LA County School Districts and the 2009 Station Fire

Reference Map

 

Thematic Map:

School Districts Closed on September 3

   The 2009 Los Angeles County Station Fire was one of the biggest fires that have ever occurred around the area.  It started on August 26 and was fully contained on October 16.  In the end, the Station Fire decimated over 250 square miles of the San Gabriel Mountains, which are located north of Pasadena and Burbank, around the geographic center of LA County.  From a La Canada Flintridge September 1 report, there were no strong winds around the city, which most likely helped the fire to not become as severe and wild as it could have been.  The report continued on to say that the Station Fire did move past the city along a northward direction toward Mt. Wilson and the city of Acton.  It pushed in every direction except south.  As one can see in the maps above, the fire exponentially grew toward the north within a span of 5 days.  In one night, it doubled in size to 85,000 acres.  The fire's severity is evident in the fact that it moved into areas of the forest that had no history of any fire.  Besides La Canada Flintridge and Acton, some of the other surrounding foothill communities that were threatened were Pasadena and Glendale.

   The theme of the second map above is school districts.  I hypothesized that because of the fire's severity, many school districts in the county closed their schools in an effort to shield their students from potential fire outbreaks and the worsening air quality.  My hypothesis was true to a certain extent. As I will explain later, many schools around the area were affected by the fire.  Since the Station Fire occurred during the annual season of going back to school, certain school districts did postpone some of their starting dates of the school year.  However, the fire did not affect the importance of education for long.  The maps above show the perimeters of the fire each day from August 29 to September 2 (excluding August 31).  One would believe that many school districts would be closed for a long time due to the monstrous size of the fire, thus prolonging the summer vacation of many students who attended the schools around the area.  LA County released a Station Fire update on September 3, stating, among other important pieces of information, that most school districts within close proximity of the fire had all of their schools open.

   On August 30, 2009, it was reported that the La Canada Unified School District postponed the opening of all 5 of their schools.  The district planned to start the new school year on September 1.  In the same report, the Glendale Unified School District also postponed the original start date of the school year, which was August 31.  However, in the aforementioned LA County Station Fire update on September 3, not even a quarter of the school districts in the county had school closures.  By that date, all schools of the La Canada and Glendale Unified School Districts were open.  On the contrary, schools in the Acton-Agua Dulce and Pasadena Unified School Districts, as well as schools in the LA Unified School District that were in the impacted area, postponed their school year by a few days.  Even though the Station Fire was severe, it is remarkable that many of the school districts that were close to the fire did not suffer any loss of educational time.  In the thematic map above, the districts that were closed on September 3 are highlighted in dark blue.  With those three districts combined, the number of schools affected by the closures seems to be just below half of all the schools that were in the Station Fire-related school districts.  From this map observation, it can be logically concluded that close fire proximity was the main reason for school closure.

   According to the thematic map, the school districts that were affected by closures were either north or south of the fire (or even in the area of the fire).  The map also shows the presence of multiple schools that were close to the fire.  Why were they not closed?  The reasoning behind that could be the fact that the Station Fire grew in a northward direction for the most part.  School district officials to the west and southwest of the fire were undoubtedly precautionary, but they probably did not see the growth of the fire as a major threat to the start of the their school year.  On September 3, the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District, which is the district north of the fire, as represented in the thematic map, declared that its schools would not be session until September 8.  While other decision-making factors are not thoroughly explained in this report, the district probably gathered information from official sources in an attempt to set a new date for the beginning of the school year.  It also seems that the northern LA county school districts on September 3 did not see the fire as an ongoing and pervasive threat - otherwise, all of them would have closed their schools due to the fact that the fire expanded northward.  From this, it can be logically concluded that the fire was being dealt with rigorously, at least on September 3.

   As mentioned previously mentioned, the fire grew northward for the most part.  With respect to a few miles south of the Station Fire, there were not many school districts that were threatened and closed.  The fire mainly wreaked havoc on the San Gabriel Mountains.  If the fire did have a great inclination to go south, that probably would have been quickly resolved by rigorous firefighting; trees being burned by fire is better than property being burned.  It is obvious to note that many people lived south of fire.  My hypothesis speculated that many school districts, even those south of the fire, were closed, despite their far distance away from the Station Fire, because of the high levels of dust created by the blaze.  Air quality obviously has a harmful impact on physical education, school sports, and going to class in general.  My hypothesis was wrong.  As I have also mentioned earlier, fire proximity was the main reason for school closure.  In other words, being relatively close to the fire, not horrible air quality, justified the postponing of the new school year.  This fire is one event that the people of LA County will never forget.  While it was not a major humanitarian crises or anything of that kind, Mother Nature did disrupt the status quo for a while.  While school districts were affected by the Station Fire, they would eventually be back to normal in a few days.  School districts were not heavily impacted by the fire's rage.  However, with respect to its impact on Southern California environmental issues, the fire definitely did its work.  That is another topic to discuss at a later time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pringle, Paul. “L.A. County Fire Doubles in Size; More Homes Destroyed; Mt. Wilson Threatened.”LA Times. LA Times, 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/la-county-fire-doubles-in-size-more-homes-list-mt-wilson-threatened.html>.

“Station Fire.” InciWeb. InciWeb, 10 Nov. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1856/>.

“'Station Fire' Update.” La Canada Flintridge. La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce, 1 Sep. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.lacanadaflintridge.com/docfiles/city/emrg_na_mis_090901_050355.pdf>.

“Station Fire Update.” LASD Blog. County of Los Angeles, 3 Sep. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.lasdblog.org/Pressrelease/PR_Folder/SFUpdateTH-01.pdf>.

William-Ross, Lindsay. “Station Fire Update: Evacuations, School Closures.” laist. laist, 30 Aug. 2009. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://laist.com/2009/08/30/station_fire_update.php>.

The US Census, 2000

ALL THREE MAPS SHOW DATA FROM THE 2000 US CENSUS

PCT = PERCENTAGE

   The Asian-American population during the year 2000 was mainly clustered in California and Washington.  This is reasonable because these states are in the West Coast, which is obviously closer to mainland Asia than the East Coast.  According to the map above, many Asian-Americans lived around the big cities of the West Coast, namely Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.  In Washington, Seattle and the surrounding regions seem to be the only places in Washington where Asian-Americans significantly contributed to the population.  However, California was the state where most Asian-Americans decided to live in.  San Francisco, Los Angeles, and their surrounding regions were not the only ones with significant population numbers.  Central California also had many Asian-Americans living in its cities.  Across the country, there were not many Asian-American population centers.  Most of them were scattered; there were some major communities within the central part of the country.  After the West Coast, the East Coast, as a whole, had the next highest number of Asian-American population centers, namely around New York City and Boston.

   During the year 2000, African-Americans clustered deep within the American South.  This is not surprising because the South has a deep history with African-Americans.  The map above clearly shows that the majority of them lived in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.  There were some other highly populated counties in the US that were predominantly African-America; in the map, they can be found in states that border the Great Lakes and/or the Mississipi River.  With that said, the map above shows an absence of predominantly African-American counties around the western US.  There were significant percentages around important cities, such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  The same is true for the East Coast; the map shows that significant percentages were present around New York City and Orlando.  In other parts of the country, namely the Midwest, the 2000 African-American population generally was consistent at around 1-3%.

   During the Census 2000, the government obviously asked Americans what race they were for statistical purposes.  It provided the option of "some other race," which signifies that the person filling out the forms did not perfectly fit in the other given race categories.  People who filled in "some other race" were mutiracial or Hispanic/Latino, which did not have its own category.  In fact, 97% of the people who reported "some other race" were either Hispanic or Latino.*  That statement alone tells a lot about the map above.  States that border Mexico - California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas - had a great percentage of "some other race."  There were a few "some other race" counties near the northwestern US that had high percentages.  The rest of the nation did not have many counties that had people who claimed to be another race that was not listed on the Census forms.  With respect to Hispanics/Latinos, it can be inferred from the map that the majority of them decided to stay around southwestern America and to not go too far out into the country, particularly the Midwest or the Eastern Seaboard.  There are some darker shades of green around the Eastern Seaboard, but that could probably be explained by the presence of white multiracial people.

*http://www.census.gov/mso/www/rsf/racedata/sld008.htm

   My census map series provides a lot of racial information about the continental US during the year 2000.  Asian-Americans tended to have greater populations around the West Coast, and African-Americans tended to have greater populations around the South.  These facts are not surprising at all.  With respect to the entirety of the continental US, the West Coast is the closest to Asia.  Black people have had a long history with the South, especially in terms of slavery and civil rights.  They have not migrated en masse out of the area.  It would not be surprising to find descendants of former slaves and black civil rights protesters in the South.  Many people who responded to "some other race" were Hispanics/Latinos; it was also not surprising to find high county percentages of "some other race" in the states that border Mexico.  In all three maps, there are a few counties that are white.  It is interesting to see how there are a few counties in the entire nation that do not have people of a certain race.  On the other hand, people in that county may not have filled in the forms correctly or even at all.

   Doing this assignment was not easy at first, but I eventually got used to it.  I am amazed at what I was able to produce using the GIS software.  A GIS professional can definitely make a plethora of useful maps that tell a lot about the US and its people.  While the GIS software can be frustrating at times, it is rewarding at the end.  There is a lot a user can do with GIS with respect to data and cartography.  GIS's ability to connect with Microsoft Excel is invaluable because Excel is usually associated with creating and storing data - GIS puts that data in map and visual form.  I could have tweaked my three maps in many different ways.  With respect to this assignment and the various details it brought along with it, GIS allows the user to change the color scheme, add a bar scale, add additional information to the side, and much more.  GIS is also very detailed, and this assignment proved it.  The software enabled me to see every county in the continental US and its percentage of a certain group of people.  Even though I was able to guess what my maps were going to look like, GIS can undoubtedly display detailed data that were not even expected in the first place.  GIS is an example of a piece of technology designed for the person who thinks intellectually and creatively.

DEM's

Digital Elevation Models

   The area I chose for my DEM is located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  As anyone can expect from a typical mountain range, the terrain is steep and uneven.  However, the jagged terrain and the valley in the middle - which are both seen in the 3D image of the location - make this area atypical contrasted to stereotypical mountain images in movies, calendars, etc.  There is many data that can be pulled out from these images.  One side of the valley contains many mountain peaks that are higher than the peaks on the other side.  The valley in the middle is not very wide, and it seems to perfectly cut through the mountain range like a pair of scissors.  The higher mountain peaks are around the same elevation compared to each other; on the other side of the valley, the elevation is more uneven.  In the shaded relief model, one can also see a small valley cutting through the higher mountain peaks.  Overall, the area I chose was not anything too dramatic, but it had some very interesting features.

Extent Information

Top: 37.4113888882

Left: -118.955277779

Right: -117.780833334

Bottom: 36.7605555548

Information About The Geographic Coordinate System

Spatial Reference: GCS_North_American_1983

Linear Unit

Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)

Datum: D_North_American_1983

Map Projections

   Map projections are an essential part of cartography.  Even though their use is rare with respect to normal everyday commuters in a particular city, different map projections are undoubtedly helpful for government agencies, airport officials, ship captains, etc.  While 3-D globes are an ideal tool of navigating the world, they are not very practical.  2-D maps are used more often because they are versatile in viewing the entire world on one flat sheet of paper.  The reason why having an overview of the entire planet can be useful in, for example, travel activities and government relations is that the map shows the user where all of Earth's cities, countries, continents, oceans, etc. are in relation to each other - the user cannot do this with a 3-D globe.  Perhaps this is the main significance of 2-D maps.  However, flat paper maps are not without imperfections.  The 3-D world is pressed onto the 2-D image - some aspects of the real world do not make it onto the map.
   One example of distortion is related to distance.  For example, the Mercator Map Projection shows that the distance between Washington DC and Kabul is 10,112 miles.  However, the Equidistant Conic Map Projection shows that this distance is 6,972 miles.  That is a difference of 3,140 miles!  Which map is telling the truth?  Or are they both inaccurate?  The actual distance between the two cities is above 6,900 miles.  Map projections fall short of perfection because they distort the actual distance between two locations - some do this to a greater degree than other projections.  In the end, distance is definitely compromised when the actual distance has to be forced onto a certain map projection.  This is not the aspect of the real world that suffers.
   Another example of distortion is the shape of land masses.  In particular, Antarctica always falls into this problem.  The Azimuthal Equidistance Map Projection shows Antarctica as a small continent.  Compared to the size of the US, Antarctica's area seems to be similar.  The "small" countries of Africa are clustered up on their continent and seem to be minute when taken individually.  However, the Mercator Map Projection tells a different story.  This projection presents Antarctica as a giant monster!  The continent is obviously not big, but this projection is misleading with respect to the area.  At a first glance, it seems as if Antarctica could fit in all the countries of the world.  Antarctica's area is skewed, but the areas of other world regions, such as Africa, are not.  In the Mercator Map Projection, Africa seems to be the same size as it is on the Azimuthal Equidistant Map Projection.  Land masses are undoubtedly altered during the process of translation from 3-D to 2-D.
   Even though we live in a highly digitized and technological world, map projections are still being used for their aforementioned versatility.  They have potential because they can be improved to better conform to the standard of the real world.  The Hammer-Aitoff Map Projection gives a good representation of the world.  Antarctica is not a gigantic supercontinent, and the countries of the world are "slanted," giving the projection a 3-D globe feel.  When a user looks at a typical globe, the area he is looking directly at does not have any distortion.  The surrounding areas are distorted relative to his perspective.  2-D maps are also useful for planning the logistics of a major international trip; for example, several users can draw and write on the maps in order to facilitate the planning.  There will always be map distortions in any 2-D projection.  However, there are many map projections to accomodate the various needs different people may have.  The Equidistant Conic Map Projection may be helpful in planning trips over the North Pole.  The Stereographic Map Projection may be useful in planning trips over the South Pole.  There are numerous map projections in existence that are suited for many needs.

Getting My Feet Wet In ArcGIS

   GIS has many technological features that make it a useful tool in creating maps and storing data.  While doing this exercise, I was amazed at the many different layers of data that were synthesized to make maps that contain much information.  These maps could be used by citizens to make them more aware of the issues that surround them in their community.  Policymakers could also use these maps in an effort to address concerns of the community as a whole.  Data in both picture and table form, such as in the picture above, could be regarded as weighty pieces of evidence in favor of a piece of airport noise legislation, for example.  Even though this exercise required only a few data frames, I am certain that GIS professionals use many more data frames in a single project to give different perspectives on the same piece of land.
   GIS technology is also dynamic, which makes it very useful with respect to the real-world applications.  The real world is not constant - things are always changing - but GIS is adapted to the world's mutability. If I were able to change the data for the exercise, the graph would change based on the new data.  The fact that GIS can adapt to change is important because circumstances vary as time passes by.  Printed maps cannot change with the times.  If an airport starts to decrease in size and importance, noise levels may not be a huge concern to a nearby neighborhood.  GIS would be able to process the new data and inform various policymakers and city officials of the lessened problem.  These leaders may end up not having to spend X amount of money on fixing the noise problem.
   Even though GIS is a very sophisticated piece of technology, it does have its shortcomings.  In the example above, I created a population density map, which is divided up into many different-sized regions.  Each region is characterized with a shade of green, according to its population density.  While not blatantly inaccurate, this labeling is misleading - the map says that the density is uniform in every single part of region X.  It is as if the map is telling its user that the density will radically shift the moment somebody crosses over a border between two regions.  In my GIS experience so far, I remember extracting data that could only be used for a certain region.  Perhaps the map would have been far more accurate if the GIS program provided more data for smaller regions.  This would definitely help in suggesting different pieces of legislation, in navigation, and in personal use.  The issue of data is related to another downfall of GIS.
   As I went through the GIS exercise, I realized that while GIS is a very useful tool for mapmaking, it is constrained by the amount of data it has at any given time.  In other words, the ability of GIS to serve its user well is directly related to the amount of information it receives and already has.  While GIS can definitely be updated minute-by-minute, that depends on how fast information and data are being gathered in the outside world.  If somebody needs to know the sound levels of a nearby airport, he can easily ask for other people to do the job of collecting data regarding the amount of decibels in the nearby area.  However, what if the airport changed its regulations concerning the amount of air traffic that it can receive in any given period of time?  And what if this change was not publicly announced?  The end result would be an incorrect map, whose creator was unaware of the new airport policy.  He would again have to ask others to collect updated information about the sound levels, which takes time.  GIS is very much limited in its abilities with respect to the amount of information it has at the moment.  As previously mentioned, GIS is only as useful as the present amount of data already in the system.

Map Time!

Here is my map of the famous Parisian landmarks visitors to the city would most likely go to.
View



   Neogeography has a lot of potential. User-generated maps are becoming very popular because they are from the people themselves! The average internet user is able to post up, on Google Maps for example, the places he has been to, pictures of them, suggested routes to avoid heavy traffic, and many other types of information. User-generated content creates a type of community trust within users as they peruse the wealth of information given by many people just like themselves. Since the information comes from the users themselves, it can be seen as reliable and a first-hand account of what actually happens around a certain area - there is no medium through which the information has to be examined. Mashups can also be beneficial to those who love finding places that the majority of people do not know about. In addition to photos, users can also provide videos of a certain area. This can definitely help people in the sphere of obtaining information from maps - the people will be able to, for example, familiarize themselves with an area before going there. They will already have an expectation on what a place is going to look like because they have seen the uploaded images generated by other users who have already gone there.
   On the negative side, neogeography certainly does have its pitfalls. Since the content being put into the mashups is not screened for accuracy, users can post incorrect and misleading information that can confuse others, whether or not it was intentional. Another disadvantage for neogeography is that all of the necessary information may not be shown in any given mashup. In a certain area that a person would like to go to, it may be the case that not very many people have visited it and documented the place with pictures and video. That person is at a disadvantage because he is not able to plan his route accordingly. If he had access to a map that was created by an official mapping agency, he would most likely be able to circumvent the lack of information in other mashups by relying on what the official map says.

Beverly Hills Topographic Map Questions

1. What is the name of the quadrangle?
The name of the quadrangle is "Beverly Hills Quadrangle."

2. What are the names of the adjacent quadrangles?
The names of the adjacent quadrangles are "Canoga Park," "Van Nuys," "Burbank," "Topanga," "Hollywood," "Venice," and "Inglewood."  There is one other quadrangle in the southwest corner, but that is the Pacific Ocean.

3. When was the quadrangle first created?
The quadrangle was first created in 1995.

4. What datum was used to create your map?
The datum that was used to create the map was the North American Datum of 1983.

5. What is the scale of the map?
The scale of the map is 1:24,000.

6. At the above scale, answer the following:
     a) 5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to how many meters on the ground?
         5 centimeters on the map is equivalent to 1,200 meters on the ground.

     b) 5 inches on the map is equivalent to how many miles on the ground?
         5 inches on the map is equivalent to about 1.89 miles on the ground.

     c) one mile on the ground is equivalent to how many inches on the map?
         One mile on the ground is equivalent to 2.64 inches on the map.

     d) three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to how many centimeters on the map?
         Three kilometers on the ground is equivalent to 12.5 centimeters.

7. What is the contour interval on your map?
The contour interval is 20 feet.

8. What are the approximate geographic coordinates in both degrees/minutes/seconds and decimal degrees of:
      a) the Public Affairs Building
          34º04'23" N, 118º26'18" W
          34.07 N, 118.44 W

      b) the tip of Santa Monica Pier
          34º00'35" N, 118º29'58" W
          34.01 N, 118.50 W

      c) the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir
          34º07'11" N, 118º23'54" W
          34.12 N, 118.40 W

9. What is the approximate elevation in both feet and meters of:
      a) Greystone Mansion (in Greystone Park)
          560 ft, 170.69 meters

      b) Woodlawn Cemetery
          140 ft, 42.67 meters

      c) Crestwood Hills Park
          720 ft, 219.46 meters

10. What is the UTM zone of the map?
      The UTM zone is Zone 11.

11. What are the UTM coordinates for the lower left corner of your map?
      The UTM coordinates are (362000m E, 3763000m N)

12. How many square meters are contained within each cell (square) of the UTM gridlines?
      Each cell is 1,000,000 square meters.

13. Obtain elevation measurements, from west to east along the UTM northing 3771000, where the eastings of the UTM grid intersect the northing.  Create an elevation profile using these measurements in Excel (hint: create a line chart).  Figure out how to label the elevation values to the two measurements on campus.  Insert your elevation profile as a graphic in your blog.

The bold numbers represent the UTM northing 3771000 elevations at the UCLA campus.

14. What is the magnetic declination of the map?
The magnetic declination is 14º.

15. In which direction does water flow in the intermittent stream between the 405 freeway and Stone Canyon Reservoir?
The water flows south.

16. Crop out (i.e., cut and paste) UCLA from the map and include it as a graphic on your blog.

Maps That You May Have Never Seen Before

This map above shows the likelihood of counties across the nation that are inclined to not mail back their 2010 Census forms.  This obviously causes a problem because the federal government will not know how much representation and funding every county needs.  The source of this map is the US Census Bureau, but the map was obtained from the website of USA Today.  Counties that have a darker shade of blue are least likely to return the 2010 Census form.  It is interesting to note that many of the darkest blue counties are clustered mainly in the south and the west (including Alaska and Hawaii).  At first glance it would seem logical that a majority of people living in the US, if not everyone, would send their forms back.  Unfortunately, that is not the case for many counties.  One explanation that may account for the dark clusters around the south and the west is the huge populations of immigrants who do not know how to speak English.  English-speaking ability is a factor of whether or not the Census forms are mailed back.

The second map shown above is more of a comical, informal map.  The informality of this map is further realized by the fact that the source of this map is a Tumblr of a person named Ilya Gerner.  In this map, the creator ascribes to each state its most notable characteristic, probably taking on both a national and personal perspective of each state.  Each characteristic widely varies from state to state - the topics range from personal (Oregon, most breastfed babies) to society (New Hampshire, least poverty) to everything else in between.  A national perspective can be seen in this map.  For instance, it reflects the national perspective of the nature of the Bible Belt in the South (Mississippi, churches per capita; Alabama, church attendance).  Michigan obviously borders the Great Lakes and undoubtedly draws from them (Michigan, best freshwater access).  Putting the national perspective aside, some of the characteristics are very trivial.  Who would have ever known that Ohioans frequented their libraries so often (Ohio, highest library usage)?  Or who would ever have known that South Carolina apparently has many golf courses (South Carolina, golf holes per capita)?  This map is very interesting because it displays facts that are not commonly associated with certain states.

This set of five maps includes interesting maps that show where different types of people are concentrated within the contiguous 48 states.  The different types are extroverted people, agreeable people, neurotic people, conscientious people, and people who are open to experience.  The source of the maps is a website that is named "Who's Your City?" and was created by a person named Richard Florida.  According to these maps, extroverted people are concentrated within a 100-mile radius of Chicago, agreeable people within the South, neurotic people within the northeast, conscientious people within the South, and people who are open to experience within a 100-mile radius of Los Angeles and New York City.  It is strange to find the most extroverted people in America to be concentrated within the Chicago area.  What may be less strange is the fact that the people who are open to experience are concentrated within Los Angeles and New York City.  Perhaps the reason is that both cities are big and diverse in nature and offer many opportunities for work and volunteer projects.  As mentioned in the second map, the Bible Belt is prevalent in the South, and this may account for the fact that many conscientious people are clustered there.  They probably have a diligent work ethic where they live.  These maps can be useful for new and current companies seeking to hire people who are willing to be creative, work hard, and try new things.  The success of a company may very well depend on where it is located.  A CEO may ask himself, "Is this location X full of creative people who are open to get as much experience as possible?"