California's Top Surf Spots

Top Surf Spots in California 

Prior to cartography there was geography.  The development of geographical advancements in technology such as the Internet has allowed individuals to create sophisticated personal interactive maps.  The term “neogeography” that literally means, new geography, can be seen as the new way to distinguish professionals from amateurs. 

            However neogeography has a pitfall.  The pitfall lies in its name, which misleads people to believe that neogeography is a modern replacement for the old traditional study of geography.  Neogeography is an attempt to become user-friendly.  Neogeography is neither formal nor analytical like geography and it doesn’t encompass the culmination of geographic knowledge.  Additionally, applications of neogeography depend on easy to use yet limiting tools such as Google Maps.  Where GIS is a serious study of precise and accurate geography, neogeography is relaxed.

            Although there are pitfalls of neogeography, it would not be fair to overlook some of its benefits.  It is convenient, interactive, and arguably more enjoyable.  It can be used to create a dynamic map to make learning easier.  Neogeography has created an abundance of opportunities in geography. 

Lab 2: USGS Topographic Map

1.        Beverly Hills Quadrangle, located in Los Angeles CA.

2.       Adjacent quadrangles include, “Canoga Park,” “Van Nuys,” “Burbank,” “Topanga,” “Hollywood,” “Venice,” and “Inglewood.”

3.       1966.

4.       Produced by the United States Geological Survey.  Selected hydrographic data compiled from NOS/NOAA chart 18744 (1964).  North American Datum of 1927 (NAD 27) and North American Datum of 1983 were also used to construct this map.

5.       1:24,000

6.       a) 5cm = 1200 meters on the ground

b) 5in = 1.89 miles on the ground

c) 1 mile = 2.64 inches on the map

d) 3 km = 12.5 cm on the map

7. 20 feet

8. a) Public Affairs Building- (34° 4' 22", -118° 26' 24") and (34.073°, -118.440°).

b) Santa Monica Pier-(34° 0' 25", -118° 29' 56") and (34.007°, -118.499°).

c) Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir- (34° 7' 10", -118° 24' 37") and (34.119°, -118.410°).

9. a) Greystone Mansion- approximately 550 Feet or 167.68 meters.

b) Woodlawn Cemetery- approximately 140 Feet or 42.6 meters.

c) Crestwood Hills Park- approximately 800 Feet or 243.90 meters.

10. Zone 11

11. 361500mE. and 3763000mN.

12. 1,000,000 square meters.

13.

14. 14 degrees East.

15. North to South.

 

Lab 1-Map Descriptions

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/europeasseenbyamericans.jpg&imgrefurl=http://joecrubaugh.com/blog/category/art-culture/&h=450&w=600&sz=169&tbnid=e00NB_W0JdinJM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=111&zoom=1&docid=UzmwyTPIzuUf3M&sa=X&ei=bSaHT5qJKIqUiALcvdnlDw&ved=0CDQQ9QEwAw&dur=303

This map resembles Europe seen by Americans in a satirical way as presented by Frank Jacobs in 2010.  It offers an external, and even more one-dimensional perspective on European diversity. Americans apparently still see Russia as thinly veiled communists, and the Scandinavian countries as one big socialist union.  It must be a relief for the Danes to be called something other than Vikings, for the Finns not to be reduced to their mobile phone industry and for the Swedes to be linked to something else than Volvo, Ikea or Abba.  America’s favorite is most likely Turkey; everybody loves a good thanksgiving dinner.

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=KUQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1680&bih=956&tbm=isch&tbnid=iTIQB5OMjgSFvM:&imgrefurl=http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/04/06/irish-tweeters-not-the-happiest-people-in-the-world/&docid=Mk57MBKTL3N1nM&imgurl=http://www.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/happymap.jpg&w=791&h=484&ei=kSeHT-naNMSIiAKRzoyAAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=550&sig=100485945575774154934&page=1&tbnh=115&tbnw=188&start=0&ndsp=39&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:68&tx=129&ty=83

This map represents the levels of happiness from looking at high-level correlations between words and emotions compiled by Cambridge University Gates scholar Alex Davies.  It portrays results of where people were and what they were Tweeting and created language models to assess the distribution of words and icons associated with happiness and unhappiness.  Germany ranks as the unhappiest tweeters, although the Netherlands, France, Mexico, and America are not too far behind.  Africa is either happy as a clam or must be experiencing difficulty with AT&T’s savanna service. 

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1680&bih=956&tbm=isch&tbnid=JaXf46Rki8bU5M:&imgrefurl=http://www.photius.com/flags/usa_flag_burning_map.html&docid=EoXHkSEqaACdPM&imgurl=http://www.immigration-usa.com/flags/burning/usa_flag_burning_map.gif&w=648&h=413&ei=wCeHT-XsNZHZiQKdiaGAAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=232&sig=100485945575774154934&page=1&tbnh=108&tbnw=169&start=0&ndsp=44&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:73&tx=164&ty=61

This above map marks in blue where there have been no recorded burnings of the American flag and was created by Photius Coutsoukis. Clearly, there are limited opportunities left for virgin flag burnings, though most Africans seem to have better things to do. In Mongolia, ostensibly, you are better off American than Chinese.  Perhaps this map represents the voice of freedom signing as it marks historical events of America's past.  Interestingly, Australia seems to be in the process of burning the American flag.  If the Aboriginal bond fire blazes high enough, it might just ignite New Zealand's lower half.