Lab Week 8

REPORT ANALYSIS
With 3.8 million inhabitants in Los Angeles, traffic is a constant. Whether traveling after home from work or driving in the middle of the day, drivers never seem to catch a moment of open freeways. Therefore, catastrophes in the area only cause greater chaos and lead to increased traffic collisions. The Station Fire that occurred in Los Angeles County starting in August and continuing through September of 2009 further increased Los Angeles traffic into the city through the closure of highways and lead to two deaths of fire fighters. GIS can allow for potential risk aversion through the mapping of fire spreading.
The Station Fire was able to be contained by firefighters due to the extensive use of GIS. The Station Fire burned a total of 160,577 acres and suppression efforts where largely decreased at the higher elevations of San Gabriel Mountains where dense strands of timber retain heat. Due to the closure of the roads, information gained through the of GIS, firefighters had to hike into the areas to maintain fire suppression. Fire suppression and the work after the fire is contained "rehabilitates the hand and dozen firelines, roads, trails, staging areas, safety zones, and drop points used during fire suppression efforts." The firefighters were able to gain access to the fire spreading and the roads or freeways closed off during this time through the use of GIS and therefore were able to map out the areas in which it was safe to travel.
During the Station fire, two fire fighters were killed due to the unsafe road conditions, which could have been minimized through the use of GIS. The two Los Angeles County firefighters were killed "when their vehicle went over the side of the road near Mt. Gleason." The firefighters were killed while searching for an escape route for three corrections workers, other fire personnel and 55 inmates who rode out of the fire as the flames approached the area. The firefighters were repositioning the truck when due to lack of spatial awareness due to thick smoke, the fire truck plunged some 800 feet over the side of the road into a canyon. Through the use of GIS, these firefighters would have been able to be more spatially aware in a time when vision was limited. They also might have been able to select a different approach to save these victims by looking at a GIS map which showed safe roads to traverse.
GIS programs allow for geographers and scientists to map the boundaries of the fire, which can lead to protection from spreading and evacuation from communities in danger. Through the use of GIS, spatial analyzers were able to map the bounds of the Station Fire and the potential spread of the fire based on a fire's general tendencies of spreading with the flow of the wind and spreading quicker uphill versus downhill. Therefore, by using the DEM aspect on GIS programming, spatial analyzers have a greater idea of where to look for the fire to spread and where to evacuate potential communities at risk. Mapping of the Station Fire also allowed spatial analyzers to inform local police enforcements to notify the community of which freeways and highways were no longer to be available to use. GIS also allowed for geographers to see the potential risk posed in areas and closed highways and freeways to stop traffic from going into an unsafe area. This can also help to reduce traffic by allowing travelers to know which areas to avoid ahead of time and to plan alternative ways in which to travel for the time period of the fire.
GIS programming can allow for risk aversion and mapping of communities in potential harm due to natural disasters such as the spread of a fire. GIS can allow for the mapping of roads and freeways, allocating which freeways are closed or which have a potential for fire to spread in the areas. This can help alleviate potential death or danger and minimize traffic in traffic-prone areas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
“All Station Fire Perimeters (as of September 2, 07:02)-Complete set.” Los Angeles County Enterprise GIS: Geospatial technology for citizens of Los Angeles County.” September 2, 2009. May 18, 2010 .

“National Map Seamless Server.” USGS: science for a changing world. February 1, 2010. May 18, 2010 .

Taylor, Alan. “Wildfires in Southern California.” The Boston Globe September 2, 2009.

“Station Fire.” InciWeb: Incident Information System. November 10, 2009. May 24, 2010 .

“Firefighters Honor 2 Comrades Killed in ‘Station Fire.’” KTLA.com INFO. September 4, 2009. May 24, 2010 .

Lab Week 7

1. The area I chose is on the west coast of California in the Los Angeles, Southern California area. I chose this area because I wanted to know more about the area in which I live. I am not completely familiar with the topography of Los Angeles and watned to know more. My map extends from North to South 34.8599 to 34.601388 and East to West -118.8055to -119.114166. The map was obtained from GCS_North_American_1983. The datum is D_North_American_1983. The Angular Unit is degrees is 0.01745.

Lab Week 6

Mapping a three dimensional sphere onto a two dimensional surface is a challenge. Due to Earth's spherical properties, distortions are unavoidable. Different map types focus on alleviating certain distortions based on the certain uses of the map. For example, an equidistant map allows for little to no distortions in the distances on the map; however, the size of countries may be distorted. Although accuracy in map projections is not one hundred percent, map projections are essential for spatial awareness in this world.

Map projections allow for humans to be aware of their location on the world's surface. Before the world was mapped, people were uniformed of the surface on the earth and what the world consisted of beyond their scopic regime. Map projections allow for awareness of spatial positioning. Many conformal maps contain country size distortion, but they allow for humans to see the shape of the world all at one time.

Map projections also create a means of travel because of this spatial awareness. With the increase of technology, map projections became a necessary advancement because people began traveling larger distances. The importance of a map projection became needed with the invention of airplanes. An equidistant map projection will allow for an airplane to fly certain distances with accuracy; however, a conformal map projection would cause massive accidents. Map projections are important for spatial awareness in this world and indispensable to the success of air travel.

Equal area map projections maintain the accurate size of countries on the world's surface. These are important for power relations and seeing the land area that each country contains. Although distortions are unavoidable, mapping the earth's surface is necessary in a modern world. Humans are able to obtain spatial awareness and learn of what the world consists. Without map projections, the world would be an unknown area.

Lab Week 4

Through the increase in home computers and available technology, the rise of neogeography has occurred. People are able to modify and produce maps which are salient to their life and provide different map routes to people who may be interested. Programs such as ArcMap in GIS allow users to modify maps in order to show others what they think is the best solution to increase their standard of living, through the use of maps.
Just like any other computer program, GIS is difficult to manipulate and memorize the specific codes for each action. For a person like me who does not have good computer skills, GIS was a little hard to adapt to. The commands given through the tutorial were not always clear and often times hitting one button would mess up a whole map. This lead to a lot of frustration and needing lots of help! It was also difficult having to work off of a computer lab computer because the saving process was more difficult. Another disadvantage of GIS is the availability of the program to anyone. This can lead to a misguidance of information from someone who has no knowledge of the subject in which their map is based.
However, these disadvantages are greatly outnumbered by the mass amount of advantages that result from the widespread accessibility of GIS to the public. Through GIS, members of communities are able to map the advantages and disadvantages of additions to their neighborhood. For example, how the addition of an airport might affect the way in which a community exists. Also, a community will be able to measure the advantages or disadvantages of adding a new school to their neighborhood, a new police station, or a new post office. Also, looking on the more negative side, a community will be able to map the increase of crime, or the areas that sexual molesters are prone to. The possibilities for mapping such things for a community are endless and people will be able to map out a community in which they can have the most security and happiness.
Although GIS is hard to get the hang of, the infinite number of advantages that GIS provides outweighs the slow start. The accessibility of GIS to the mass will allow communities to provide utmost protection and happiness to its residents.