Lab 7

          The first map gives a detailed visual description of the relative amount of Asians in a particular county as compared to the total population for the year 2000. The darker shades of blue indicate that a greater percentage of the population in that county is Asian, whereas the lighter shades of blue indicate that a smaller percentage of the population in that county is Asian. The map shows that counties on the western edge of the United States, especially counties within California, have a greater Asian population based on percentage than the counties in the Midwest and the counties in the eastern region of the United States. For example, many counties in California have an Asian population of nine percent or higher, and some Californian counties even contain as high as twenty percent or higher of an Asian population. There is, however, a somewhat noticeable cluster of medium and dark blue shaded counties towards the northern portion of the eastern coast of the United States, suggesting that these counties also have a relatively larger Asian population by percentage. A historical approach combined with common knowledge can lead to a valid explanation. Chinese foreigners were the first ones to immigrate to the United States in large amounts. They immigrated to the New York area during the 1830s and then also came in large numbers to California during the Gold Rush. The Japanese also began to immigrate to California looking for work from the late 1860s onward. The historical perspective shows us that California was among the most common destinations for Asian immigrants to the United States. Additionally, Asian immigration to California is still significant in current times. This helps to explain the larger Asian population by percent in Californian counties as compared to the remainder of the states.

         The second map shows the Black population percentage per county in the United States for the year 2000. There is a significant cluster of darker shaded blue colors across the south eastern portion of the United States spanning to the eastern portion of Texas. Most of these counties have a larger Black population by percentage as compared to the counties elsewhere in the United States. Historical analysis also provides a sufficient explanation as to why the Black population is concentrated in these regions. Originally, slaves of African origin were primarily introduced into the southern regions of the United States to work on plantations, such as those growing cotton. The northern states, however, had no use for slavery as the economies of these states were reliant upon other factors. Even after the end of slavery many Blacks remained in the South. Blacks comprise only a small percentage of the population in many of the counties of the states ranging from Montana and North Dakota southward towards Kansas and Arizona. Many of these counties have a Black population ranging from about only a tenth of a percent to about four percent, which is a relatively small amount in comparison to a large number of counties in the South that contain Black populations ranging from about fifty-three percent to eighty-six percent.

          The third map shows the population of "some other race" per county by percentage for the year 2000. The Census 2000 used this category for respondents who did not identify with any particular race listed on the document. Most of the respondents that indicated "some other race" on the document were Hispanic. Members of "some other race" seem to have a larger population by percentage in the south-western region of the country. At least nine percent of the population in many of the counties in this region is of "some other race". Some counties in this region even contain as high as twenty-two percent to thirty-nine percent of members from "some other race." Most of the counties in the eastern part of the United States contain less than two percent of members from"some other race."Intuitively, this makes sense, since those of Hispanic origin tend to reside closer to the southern border near California and Texas. Many immigrants come from Mexico and other South American countries along this border, and resultantly there are higher percentages of those of Hispanic origin in the south-western region of the United States.

          These maps are loaded with a significant amount of information pertinent to the demographics of the United States. Each individual map aids in effectively analyzing a certain component of the overall population of the United States. Therefore, by combining the information from each map, an overall picture can be obtained about the population as a whole. Even though in this lab only maps for three different races are given, a complete analysis can be obtained by producing maps for the other race options available on the U.S. Census by acquiring the corresponding tables of population data from the U.S. Census website. One possible application of these maps involves the use of these maps to obtain information on diversity of the total population for a given county. Additionally, it is relatively easy to determine the racial diversity of the entire state by using the data from the individual counties. Clusters of one shade of color or a similar shade of colors are also useful, since they can be used to determine the region of the state in which a large percentage of a certain race is present. Such clusters do appear in the three maps present below.

          GIS is an extremely powerful tool that allows for analysis at a grander scale, since a plethora of data that would appear daunting and difficult to organize on paper can be effectively compiled into "a whole" through the use of GIS. Considering this lab alone, it is apparent that without a map representing the data that it would be tremendously difficult to perceive the data and the implications behind it. Without the visual representation, there would only exist a table with a vast array of numbers for the more than three thousand counties for which data is present. Understandably, it would require a significant amount of effort to detect the patterns and clusters present in the population data. With GIS such clusters can be easily detected by the use of colors detailing the percentage of a specific race present in a particular county. The demographic patterns, such as the predominant location of a specific race can also be easily determined by simply looking at the map. Additionally, racial diversity can be easily obtained by combining the information in each map to obtain a picture of the total population. Therefore, the analytic power of GIS is extraordinary and drastically reduces the amount of time and effort required to create a meaningful and understandable product. The visual aspect of GIS is equally as helpful, since visual analysis by a user is easier than compared to reading a table of numbers and then deducing a pattern from the numbers without any visual aid.

Lab 6

The area used for this lab ranges from about the Arapaho National Forest and Mt. Evans to Denver and the surrounding cities. These locations are all contained within Colorado. There is a noticeable change in elevation from the Arapaho National Forest to the cities. The elevation decreases in a left to right shift across all of the maps. The left part of each map contains the rugged and uneven terrain representative of mountains and hills. The right part of each map, where the cities are located, is considerably flatter as compared to the left part. This feature is prominently highlighted by the "3-D DEM Image," which depicts the terrain in a much more intuitive sense. The red area on the "3-D DEM  Image" is where the cities are predominantly located, whereas the blue colored area depicts the mountainous terrain. The more rapid change in elevation in the mountainous regions can be seen by the change in the shades of blue. Contrastingly, the red color is more uniform throughout the location of the cities, which is indicative of flatness. The corresponding legend gives a relative sense of the elevation that each color indicates.

The extent information of the selected area is given as: 39.829166666101° (latitude) for the top edge of the area, 39.3838888883° (latitude) for the bottom edge of the area, -105.788888889° (longitude) for the left edge of the area, and -104.969444445° (longitude) for the right edge of the area. The North American Datum of 1983 was used to present the data and the "GCS (Geographic Coordinate System) North America 1983" spatial reference was used.

Below are the four images created for the lab:

Lab 5

   Below are the six different map projections.

          The concept of map projections has a pivotal significance, since it allows for information on a three dimensional object to be displayed on a two-dimensional plane. Even though in order to make a map of smaller areas, a map projection is not necessary, it is important that some sort of map projection be employed when displaying larger areas, such as the entire surface of the Earth. Map projections are crucial, since they are required to make useful maps that to some extent accurately display relatively larger areas. It is significant that a developable surface, such as a cone, cylinder, or plane can be utilized in order to project a map. For example, if a cone is used, it can be imagined to be “wrapped” around a model of the Earth, such that there forms one tangent line or two secant lines.  The surface of the Earth can then be projected onto the cone, which can at that point be “unwrapped.” Such a conical map projection is used in the equidistant conic projection created in the lab. A similar process can be used to project on to the cylinder as well. An example of a cylindrical map projection can be seen through the equidistant cylindrical projection created in the lab. If a plane is used for a map projection, it can be imagined that a model Earth lies in front of the plane and that a flashlight is behind the model Earth. The shadow that is created onto the plane is the portion of the surface of the Earth that will be projected upon the plane to form the map. Even though a three dimensional globe is the most accurate representation that can be achieved, it is in some cases impractical to use a globe. For example, a map can be more easily transferred and accessed than a globe. It is also easier to create an extremely large map by adjusting the scale, whereas the creation of such a globe and its use would be more difficult.

            There are some prevalent problems, however, in creating a map through the use of map projections. Since, the Earth is a three-dimensional object, displaying the surface of the Earth onto a two dimensional object results in a distortion of some aspect of the image displayed on the map. Attributes such as direction, distance, area, and shape are affected by the potential distortions that occur with map projections. Different map projections distort different attributes of the map. In many cases certain aspects of the map must be sacrificed in order to better display some other aspect. Therefore, some map projections may be better at maintaining, say, shape, while other map projections may be better at giving more accurate measurements of distance. Consequently, the main drawback of map projections lies in their inability to preserve direction, distance, area, and shape simultaneously.

            Looking into the three different types of map projections illustrated in this lab as examples, the different traits of each projection can be more easily analyzed. Each projection has its own distinct and unique advantages. The conformal projections do not distort angle measurements and also preserve shapes for small areas. Maps that utilize conformal projections may be used for navigational purposes. The Mercator projection has profound advantages for navigational purposes, because it can display straight rhumb lines, which are lines of true direction. The equal area map projections, on the other hand, preserve area at every location on the map in comparison to the Earth’s surface when accounting for the scale difference. The equidistant map projections preserve distance with a certain limitation. Distance is preserved from the point where the map projection is centered. For example, if Los Angeles, California was used as the location to center the map, the actual distance could be measured from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. and from Los Angeles to New York. If one were to measure distance from New York to Washington D.C., however, the projection would not preserve distance in this case.

            The use of map projections has certain real life implications that in some cases have become controversial. For example, if a conformal map projection, such as the Mercator projection is used to display the world, the area of the continents is distorted. The continents closer to the equator appear smaller, whereas the continents farther away appear larger. For example, the size of Antarctica and Greenland is significantly distorted on a Mercator projection. This is because the scale is not constant and continually increases farther and farther away from the equator. The use of this common map projection has become controversial, because European countries and the United States are illustrated to be bigger, whereas the South American countries and Africa, especially, are projected to be considerably smaller than their actual relative size. Therefore, some people familiar with the matter have come to propose that this causes discrimination against the inhabitants of those continents and countries. They associate a psychological affect with the matter, stating that the inhabitants of these countries come to perceive themselves as less powerful and inferior to the inhabitants of the apparently larger European countries and the United States. This is because these inhabitants view their countries to be smaller and weaker in comparison to the countries of the northern world. Therefore these people advocate that a new common map projection be used that restores the relative sizes of the continents, so that this sense of inferiority is eliminated. 

Lab 4

        There are numerous advantages in using GIS for work involving maps, since GIS is a dynamic system that has significant potential in creating accurate displays of maps accompanied by useful peripheral information. A major advantage of GIS lies in its ability to simultaneously display a whole range of information. For example, in referencing the product of the tutorial above, it is easy to notice that there is a lot of information contained within a concise graphic. Through GIS it is possible, in this case, to see details ranging from population density of the region all the way to how the area will be affected by the expansion of the airport in regards to noise and traffic. GIS is able to achieve this by enabling the user to incorporate multiple data frames and corresponding graphs within a single graphic, as is true in this particular example regarding the "Proposed Airport Expansion" display. For example, the first data frame is aimed at showing how schools in the area will be affected by the noise of the expanding airport. The data frame below that shows the different type of land uses in the area and integrates that information with the noise contour. There is also a graph that then details the type of each land use within the noise contour, and finally there is a data frame at the bottom that displays the population densities of the region. Therefore, it can be seen that one prowess of GIS lies in its ability to break down a problem into its component parts, so that the matter can be more easily analyzed. Through GIS the user is able to look at the multiple aspects of the problem and address each one individually.

        Another prowess of GIS lies in its use of hardware and software. GIS is revolutionary in this regard, since it dramatically reduces the time it takes to make a display incorporating information as well as the time it takes to perform analysis. Conventional map making is restricted to the ability of the map maker to accurately render information as well as the the accuracy of the tools the map maker uses. It is a slow process to manually accumulate all of the information on a paper map and arrive at a finished product. GIS can accumulate all of this information in moments and display it with far more accuracy than can be achieved with using tools, such as rulers, protractors, and pencils. Additionally, GIS can integrate multiple layers of information within a data frame that can be turned on and off in a matter of seconds. For example, in the first data frame the air port expansion zone, arterials, noise contour, and schools, to name a few components, can be turned on and off with the click of a button. This allows for simplification of the map if less detail and clutter is desired. Obviously, this is a feature that is not present on conventional paper maps. Therefore, spatial analysis is easier on GIS. Additionally, GIS allows for the user to access the data alone, whereas a paper map does not have this advantage. For example, tables can be opened within ArcGIS that give access to numerical data directly. These tables were even viewed during the tutorial.

        There are, however, some downfalls that exist in relation to GIS. GIS requires a significant amount of technical knowledge. User friendliness is limited in that the user must have a decent amount of prior computer related knowledge in order to be able to navigate through all the different menus and components of ArcGIS. It is also necessary for the user to have general computer "know-how," without even beginning to consider the knowledge and experience required to successfully use ArcGIS. Consequently, it would be difficult for any amateur to produce a respectable product. Therefore, it is necessary for beginners to have access to some sort of tutorial that familiarizes them with the system. Even with the help of a tutorial, though, it does not become altogether obvious how to go about making a map and visual presentation of your own afterwrads, especially since there are so many different commands and directions to remember. In order to become an expert in using GIS a lot of devoted time and practice is required. It may, therefore, be a while before a beginner can successfully create a successful product.

         Another problem with GIS is the expense associated with obtaining the software. Even though there are free services available, the more advanced features can only be obtained in most cases by purchasing a professional version of GIS software. In some cases users may also need new and more expensive hardware as well, since their current hardware may not meet the requirements to run a demanding GIS program. This restricts the number and type of consumers that can purchase the product. In most cases a single user who wants to purchase ArcGIS for private and individual use may be unable follow through with the decision, because the software can cost up to thousands of dollars. Even small businesses that wish to acquire the software may have difficulty in purchasing it, because of its price. Therefore, the use of GIS software is likely to be limited to mostly larger organizations that can afford the service, until there are decreases in the price. These problems are, however, minor in comparison to the advantages that GIS provides and may even be solved as GIS evolves through the years to come.