DEMs in ArcGIS

The area I chose was the front of Mount Wilson located not too far from Los Angeles County. The specific mountains I chose are located next to Altadena off the 210 freeway. When we visit my Uncle Raul during the weekend he takes us hiking around the mountainous area of Altadena and the mountains are extremely high which motivated me to research on them. The following is information based on my area:

RASTER INFORMATION:
Columns and Rows: 1735, 1088
Cellsize (X, Y): 0.00027777778, 0.00027777778
Uncompressed size: 7.80 MB

EXTENT:
Top: 34.3041666658
Left: -118.255555555
Right: -117.773611111
Bottom: 34.0019444435

SPATIAL REFERENCE:
Angular unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)
Datum: D_North_American_1983

ArcMap Projections - Week 6

Week 4 Lab

The ArcMap Tutorial was extremely useful. It was both easy and difficult to maneuver. With practice and experience, creating and developing maps can be a breeze. The difficult part is familiarizing yourself with the program, knowing its capabilities, and building your own map by manipulating its tools. This lab was extremely long but useful for future map making. The program is very useful and does a great job in presenting a physical visual of terrains.

Thorough my ArcMap experience, I can conclude that the program has extreme potential to allow visual mapping depending on which elements you would like to concentrate on. I am really impressed on the way it can transform data of different areas and be able to incorporate it into a visual map. This potential can benefit many sociologists and geographers who can input collective data into the ArcMap program and make a visual display of their information. This potential can benefit many of those in need of presentations.

However, ArcMap does have some pitfalls and flaws. The major pitfall is the ability to understand and use the program to your specific needs. It is extremely hard to get use to the program and learn to familiarize yourself with its abilities. The program offers many tools but becomes difficult for users because the program itself can become complicated and cause frustration. Even though it becomes a long experience, sometimes fixing a mistake takes long and delays your process. Some of its pitfalls come from its complications and difficulty to maneuver.

ArcMap is a great program that needs more time and editing. It needs to become an easier program but has a lot of potential for future use. Even though it can become frustrating, its finishing products can speak for themselves. The program is a necessity that can be used today in many fields of study.

The Las Vegas Strip - Hotel & Casinos

View The Las Vegas Strip in a larger map
The Neogeography mashup of the Las Vegas Strip provides some of my favorite famous Resort Casinos and Hotels. There is a brief description of each Casino, along with a visual and a video of the Casinos. The map begins from the McCarran International Airport and travels the surrounding are along Las Vegas Blvd., ending at the famous Dining Hotel, the Las Vegas Hilton. Each Casino has its unique architecture, surrounding area, and gambling setting.

NeoGeography has allowed the introduction and incorporation of visual mapping with analytical data gathered about a certain and specific location or space. The potential that neogeography presented has allowed visually mapping out certain locations regardless of how large the area can be. The exercise extends important geographic mapping, complementary to the GIS concept that can make the combining of elements easier and quicker by using an existing tool set such as Google Maps. Neogeography has the potential to allow sharing location information on a myriad of subjects such as urban planning. It is a great approach to allow information and communication on a public level.
My map provides my favorite Casinos and Hotels, however it does not list every single Casino along the Strip of Las Vegas and in the surrounding area. A pitfall of and consequence of my neogeography map is that some information or places might be secluded and left out. This creates a bias for someone who wants to search the area for different Casinos. The extraction a viewer might pull from my map may not be what the viewer is looking for, causing a pitfall.

Week 2 Lab Report

1. Beverly Hills Quadrangle.
2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, and Inglewood.
3. 1966.
4. North American Datum of 1927 (Horizontal) and National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929.
5. Scale of 1:24,000
6. a) 1,200 meters b) 1.89 miles c) 2.64 inches d) 12.5 centimeters
7. 20 feet.
8. a)118.27'5" degrees/min/sec = 34.23 decimal degrees
and -118.48 degrees/min/sec = 34.44 decimal degrees
b)118.30' degrees/min/sec = 34.30 decimal degrees
and -118.55 degrees/min/sec = 34.550 decimal degrees
c)118.22'30" degrees/min/sec = 118.4083 decimal degrees
and 34.7'20" degrees/min/sec = 34.1305 decimal degrees
9. a) 560 feet = 170.688 meters. b) 154 feet = 47.244 meters c) 650 feet = 198.12 meters
10. Zone 11.
11. 34 degrees 00' and 118 degrees 30' / 361.5 kilometers.
12. 1 square kilometer.
13. Elevation measurements: available on Line Graph.
Elevation Profile:
1 = 400
2 = 600
3 = 600
4 = 520
5 = 500 [Ucla Campus - East]
6 = 460 [Ucla Campus - West]
7 = 400
8 = 340
9 = 300
10 = 240
11 = 190
12 = 160
14. Positive 14 degrees.
15. It flows from North to South.