Assignment 7

The Black Population Density by Counties map shows that there is a significantly higher density of blacks located in the southeastern United States, especially in east Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, with some areas in California.  From my speculation, this distribution is due to the establishment of black communities/populations when slavery was prominent. The majority of the national population was settled in the eastern United States during the days of slavery.  The Civil War was between the division of the north and the slavery-favored south.

The Asian Population Density by Counties map shows that most Asians have settled in mostly coastal regions especially California, New York, and Washington.  They are also distributed fairly consistenly, albiet sparsely throughout the entire United States.  The reason for this distribution is because many Asian are immigrants and many coastal regions (especially New York's Ellis Island) serve as gateway hubs for entrance into the country.  Upon coming to the country, it is just more convenient to settle somewhere along the coastal regions due to three reasons: 1) Its expensive to commute far 2) Many Asian communities are already established around these regions making it a relatively safer haven for incoming Asians  3) Many coastal cities are industrial and globalized compared the rest of the nation, allowing for ease of job placement and advancement.

The Other Race Population Denisity by Counties map is referring to the distribution of the Hispanic populations within the United States.  Through observation, one can point out that most Hispanics have settled throughout Southern California, Texas and New Mexico.  This is because of these locations close proximity with the Mexican border which a good amount of Hispanics illegally cross.

Plotting out census data into maps allows for spatial analysis that's easier and more efficient than just looking at the numbers from the data.  Sure, its possible for one to recognize these patterns from just the datasets, however, it takes time and high intellectual capacity.  GIS allows the average person to see trends and make conclusions on the distribution of race according to density, in regards to this lab. After the completion of this assignment, I have come to realized that GIS still has a lot that it could improve on, especially the process of editing, saving, and altering file types.  A tutorial or explanation is necessary for most processes, otherwise one could rely on trial and error and poring through toolbars to get their task done.  A program's efficiency is hindered when its powerful features are difficult to fully utilize. 

Assignment 6

          These maps oversee the merging of the California Interstate 215 with the 15 directly north of Fontana and south of Hesperia.  The road cuts through the a mountain structure with the Cleghorn mountain on the upper right with the Lower Lytle Creek ridge on the bottom left.  The coordinates for this location  stretches from -117.922 to -117.133 in terms of latitude, and 34.109 to 34.547 in terms of longitude.  The datum for this map originated from the 1983 North American GCS.  The slope view shows the terrain moderately inclined in the lower left half, while relatively flat in the upper right.  The direction of the slope is torwards the north for the area east of the freeway, while the slope direction varies in the area west of the freeway.  From the observation of the 3d model, it is obvious that landscaping was necessary get the freeway to cut through the mountainous pass. 

Assignment 5

Conformal Projections

Equidistant Projections

Equal Area Projections

          The selection of map projection is dependent on how one wants to convey specific information.  All projections fall under three categories: Equal Area, Equidistant, and Conformal.  Each category has different guidelines on how the spatial data is presented.  Equal area projections preserve equivalent areas to their real-world counterparts, while equidistant projections preserve equivalent distances and conformal projections preserve local angles which account for equivalent shapes. 

          Conformal maps preserve shape proportions but lose size proportions in the process.  This is obvious in the Mercator projection where the lines of latitude are increasing in distance as they move further from the equator, distorting Greenland and Antarctica to extreme proportions.  In the Stereographic map, Australia is shown as big as the U.S. and Canada combined. This also distorts space between locations, giving a distance from Washington DC to Kabul much higher than the true measured distance. 

          Equidistant maps preserve distance proportions but lose size and shape proportions in the process.  An equidistant map gives the closest approximation of the distance from Kabul to Washington D.C. to its true distance of 11,153 km.  This map is distinguishable due to the equal distance between its lines of latitude and longitude.  In the Equidistant Cylindrical map, South America is obviously stretched out vertically to preserve distance.

         Equal Area maps preserve area proportions but lose shape and distance proportions in doing so.  The margin of error in terms of distance is usually less then conformal projections but not as good as equidistant projections.

Assignment 4

 

       Upon initiating my first experience with ArcMap, I was initially intimidated by the foreign program layout and the multitude of powerful features it possesses. However, those were the two things that gave me much appreciation to the program after I had completed the tutorial in its entirety.  It functions not only as a database management system, but one that could store, manipulate, analyze and store data in a spatial format.  The spatial distributions, connections, and associations of information presents data in a different light than what statistics could offer.  The effective use of GIS formulates new questions and hypothesis, not previously seen without a spatial perspective.  For example, in a hypothetical situation, say we map out the distribution of Republican/Democratic voters throughout the United States and observe that there are more Democrats in coastal regions.  A conclusion of that nature would be relatively difficult to encounter without the implementation of GIS. 

         

          Another feature that had really impressed me was the plethora of features that ArcMap had to offer, enabling one to customize the output of spatial data to their liking.  This enables to analyze data in a method that brains, calculators, statistics programs, and other programs can’t compete with.   A sociologist, geologist, geographer, politician, scientist, engineer and/or many other professionals could find the specific answer to the specific question they are asking. 

         

          Despite its impressive potential, GIS has several pitfalls.  One hindrance towards maximum efficiency and the universal implementation of ArcMap is its learning curve and its complex code translation among developers working on a big project.  Finding, hiring, training, and maintaining skilled candidates who are intellectually capable of processing such tools can be costly and time consuming.  In large GIS projects, developers usually work in large teams splitting up different facets of map.  This could the potential for overlap, miscommunication, confusion with different developer’s intentions and coding styles.  This could lead to missed deadlines, reduced efficiency and misinformation regarding the spatial analysis of data.

          GIS is also costly from a hardware and software standpoint.  I had wanted to install ArcMap on my own personal computer for convenience, however it was extremely expensive, and I needed a computer with a relatively fast processor to handle the bulk of the program.   Making a more compact, cheaper GIS program would sacrifice its current functionality.  This is similar to neogeography, where the average person could afford and understand with minimal work.