UC Santa Cruz: A Place in Space

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208451600285121150972.0004be0c65aeee9955e5d&msa=0&ll=36.995287,-122.05596&spn=0.029374,0.055747

     The purpose of this map is to help outsiders view the places that UC Sanata Cruz students explore everyday and to get a taste for this unique campus and colorful town. The problem that I immediately came across was that this map is unique and tailored to my experiences. Not EVERY student that attends UCSC visits all these places or tries all these foods. There are so many gaps and discrepancies that another student would recognize and neogeographers rarely recognize this and just share what they know. I don't claim to know everything about Santa Cruz, but just laid out a list of locations and activities that were popular when I was there. I'm probably not the first to map this campus and probably wont be the last, and this opens up enormous potential for layering multiple experiences that portrays a broader picture of what this campus is all about. For the purposes of the map I produced, Google maps worked like a charm and the satellite view made it simple to recognize unique landmarks.
     Although neogeography offers unique benefits it also carries negative implications. Probably the most outstanding is that ANYONE can create a map with this toolkit. And as a geography major I am baffled at how terrible most people are with directions or identifying specific places on a map. Someone with very little knowledge can place markers and routes all over a map that could be completely wrong and claim it to be entirely accurate. It is up to the viewer to use discretion since there is no review process or screening. Another pitfall is the matter of opinion. I know maps convey countless opinions and are biased in many ways, but most maps that are produced are created by institutions or professionals with reputations. The faceless creation of any kind of map online can lead to very hateful or slanderous cartography from those who feel like labeling or redlining entire areas negatively. The important lesson to take away from neogeography is that it has enormous potential if used responsibly and viewed with discretion.

LAB 2

1.      Name of quadrangle: Beverly Hills Quadrangle

2.      Adjacent quadrangles: Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, Inglewood

3.      Quadrangle first created: 1927

4.      North American Datum of 1927, North American Datum 0f 1983, Hydrographic data from NOS/NOAA, National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929

5.      Scale 1:24,000

6.      Scale:

a)      5 x 240= 1200 meters

b)      10000/5280= 1.89 miles

c)      2.64 inches= 1 mile

d)     12.5 cm on map

7.      Contour Interval is 20 feet

8.      Geographic Coordinates:

a)      Public Affairs Building: 34̊ 4’ 10” N, 118̊ 26’ 30” W

b)      Tip of Santa Monica Pier: 34̊ 00’ 37” N, 118̊ 30’ 01” W

c)      Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir: 34̊ 07’ 10” N, 118̊ 24’ 20” W

9.      Elevation in feet and meters:

a)      Greystone Mansion: 560 feet, 170.688 meters

b)      Woodlawn Cemetery: 140 feet, 42.672 meters

c)      Crestwood Hills Park: 700 feet, 213.360 meters

10.  UTM Zone 11

11.  UTM coordinates for lower left corner of map: 3763000m N, 362000m E

12.  1000m x 1000m= 100,000,000 m²

13.

14.   Magnetic Declination of map: 14̊ / 249 MILS

15.   The water flows South

16.     

Ma-a-a-a-ps, wait! They don't love you like i love you...

Suicide

     This map may seem a bit depressing, but it was definitely one of the more interesting maps to view and concentrates the the saddest countries very well. It can be found at  http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-by-most-suicides.html along with several other top ten maps that range from a global scale down to a city scale. This map takes into account the total number of suicides per 100,000 people and lists the top ten countries in the world with the highest suicide rates. However, it might be biased by deviations in record keeping from country to country and depending on what they consider to be suicide. Regardless of that, Eastern Europe seems to be on top of its game for tallying up quitters. What is most interesting about this map is that most of the countries are grouped in Eastern Europe and with Russia ranked at #2 followed by several of its former satellites, it demonstrates what a hopeless landscape decades of communism left behind. There is probably some correlation to poverty and social unrest, however it might just be the terrible weather and vodka. Either way, staying out of Eastern Europe still seems like the best option for anyone that loves life.

Whale Lubbers

 This is a map of countries around the world that either hate whales or LOVE how they taste. This map can be found at http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-that-catch-most-whales.html along with other maps that track consumption. This map shows the number of whales caught annually per country, these are the top ten countries. If you know anything about whaling, it is no surprise that Japan is #1 by a substantial amount. Historically, many of these countries have been involved in whaling and of the course the reason is probably because they are right along migration paths for many species of whale. It is a bit surprising to find the US on the list since so much of its population is against whaling and many have become quite fond of these large mammals. The US is probably just doing "research".... delicious "research." 

Warheads

This next map shows which countries have nuclear weapons or have had nuclear programs in the past. This map can be found at http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2508/25083802.jpg. On the map we have several nations that have developed nuclear programs whether for energy and/or for weapons, but more than likely if the nuclear material is being developed for energy use, some weapons development isn't much of a leap. The map also shows how many more nations were participating in nuclear weapons programs in the 1960's than the ones that participate today. There is still a staggering number of nuclear warheads held by several countries today, more than any of them would ever need considering there are enough to destroy the planet several times over. This map should send a chill down your spine just knowing how many nations have the power to end so many lives at the touch of a button... I'm sure its more complicated than pushing a button, but not by much.