Lab 3: Neogeography

"The Office"


View The Office in a larger map

Note: The points on this map are located in reference to the hometown (city of birth) of the actors on "The Office," not the characters whom they portray.


Commentary:

The rising wave of neogeography coincides with the increasing technological movement of user-generated data sources like Facebook, Wikipedia, and Flickr, and is even more closely correlated, if not synonymous, with the term "Volunteered Geographic Information." Neogeography is a way for amateur people to create geographic content without having, or needing, professional experience in the GIS or cartography fields. This informal field can be easily navigated by non-experts, who can use pre-existing mapping information and tools to compile and disseminate geographic data for personal interests.



With a broad range of activities covered under the umbrella of neogeography, everything from city walking tours to detailed urban exploration to "place based photo blogging," users can be as expressive in their endeavors as they want, while helping to build up an immense portfolio of cartographic topics that others can find or use themselves. People are not limited to generating content within purely spatial parameters. They employ a more assertive method of geospatial referencing, not limited to searching through data provided by government agencies, and the majority of which is openly accessible to the public. It, in essence, opens a door through which every person has the opportunity to interact with their environment and social forums in new ways.



Due to the lack of professional cartographers, and/or a lack in geographic knowledge, one must be wary when committing a lot of trust to a neographic map. Content may not be accurate because the creator does not possess the appropriate skill in coordinating locations, 0r because of a personal bias for or against the topic in which their content is focused. And because many of the maps are artistically or entertainment based, the maps rely more heavily on visual components and media than on significant facts. It is most often a raw, unedited project, lacking the peer review critique or fact checking emphasis for 100% truth. There is no spatial analysis as is common in mathematically constructed maps of landforms and countries.



While the neogeography movement is progressive in involving average people in investigative mapmaking, it also has only come so far as to serve as a visually propelled medium too intently focused on flashy videos and images rather than scientific facts. It's beneficial to the person or group whom the map is created by or for, but for much of the public it serves no purpose, save a possible search engine result. And even further, the maps some people make may be "detrimental" to others if the topic of that diagram pinpoints people associated with a group in which they wish to remain anonymous, such as registered sex offenders who are thrown into public awareness on www.meganslaw.ca.gov. The initial idea is good; involving amateurs in a typically in depth field by allowing the manipulation of professionally created maps and mapping techniques. But to improve the legitimacy and factuality of the maps, neogeographers need access to better technology or a peer review source that can revise these often skewed maps to prevent inaccuracy from diminshing their utility.

Lab 2: USGS Topographic Maps

1) Name of Quadrangle:

Beverly Hills Quadrangle, California, Los Angeles County

2) Adjacent Quadrangles:
Canoga Park
Van Nuys
Burbank
Topanga
Hollywood
Venice
Inglewood

3) Date Quadrangle was First Created:
1966

4) Datum:
North American Datum of 1927, North American Datum of 1983

5) Map Scale:
1:24,000

6a)5cm on the map = 1200m on the ground
D = 5cm x 24,000
120,000cm x [1m/100cm] = 1200m

b)5in on the map = 1.893mi on the ground
D = 5in x 24,000
120,000in x [1in/1.578x10^-5mi] = 1.893mi

c)1mi on the ground = 2.64in on the map
d = 1/24,000mi
1/24,000mi x [5280ft/1mi] x [12in/1ft] = 2.64in

d)3km on the ground = 12.5cm on the map
d = 3/24,000km
3/24,000km x [1000m/1km] x [100cm/1m] = 12.5 cm

7) Contour Interval:
20 feet

8a)Public Affairs Building Coordinates:
Latitude: 34*04'26"N or 34.074*
Longitude: 118*26'21"W 0r 118.439*

b)Tip of Santa Monica Pier Coordinates:
Latitude: 34*00'27"N or 34.0075*
Longitude: 118*29'58"W or 118.499*

c)Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir Coordinates:
Latitude: 34*07'10"N or 34.119*
Longitude: 118*24'37"W or 118.410*

9a)Elevation of Greystone Mansion:
580 feet or 176.784 meters

b)Elevation of Woodlawn Cemetery:
140 feet or 42.672 meters

c)Elevation of Crestwood Hills Park:
650 feet or 198.12 meters



10) UTM Zone of the Map:
Zone 11



11) UTM Coordinates for the Lower Left Corner of the Map:
3763000m x 3062000m


12) Square Meters within each UTM Cell:
1000 x 1000 square meters or 1 square kilometer



13) Elevation Profile


14) Magnetic Declination of the Map:
14*/249Mils East

15) Direction of Water Flow between 405 and Stone Canyon Reservoir:
South- water is flowing down elevation into the Los Angeles River Basin.

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