Week 8 Lab: Mapping the Station Fire in ArcGIS

From August 26th to October 16th 2009, 251 square miles (160,577 acres) of the Angeles National Forest were burned in the larges forest fire in Los Angeles history and the 10th largest in California state history (http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/). The damage by the time the fire was contained included the lives of two firefighters and 89 homes and cost $93.8 million to battle (http://inciweb.org/incident/article/9640/). The fire threatened an additional 12,000 structures in the Angeles National Forest and the nearby communities of La Cañada Flintridge, Glendale, Acton, La Crescenta, Littlerock, Altadena, Sunland and Tujunga.

County Fire Department Capt. Jerry Meehan said that this fire was "the biggest ever" and that the flames could reach 300 to 400 feet high. Meehan also added that, "This is the hottest-burning, most damaging I've seen" (LA Times http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/station-fire-is-largest-in-la-county-history.html). The starting of the fire is suspected to be arson, but still to this date no one has been charged. If someone is convicted, they face the possibility of a death sentence since the fire killed two firefighters.

While the Station Fire was extremely destructive in the 251 square miles that it scorched, the effects were felt well beyond just the burn-zone. Fire creates smoke and smoke is made up of water vapor but also harmful gasses and particulate matter like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, irritant volatile organic compounds, toxic air pollutants and very small particles (http://www.deq.idaho.gov/air/prog_issues/burning/emerg_rule_fs.pdf). In smoke, the particles can build up in the respiratory system and case numerous health problems like burning eyes, runny noses, and bronchitis and can also aggravate existing heart and lung diseases like heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, emphysema, and asthma. It should be noted too that children and the elderly are more susceptible to the smoke caused by these fires and it is highly advised not to recreate near forest fires. (http://www.deq.idaho.gov/air/prog_issues/burning/emerg_rule_fs.pdf).

With the harmful effects to the body from smoke described above, it is easy to see why it is so harmful to recreate, or in extreme cases like this, even go outside into the environment when there is such an intense forest fire. The American Lung Associate states that: "If you live close to or in the surrounding area, it's recommended that you refrain from exercising outdoors, especially if you smell smoke or notice eye or throat irritation" (http://www.lungusa.org/healthy-air/outdoor/protecting-your-health/what-makes-air-unhealthy/forest-fires-respiratory-health-fact-sheet.html). In the above map, which shows the fire area and distances 10, 15, and 20 miles away in addition to all the recreation areas in Los Angeles County, it is definitely recommended for people who normally recreate within the buffer zones to stop for the duration of the fire. As you can see, a majority of the Los Angeles Country recreation areas lie within the 20 mile buffer, meaning that from August 26th to October 16th, a majority of Angelinos who normally frequent those spots either stopped recreating or braved the harmful effects of exercising in such close proximity to the fire. Even at UCLA during the fire, it was recommended by local health officials to not engage in heavy exercise routines to avoid respiratory aggravation.

The fire adversely affected recreation in Los Angeles Country from August 26th to October 16th 2009. Recreation is as much of a part of the Los Angeles lifestyle as anything in the region and fire not only affected people’s enjoyment of the outdoors, but their overall health. People were warned in the region not to recreate or even to go outside, thus reducing their overall physical abilities. Those that did choose to use the Los Angeles Country recreational areas during that time period risked suffering respiratory problems. In addition to the lost physical activity due to the station fire, local recreation areas were charred and now an effort is underway to replant the trees that were destroyed (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/replanting-begins-for-millions-of-trees-burned-in-station-fire.html). Millions of trees burned in the Station fire last August and local communities surrounding the fire zone are now taking on the task of restoring the ecosystem and their local recreation areas.



View of the fire from Downtown Los Angeles

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bloomekatz, Ari B. "Station Fire Is Largest in L.A. County's Modern History | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times." LA Times. 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 24 May 2010. .

Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Air Pollution Emergency Rule: What Is It, What Does It Do? Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. 23 Dec. 2004. Web. .

"InciWeb the Incident Information System: Station Fire News Release." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Current Incidents. Web. 24 May 2010. .

O'Neil, Megan. "Replanting Begins for Millions of Trees Burned in Station Fire | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times." LA Times. 11 Apr. 2010. Web. 27 May 2010. .

United States of America. American Lung Association. Web. 23 May 2010. .

United States of America. Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Web. 24 May 2010. .

Week 7 Lab: DEMs in ArcGIS

3D Map


Shaded relief model of the area using a color-ramped DEM layered above a hillshade model

Aspect Map

Slope Map with UTM Projection(Zone 11)


The area I chose for this week's lab was the Lake Tahoe area which lies on the boarder between California and Nevada. The geographic coordinates of South Lake Tahoe are 38°56′00″N 119°59′04″W. As an avid skiing and having visited Lake Tahoe many times, I thought this would be a great terrain to map slope, a shaded relief map, an aspect map, and a 3D map because of the interesting a greatly changing nature of the land. Starting from the lake level and going up to the peaks of many of the surrounding mountains and ski slopes, the elevation can change to the tune of thousands of feet vertically (y-axis) in a relative short distance (x-axis). The lake sits at an elevation of 6,225 feet above sea level and the mountain peaks rise to more than 10,000 feet above sea level. The region was created around 2 to 3 million years ago from geologic block faulting (to create the lake basin). To get a good look at the surrounding Lake Tahoe area, embedded below is an amateur video from one of the region's mountain peaks.



The region also has a thriving ecosystem, hundreds of miles of great hiking trails, top-notch ski slopes, and some of the most pristine waters in the world.

Top extent = 39.2908333328
Bottom extent = 38.7019444438
Left extent = -120.320277778
Right extent = -119.607222222
From the 1983 North American datum
Area = 4306545079.618 meters-squared
The pixel depth is 32 bit

Lab 5: Projections in ArcGIS

The only thing changed in this lab is the map above. I lost my old map (a file saving error) and produced this one according to the criticisms from my last map below. Thanks!






This week's lab was very interesting, being that we had to use ArcGIS to create the "same" map, just with different projections. From the outside, it sounds easy to just create 6 maps with different projections, while in reality it was hardly that. This weeks lab was challenging for me in terms of creating a "pretty" format, but using the tools and skills I acquired in last weeks lab, it was much easier. Using last weeks skills, I created a map with different layers and used 6 different projections (2 conformal, 2 equidistant, and 2 equal area) and then measured the distances between 2 set points (Washington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan).

Map projections are important for a variety of reasons because they take a 3D earth and turn it into a 2D projection. Topography is the study of the earths surface, shape, and features and the map projections can preserve area (equal-area), distance (equi-distant) and angle/direction (conformal). Conformal maps will preserve direction and angle, equal area maps will preserve area, and equidistant maps will preserve distances between two points. Depending on the region of interest for the map user, we can tailor a map projection to make some features more accurate and less distorted. The first reason as to why map projections are important is because the distances between 2 points are different depending on what map projection you use and what datum you use. As you can see above, even with the same projection (for example conformal), the distances can vary by 200 miles. In the conformal case, I used the Mercator and Canada Lamber Conformal Conic and the distances were different to the tune of 199.2 miles!

When I created the map projections for equidistance, I purposely used two different datums that were across the world from each other so I could better see how different datums effected different projections. As you can see above, by using the equidistant conic, one from North America and the other from Asia, the distances between Washington D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan were off by 161.8 miles! That is a significant distance (around 2.5% of total distance traveled between those two points), and interesting since one would think that all equidistant maps would give the same distances between two points. The reason why I believe the distances between these two maps are different are because of the different datums being used. As a pilot or someone that works in the aerospace industry, this difference just in using the correct data is very important in seeing how long a trip is going to be and even how much fuel to put in the aircraft tank so it doesn't run out of energy! It should be noted, however, that the equidistant maps were more similar in distance to each other than the other 2 projections.

Lastly, I thought the map projection of the US National Atlas Equal Distance was interesting because of the spherical look of the projection, almost preserving the same of the earth. When this map projection was compared with the Canada Albers Equal Area Conic, the distances between the two cities of note was the greatest of the three map projections, 640 miles. This is important to note because even though the two datum are from the same hemisphere, the distances are significantly different between the two points.

Lab 4: Introducing ArcMap

My experience with ArcMap has been a very positive one. The computer program is extremely complicated and complex and with this lab I only felt like I just scratched the surface of what this powerful program can do. ArcMap is a very well thought out program with few pitfalls. I would say that its extreme complexity is a pitfall being that it can take years to master, thus being discouraging for small, simple users. If I had to pinpoint one area in which I had difficulty in with this lab, it would be saving the program on the computer lab computers. Regarding the program, creating the graph was the most difficult part for me because I lost the data at first and had to redo that part. It has, however, showed me that you have to be extremely organized in how you work and operate ArcMap so that nothing gets lost in your program. Also, drawing the road was no easy task since you have to be accurate and precise. However, ArcMap is very useful with creating new streets and has several features that help the user accurately and efficiently add streets and other features to the map.

GIS has extreme potential for all sorts of users. GIS can be opened up for a variety of uses, from general education to urban planning to environmental research. Also, with the great programs like ArcMap, a user can become familiar with creating maps after working with it for only a few hours. ArcMap lets professionals and amateurs alike work with the power of GIS to get informed about communities and the world and manipulate maps and data with incredible power. As an amateurs, I greatly enjoyed using ArcMap and am excited to see its further powers and abilities and how it can enrich both my academic and professional life.

GIS also has a few pitfalls associated with it. First off, too much reliance on GIS can abstract from other real world phenomenon. While GIS does a great job of aggregating data, displaying it in a user friendly fashion, and help the user draw a conclusion, too much reliance on a map and not on human behavior and the nature in which it acts and changes can be devastating to research. Humans are more than what you just see on paper, so while you may see a noise contour affecting a neighborhood and automatically guess that it will bring down home prices in the region, further surveying data is needed to draw a solid conclusion. Researchers need to rely on other techniques besides just looking at data from a map like using economic valuations like contingent valuation or hedonic real estate valuation to see how prices of homes would actually react to an airport nearby. Like anything in life, if you look at it from one-dimension, you can lose the complexity, elegance, and reality of a situation and a user of GIS must be weary of that and take a holistic approach to research.

Also, there is more to GIS than just a map; and there is more to a map than just a few points of interest. The design plays a crucial part in the creation of a map. The design of a map deals with the scale of the map, points of interest, points of focus, projections, and aesthetics like neat-lines, shadows, where to place the legend and north arrow, among other features. Without a clean and thoughtful design, not only is it less professional but less people will be interested in what it has to say and the more confusing it will be for the viewer.