more and more accessible, neogeography booms. In the past decades, GIS have almost replaced paper maps. People are optimistic about the future in computer and Internet, so it can be foreseen that neogeography will continue developing with a surprising rate. Secondly, compared to GIS, neogeography has two huge advantages: it is flexible and user-centric. People decide what information that they want to present and block out other information, so neogeography is flexible. People can create their geographic knowledge to create their own maps, so neogeography is user-centric. Thirdly, because neogeography is about people creating their own maps, everyone can participate in creating maps. Everyone contributes information to the database. Sometimes amateur map makers have more accurate data than professional map makers do. Therefore neogeography includes far more information than maps which were created by a small group of people.
     Although neogeography has many advantages, people should also be careful of the pitfall of neogeography. It is undeniable that neogeography contains more accessible information, but nobody knows whether the information is correct. As a result, people need to figure out what information is usable.
      Given that neogeography is double-edged, the consequence of neogeography is predictable. People will have access to more information, but at the same time, they will also be confused, because accuracy of data is uncertain.

Lab 2

1.       Name of the quadrangle: Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2.       Names of the adjacent quadrangles:

1.       Canoga Park

2.       Van Nuys

3.       Burbank

4.       Topanga

5.       Hollywood

7.       Venice

8.       Inglewood

3.       When the map was created: 1966

4.       Datum: North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27); North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83); National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5.       Scale on the map: 1:24000

6.       a) 1200

b) 1.893939

c) 2.64

d) 12.5

7.       Contour interval: 20 feet

8.       Geographic coordinates:

a)       Public Affairs: 34.07, -118.44; 34° 4' 26", 118° 26' 21"

b)       Santa Monica pier: 34.01, -118.49; 34° 0' 31", -118° 29' 53"

c)       Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34.12, -118.41; 34° 7' 13", -118° 24' 37"

9.       Elevation:

a)       Greystone Mansion: 560 feet, 170.668 meters

b)       Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 feet, 42.672 meters

c)       Crestwook Hills Park: 700 feet, 213.36 meters

10.   UTM zone: Zone 11

11.   UTM coordinates: 3762980m.N, 361450m.E

12.   Square meters: 1,000,000 square meters

13.   Chart:

14.   Magnetic declination: +14°48’

15.   Direction: North and South

16.   UCLA:

 

Interesting Maps

Interesting Map #1

Gas prices in the USA

Source: Gasbuddy.com

Result of 2004 Election

Source: www.MittRomney.com
Link: http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/gas_prices_vs_political_retribution
    The first map is about gas prices in different states of America. We can see from the map that gas prices of mid-American states, such as Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota,  are the lowest. Gas prices of modern cities like New York are the highest.Gas prices of states like Virginia are in the middle. The second map shows the result of 2004 elections. The red areas were supporting the Republican, while the blue areas were supporting the Democrats. What's interesting is that when we see the two maps in combination, we can see the red areas of the second one overlap with the yellow and green areas in the first one. It seems that people in areas with lower gas prices tend to support the Republican. Yet that can be misleading because people's political propensity is influenced by many factors. Gas prices and the result of 2004, in my opinion, is just an interesting coincidence.

Interesting Map #2

Source: Alexis
Link: http://www.denmarkfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-map-of-denmark.html
    This is a map of Denmark. We can see the shape of Denmark and names of the sea. What's interesting is that map maker drew the map in a humorous way. Denmark looks like a big profile of a woman, a head of a man, a child, and several cute animals. Surely drawing map in such a funny way can help people memorize, but there are not enough details, like names of cities and geographic characteristics. Therefore, for me, it is cool to evoke children's interests by using that map, but it is not appropriate to use it as a formal teaching material.

Interesting Map #3

 

Source: United States Censusure Bureau 2000
Link: http://philebersole.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/pct_no_diploma1.gif
    This is a map about the percent of adults lacking a high school diploma in the U.S. We can see a measuring scale in the left corner of the map. We also find out that higher percentage of people in southern states do not graduate from high school, while people in northern states are more likely to have high school diploma. Interesting thing is that, in Los Angeles, 25 percent or more people do not graduate from high school. The fact is surprising because LA is the second large city in America but still have so many people without high school diploma.