LA County Station Fire 2009

With this map I wanted to analyze the fire danger level for the significant ecological areas and determine the risk level. In hind sight I would have created an additional table to to join that ranked the danger level for these ecological areas and determined what was significant about the ecology of the area (since it was such an ambiguous layer title and there was no additional data to interpret about these areas.) to help determine the environmental impact if these areas were to become fuel for a fire.

This was going to be the first map of a series detailing the air quality and air pollution associated with the Station Fire

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ArcGIS Online

http://metamorphic.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c8363bec07e74bb1bb1b8531da704db2

The pattern I chose to communicate with this exercise is the correlation between the predicted climate change and the increased wildfire potential. As one can see, where the predicted climate change model lines up very well with the wildfire potential in 2012, which is highly visible when adjusting the transparency on either layer. The correlation is very distinguishable.

            I chose to demonstrate climate change and wildfires for a couple of reasons; our final project is about the largest wildfire in LA County history, and climate change is one of the most important issues for us to try our best to comprehend. This was a fairly easy make to pull together thanks to the ArcGIS Online tools and layer available to anyone interested in exploring the mapping process. As I am afforded more opportunities to work with the ArcGIS programs, I am developing a deep affection for this company and am looking forward to meeting some of the people that create these programs.

African American Population with US Census Data

The map above represents the total African American population by county in 2000. A data table with Race Only data was joined with existing census data to create different thematic representations. The colors for the different labels in the legend were manually selected and I chose 10 classifications in order to show more representation of the African American population.

This map represents the population of African Americans per square mile in a given county. It is also an exercise in poor color selection for the different classifications showing the importance of color selection and coordination when creating a thematic map. Find in the population per square mile required using the field calculator to select a formula for calculation by the attribute table.

This map represent the population percentage of African Americans per county. I used 15 classifications to show more representation of the African American population throughout the country. I used a color ramp in the symbology tab and it shows well with good contrast. Creating a percentage map requires the use of the Field Calculator to create a formula and selecting the attribute column to display in symbology.

Conclusion
There are many ways to manipulate and represent data giving the user the opportunity to create the thematic map that suits his or her needs. It should also be understood that one can manipulate the data to express or represent different ideas or points of view. For instance, if there were 7 classifications of the Percentage data, the map would give the impression of less representation, so with 15 classifications there appears to be more representation.

Mapping Slavery with US Census Data

1860 US Census Slave Population by County

2000 Census - Percentage of African American by County

Slope and Aspect Maps with Shaded Relief and 3D Models

The area selected is in Boulder/Boulder County, Colorado and represents Boulder, parts of Boulder Canyon, Nederland, and Jamestown, CO. Elevation increase from 5430 to approximately 10,000 ft.  GCS is NAD 1983

at -106, 39 left,  -105, 40 right.

Map Projections

Airport_Ex

    The exercises from the ArcMap Tutorial are fairly clear and straight forward with only a couple exceptions. One of which is the outdated tutorial. ArcGIS should update the tutorial when updating the program itself to eliminate unneeded confusion. ArcMap is a complicated program with a fairly steep learning curve and instructions to include spaces in formulas are very misleading. 

    Exercise three proved to be challenging due to the inaccurate instructions from the tutorial. The instructions concerning the formula input for the population density were incorrect and after trying several times to follow the tutorial directions with the same result – no data in the attribute table for the population, pop_den columns, I removed the spaces from the formula according to the tutorial and the data was where it needed to be. This was the most challenging issue I faced during this tutorial, but it was resolved rather quickly after speaking with a classmate concerning the formula.

    Self-paced and thorough, this ArcMap tutorial was at times an exercise in patience, but overall a great introduction to one of the most useful mapping programs available. 

Evacuation Route for Four Mile Canyon, Boulder Flood 2013

View Evacuation route for FourMile Canyon, Boulder Flood 2013 in a larger map




Neogeography is a user-friendly way to share geospatial data with friends and relatives without having to learn the complexities of GIS. The applications are usually free, easy to use and provide enough variety for most users to create a fun, easy-to-follow map.

ArcGIS and other scientific data integration tool users require more precision than the average google maps user making a walking map of San Francisco to share with friends. Neogeography is more subjective and recreational, and while user-friendly geospatial data interfaces are a great tool for the user to share their interests and experiences, substituting google maps and google earth for ArcGIS is not practical for social, environmental or geo sciences.

Maps

Map 1

(NOAA)

Map 1 highlights the probability of the maximum 24 hour rainfall totals (in any given year) that occured in Boulder County and the Front Range September 9-16 of 2013. The dark purple areas show a 1-in-1000 year occurrence - deeming this event a 1000 year Flood - while the light purple areas show a 1-in-1000 to 1-in-500 year occurrence illustrating the rarity of this flooding.

Map 2
(National Wether Service)

Map 2 shows the total rainfall over a two week period, most of which occurred September 9-16 2013. Boulder County and parts of the Front Range saw what is typically total annual rainfall within a 5-day period.

Map 3
(NASA)

Map 3 shows how the floods transformed the land surface; before September 7 and after September 13. The light blue areas illustrate saturated ground and swollen tributaries and creeks.