Lab 3

Top 10 Places to Skydive in the United States 

View Top 10 Places to Skydive in the United States in a larger map 

This map displays the top ten places to go skydiving in the United States according to the website americasbestonline.com.  I created this map using Google Maps.  It also includes a picture or video for each skydive location and the contact information for the business.  The pictures and videos I embedded into my map from various websites.  This map represents one opinion of the top skydiving locations in the United States.  

Neogeography is a recent process that allows people to create maps.  People can share location information using the Internet and make it available for friends and family to see, or even as a public map available to anyone online.  Mapping toolkits such as Google Maps makes it possible for people to do this.    

An advantage to neogeography is that it allows people to view maps that others have created to gain information, for example, viewing a map of a place one is vacationing allows the map to be used like a review of some one else's vacation.  This provides information about things they maybe should or shouldn't do, based on the experience of others.  This can be very helpful in planning a vacation.  Another example of an advantage to neogeography is that someone could view the map I created and choose a skydiving location based on relative location to them, its ranking and the pictures/videos. 

However, there are some pitfalls to neogeography.  Although the process is advantageous in that it allows people to share their maps and location experiences, at the same time this is reason for some concern.  Anyone could create a map, and even use invalid information.  Therefore not all neogeography maps can be reliable.  Unlike GIS, in neogeography one does not have to be a professional or have background in map making to create a map.  This raises questions about legitimacy of the maps created, similar to legitimacy concerns of websites such as Wikipedia where anyone can post information.  People could view maps created via neogeography and receive misinformation or a biased opinion.   

Links to websites where I found pictures and videos:

http://www.skydivelostprairie.com/Arnone-On-Strut.jpg

http://media.tcpalm.com/media/img/photos/2008/10/14/RSPORTS_IRC_Harry_Park-3555_t607.JPG

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/21/fd/e0/view-under-canopy.jpg

http://www.sandiegoskydiving.com/images/gallery/skydive-san-diego-parachute.jpg

http://www.funfix.com/Gallery/Images/lg_Skydive-Space-Center-01172012.jpg

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2484/3649088668_dda6e53c57_z.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KyEIB5ZHV0Y

http://www.southernutahadventures.com/photos/skydive2.jpg

http://s3-media1.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/iR-hVzsw_AfMtrgRvHjcrw/l.jpg

http://www.portofshelton.com/sanderson/images/jumpcenter.jpg

LAB 2 

1.     Name of Quadrangle: Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2.     Names of Adjacent Quadrangles:

·       Canoga Park

·       Van Nuys

·       Burbank

·       Topanga

·       Hollywood

·       Venice

·       Inglewood

3.     Date Quadrangle Was First Created: 1966

4.     Datum Used:

·       North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27)

·       North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83)

5.     Map Scale: 1:24,000

6.     At Scale 1:24,000:

a.     5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to 1,200 meters on the ground

b.     5 inches on the map is equivalent to 1.89 miles on the ground

c.     One mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map

d.     3 kilometers on the ground is equivalent to 12.5 centimeters on the map

7.     Contour Interval: 20 feet

8.     Approximate Geographic Coordinates:

a.     The Public Affairs Building: 34°04’30”, -118°26’15” or 34.075°, -118.438°

b.     The tip of Santa Monica Pier: 34°00’27”, -118°30’00” or 34.008°, -118.500°

c.     The Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34°07’15”, -118°24’30” or 34.121°,

-118.408°

9.     Approximate Elevation:

a.     Greystone Mansion: 580 feet or 176.784 meters

b.     Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 feet or 42.672 meters   

c.     Crestwood Hills Park: 640 feet or 195.072 meters

10.  UTM Zone: Zone 11

11.  UTM Coordinates (lower left corner): 361500mE and 3763000mN

12.  Square meters per square of the UTM gridlines: 1,000,000 square meters

13.  Elevations at UTM northing 3771000m: 

14.  Magnetic Declination: 14° east

15.  Direction water flows (stream between 405 and Stone Canyon Reservoir): north to south

16.  Map of UCLA: 

 

LAB 1


Map of Food Associated With Each State in the U.S. 

I discovered this map on the website Laughing Squid (http://laughingsquid.com/us-map-showing-the-food-best-representing-each-state/).  This map shows the food associated with each state stereotypically.  This map caught my attention because some foods were obviously stereotypical of a state, such as Georgia's association with peaches and Wisconsin's association with cheese.  However some states' foods greatly surprised me, such as Utah being associated with green jell-o.  This map reinforced some stereotypical foods that I associated with particular states, while also introduced some foods that I did not know were associated with certain states.      

Map of What Each State in the U.S. is the Worst At

I found this map on a website titled pleated-jeans (http://pleated-jeans.com/2011/01/24/the-united-states-of-shame-chart/).  This map represents each state and what they are considered to be the worst at.  The creators of this map used statistics to find what "bad" category each state ranked dead last in.  I found this map interesting because some of the categories that a state was given were what I would have expected, while some where very surprising.  I also found it interesting what the creators of this map considered "bad".  I was surprised that being the nerdiest state was considered a bad characteristic among categories such as fatal car crashes and rape.    

Map of Starbucks Locations in New York 

I found this map on a website titled jefferypalm (http://jeffpalm.com/blog/archives/001880.html).  This map shows the locations of Starbucks' in New York.  The red markers show Starbucks locations in the interior position while the blue marker shows the most isolated Starbucks.  This map was created in 2009, so it likely has changed from present day locations in New York.  I was interested in this map not only because of my love for Starbucks, but also because although I knew there was a lot of Starbucks locations in New York I didn't truly realize how many until I saw this visual.  Finally, considering this was in 2009 I would imagine that there are even more Starbucks locations in New York now.