Virtual Worlds

For my Virtual Worlds blog this week, I would like to do a discussion on Google Earth Pro. This was the program that I did my work for project 2 on and I have to admit that it is an amazing piece of software. My project was supposed to be on golf courses of the reno area, but I encountered some technical difficulites and lost my work on one of the computers. With all that aside, this was the progress I achieved before I lost the info. My project was based on a common starting point that both locals and tourists would be able to identify; the Reno/Tahoe international airport. I had designed "least resistance" routes based partially on google's recommendation, and my general local knowledge of streets in Reno. These routes were then highlighted in a light purple to produce a distinctive figure/ground relationship and not be overly distracting. Next, I created manual fly-by's for each route (11 total) and labled intersections that were junctions in the routes. This produced "mapquest" like directions right on the map for the viewer to put a name with the surrounding area as they took the virtual drive from the airport to their golf course of choice. In order to keep the street visible as well as the surrounding area for landmarks and reference points, I used 300 ft elevation with a 50 degree angle. This provided enough of both to be able to point out distinctive features that one could recognize from both a real drive and the tour. When I showed people this tour, they were very impressed with my ability to use this program, but in reality I was impressed at how amazingly easy it was to use. Most things are very straight forward for the beginning user and once you become a little more familiar with it, some very amazing products can be created. So, my hat is off to Google for producing such a program and I can't wait for Higher-resolution immagery to come out so that even more things can be done. I know you can download your own remote sensing photos, but it would be nice to have them already in the database for use by all.

Very Spatial Games

So, the game I decided to play was a great game that had you place each individual state in its respective location on a United States map. The link to this game is: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/states_experiment_drag-drop_Intermed_State15s_500.html Before I discuss it, my personal stats on the game were as follows: I completed it in 422 seconds, had a 68% score and my average error was 92 miles. I was doing this game with a laptop cursor, so I don't feel all to bad for that score. I'm sure I would do much better had a taken a little more time to place the state a little better in most instances. Okay...About the game. The game is a really good design that allows you asks you to place the states on the US map in a random order. When a state is placed correctly, it gives you your stat immedietly and when you place it incorrectly, it shows you where the state belongs by highliting the area that it should be placed in. The one thing to remember is that this game does not have state boundries in any type of marking, so sometimes it is nessicary to take a ball park guess at first until you get a few major states in place for better reference. Because I had been to roughly 40 of the states, I had a very good knowledge of where most of them went, but then I also realized that the ones that I haven't been to posed the biggest problem for me. Go figure... All in all, I thing this is a great game worth using as a pedogogical tool for elementry to early middle school teachers. I really wish I would have had something this fun when I was going to school!

Mapping Hazards

Over the past few years, mapping hazards has come more into the public eye. This has been the case for many reasons, but primarily, it is because the public wants to know how much damage has been caused by natural disasters. Because of the extent of this damage, people want to know more about their own risk of being in danger. This is where modeling comes into play. Geographers as well as specialists in many other fields have been able to map potential threats with increasing ease because of the use of G.I.S. and can make several different maps displaying several different outcomes based on information of these hazards. The very first time I saw a hazard map was when I was in the army. At the time, I didn't think alot of it because it was just a tool that was given to us to help us stay alive, but this landmine field map was precisely a hazard map. Next was our standard aviator maps. These maps listed several hazards ranging from power lines, to towers that had suffecient height to be a danger to the hellicopter and its crew. But once I arrived to college, I started to see a completely different hazard map. These maps ranged from fault line geological maps, to flood plane maps. The one thing that all of these maps had in common though were the predicition of certain hazards under certain conditions. Now, even in vehicles, we have up to date hazard maps that outline construction zones and current traffic conditions and can help us circumnavigate these hazards. Point in hand, mapping hazards is all about prevention. Prevention of damage to body and property and they are becoming more frequent in our everyday lives. What was once a map designed to show the aftermath of a disaster, is now a map showing the possible effects of a disaster and how to help prepare or prevent these hazards from adversly affecting you.

Blog Bear 1 (extreme cartography)

Hmmm...I'm not exactly sure how to address this one because there are so many different interpretations of what extreme cartography might be. I think I'll discuss the different versions that could constitute extreme cartography and then throw my most recent experience into the loop.

Version 1: Cartography in desolate regions.

Until the 20th century, there was only one way to know what was out in the big, bad world and that was to travel it on its surface. Please realize that I am talking about before the age of airplanes and satellites. There are maps that covered the entire globe well before man ever left the ground to do this reconnaissance and it is quite amazing to me that this was possible. But amazing as it might be, it was done and with a pretty high degree of accuracy. Having been someone who has traveled the world a few times over and done a fair amount of hiking, I have alot of respect for the way maps were made in the past. Both the information gathering and production. Someone had to cover the land being mapped and I think that very much qualifies as extreme cartography.

Version 2: Cartography using early aviation.

This version I believe to be extreme because the first use of aviation for cartography was in World War 1 for drawing the battlefield. Not only were these early aerial cartographers in constant danger of being shot down by both ground and aerial fire, but the technology for these aircraft wasn't what it is today and they were quite mechanically unreliable. But these cartographers made accurate depictions of the battlefield and were able to bring that information to their units for better tactical planning. With no other explanation necessary, I believe this too, qualifies as extreme cartography.

Version 3: Mapping disasters, both natural and unnatural.

My last version of extreme cartography isn't really extreme in its collection so much, but rather depicting and modeling the damages from disasters. Granted, some data is collected from the field during the event, but I am mostly focusing on what happens afterward. These maps that show the destruction are showing the extremeness of the events and the aftermath in order to give meaning and relevance to the event. Once again, I think this is pretty self-explanatory and could be counted as extreme cartography.

MY VERSION: Skydiving!

Okay, so I realize that while I was skydiving during spring break, I didn't make a map of the area that I saw, but while plummeting to the earth, I realized a couple of things. 1: I could recognize features that I had seen on the ground just minutes before that were also on the directions map to the skydiving center, and 2: I could easily re-create a rough map from the landmarks that I saw. Like I've said in previous blogs, I don't' think I could do that by hand, or keep the ratio's correct, but with G.I.S., I could easily trace the flight route of the airplane from take-off to drop point and track our descent. I'm also confident that I could compare that to either G.P.S. recordings or the pilots flight route on a map and be relatively close. So while this adventure wasn't intended to practice anything I've learned in school, I wanted to relate it if only for the fact that it's the most extreme thing I've done in a while :).

3-D Cartography...

Once again, one of my favorite parts of cartography. I think that everyone had a globe when they were a kid. It just seems to me that, for some reason, you ended up getting one for either your birthday or Christmas. Now, in the realm of globes, we all know from experience of receiving at least one throughout our lives that they are not all created equal. Take the standard generic globe for instance. These are all properly labeled with cartographic rules in mind, but lack any real creativity. They may include very cheaply made parts as well as a some very boring color schemes. Now we will travel to the other end of the spectrum where globes are made of exotic rocks and weigh in the neighborhood of 30-40 lbs. These globes may not have the most interesting color schemes, but the intrigue is really the fact that it is made of different types of rock while still keeping the proper proportions of the earth in mind. But...there is that globe somewhere in between that isn't really all that expensive, but shows us things that neither of the two before mentioned globes do and that is contour. Granted, only the largest of the land features can be represented because of the surface being represented, but these 3-D globes allow their audience to recognize some of the earths more prominent land features and even the occasional day dreamer to have thoughts of what each of those places would be like in real life. This is my earliest exposure to 3-D cartography.

Now days, 3-D cartography is being used by taking satellite imagery and creating different contours through G.I.S.. Although the paper is flat, by making these maps with the shading in the right place, they can appear to be 3 dimensional. This not only aids the viewer in seeing what that location would look like in real life, but it allows the cartographer to capture the interest of their audience much quicker. The cartographer also has the ability to influence the focus of the audience such as in this 3-D map to the right. This map has a lot of information in the foreground, but the 3 dimensional mountains in the background capture the audiences attention first. Simply put, contour is more interesting if you are looking at this map for the first time.

Although 3-D maps aren't very useful for navigation when distance is being tracked manually, it is extremely useful for someones first exposure to an area. While in the military, we could use this type of imagery to plan flight routes and outline possible enemy locations if the intelligence agency didn't have information for the area we were operating in.

Hiking is another area where 3-D imagery could prove very useful. Although most 3-D cartography doesn't include ways of measuring distance covered, you can plan a route very effectively by analyzing terrain ahead of time and outlining possible dangers. This makes the trip much more familiar when using a standard UTM topographic map.

All in all, I find 3-D cartography amazing and enjoy using it from time to time. Although I don't use it for critical purposes like the ones I discussed before, I do enjoy using functions of "Google Earth" to see what things really look like compared to just a simple flat image and I'm very excited to see what developments take place within 3-D cartography in the future.

Old Map, New Map...

Well, this one is one that I have really looked forward to because I have considered myself very very lucky to have been part of the G.I.S. community and had the ability to make maps with computers rather than pencil's and papers. I have alot of respect for those that have been trained to make maps by hand, but I know this: I would not be one of those people if G.I.S did not exist.

I'll be the first to tell you that yes, i can draw, but I can hardly ever keep my scale consistent within what I draw. I do realize that vintage maps were created with the use of mathematics, special tools and techniques, but I don't believe that I would have been one to whom that appealed much. Take the map to the right for instance. To me, this map looks as though it may cover an area of less than 50 square miles. And although there may be minor discrepancies within the map, it took a good deal of knowledge of the area in order to create it. The intimate details of location such as the houses in relation to the rivers, streams, forest and mountains and even the smallest detail of the location of the mountains and their orientation depicted by the direction of the shadowing. These are art features that I apparently lack although I can recognize them. Now the next example I have is one that I know for a fact I could never have a complete and thorough knowledge of and that is the entire continent of North America. These are the things that I have so much respect for cartographers of the past for because I can never seem to figure out how they are able to make these caliber of maps with such accurate detail . But they did and often times, these kinds of maps were used for navigation; both on land and sea. So, the one thing that I must say is: thank goodness for computers!

With the use of computers, these kinds of maps are just a click of a button away if you want to simply just download a completed one. If you are trying to make them, the process is almost as simple and all you have to do is know where to get the data and what data you actually need to complete your map. To some "old timers" just looking at a computer is enough to make them sweating, but to the younger generations, this is their way of life. Information is no longer page after grueling page in a book, but rather the right word entered in an Internet search engine away. The same is true for making maps. It is not uncommon for maps to be made of places that the map maker has never been. And the reason for this is the simplicityy of being able to access information on the Internet, download it and use it in standard map making software. Once again, take the image to the right here. It covers the same portion of the United States that the map above it does, but the scale is perfect throughout the entirety of the map and was probably created in a very short amount of time. This type of map does not require a cartographic expert to assemble, but rather, can be put together by a G.I.S beginner in an entry level class. My point being this: I know the limits of my drawing capabilities, and without the use of computers, there is no way, I would be able to partake in cartography. So, while in my opinion, it takes much more skill to make the maps of the past, I am very glad that I am able to create new maps here and in the future.

Interactive and Animated Cartography

This theme is one that has come to surface into the mainstream within the past few years. I can remember when the term "interactive and animated cartography" was pretty much limited to maps that were simply put into slide shows for what ever reason the presenter saw fit to explain their point. And although my knowledge of this subject isn't on the cutting edge of the technology that we have now, I do know that it has grown by leaps and bounds and that we are now able to make and view complete animations using G.I.S. and satelite imagery. These animations are not only impressive, but extremely useful in presenting information and keeping the audience interested in this technology based world. Please be reminded that what I am talking about is the animated cartography portion here. In its simplest form, animated cartography is just a slideshow of maps. Now days, you can view areas of the earths surface in three dimentional forms as though you are in an airplane or a bird even flying through the air looking at them. When constructing these animated presentations, you can change everything from the level of zoom you want your audience to see, to the different features you want either included or omitted. These features make this sort of cartographic presentation very effective to prove points and inform audiences.

When we delve into the interactive cartography, we are exploring another form of electronic cartography that allows us to obviously interact with the map. One of my favorite examples of this is something that I generally take for granted because I use it so frequently. I never really realized that I was using this form of interractive cartography because it was just a new feature in a common search engine I use. When searching the local location for things, often times you are presented with a list of the search results and a simple map with these locations mapped on it. Usually, these are small baloons with letters that correlate to the list that is also provided. But, these balloons are clickable for further information. A perfect example is the link I'm providing of my latest search (http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=car+wash&near=Reno,+NV&ie=UTF8&z=12&ll=39.518344,-119.800415&spn=0.114149,0.2314&om=1) This search took me a matter of seconds and I was able to pick the car wash closest to my location. With out the interactive feature of this map and being able to zoom in and out, I would have been searching for up to an hour trying to figure out what kind of car wash it was and if it was close by referencing the addresses to a map of some sorts. So although, very very complex in terms of composition, these interractive maps are so very easy to use on a day to day basis and they are quickly becoming part of many peoples daily lives. And remember, this is just a drop in the bucked compared to what is actually out there, but I wanted to give an example of something that many people use day to day in order to show that this is becoming part of many people's lives and they don't even realize it.

Maps and the American Identity

Yes, I understand how behind I am on these, but I finally broke into the wiki and I'm ready to do some damage starting with this blog. As with all of these vague blog assignments that can be taken one way or another depending on one's mood, I sat here thinking of the best way to address this. Having traveled around the world on my military experiences, I have never taken a strong look at the maps made in other countries. Some maps that I remember pretty well include: subway maps from Korea, bus route maps from Iraq, and the normal military maps that we used throughout our travels. I'm sure that there were many more maps out there; some useful, some not, but these are the ones that are still very vivid in my mind.

So, by now you may be wondering what exactly this has to do with maps and the American identity. Well, one thing I notice about traveling around the United States, is that maps are readily available for everyone and almost everywhere. These locations range from gas stations to restaurants, grocery stores to book stores. Could this be because we are such a traveling nation that maps are in a constant demand and our diversity is such that maps must be continusouly made in order to suit our needs? I believe that is exactly the fact! The abundance of maps that we Americans need to suit our identity is enormous because of how diverse we are and what kind of needs we have. We are a very high maintenance culture which requires much traveling at times to keep us satisfied. Hence, every map produced within the United States, for the United States is a direct reflection on our way of life.

While contemplating this issue once again, I thought of a few examples of the kinds of maps I've seen that represent our identity as Americans. These examples include recreation maps for any given area, maps of historic significance, and the various maps that outline political boundaries. In my opinion though, the main thing that sets us apart from the vast majority of the world is the fact that we have a map for just about anything, and if it doesn't exist, we can easily create one through the use of G.I.S. .

Mapping the News

Mapping the News can be taken in many different ways I suppose. You could look at that term and say to your self "well they're obviously talking about making weather maps, or political maps right?" And yes, you could be completely right. Or better yet, you could probably just list the different maps that the news uses these days. Everything from the before mentioned weather and political maps to voting patterns, to even simple road maps used as examples in a breaking story of some sort. But what if we took this title and just applied it directly to a map? We could use dot density methods to identify news stations, news paper offices, distribution centers, and the same for all other media sources. We could use graduated symbol methods for identifying locations of and magnitude of coverage areas or even migration symbols to show distribution routes as well. So, instead of the news mapping us, we could map the news! A novel concept if I may say so myself. We could put the media under the cartographic microscope and show their patterns. Better yet, we could make an array of maps showing where our media personalities live or just make a simple chloropleth map depicting the percentage of people employed by the media. So, the point here is not only that we "map makers" could work for the media and produce maps to support what ever topic they may wish us to, but we could hold them at the point of observation as well. I just figured it would be a nice twist to throw in the "mercinary factor" on this blog =)

Map Colors: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Map Colors: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly



This map has an excellent use of colors. My argument based on the fact that appropriate colors are used and applicable for the different components of the map.
First is the lettering. The lettering for cities, countries, numbers, and sources are all in black to have a good figure ground contrast. Next is the use of blue for the lettering of water bodies and the water bodies themselves. Additionally, with the exception of two countries, each country is colored a distinct color to clearly identify that it is its own separate entity from the rest. When the same color or near colors were used for Rwanda, and Sudan, they were on opposite sides of the map. The last use of color I wanted to emphasize is the use of color on the north arrow. It is in a rather bright orange in comparison to its background which makes it stand out and become easily identifiable. Overall, this map, though basic, is a great example of good use of color.

map fact/ map fiction

So, I'm sitting around thinking about assignment given during class and it hits me: maps can be what ever you want them to be, and in any case, they can be both fact and fiction. What I mean by this is that the map creator will create a map based on a specific audience and that audience is the only ones who will benefit completely from the map. On the flip side of that, if a different audience tries to use that map for purposes other than it was intended for, the information could be taken completely out of context and the map would be considered fictional information rather than factual information. With this being said, I believe that all maps that are created are going to fall into both categories just because you can not create a map to suit every possible purpose for the area being mapped. Examples: Topographic maps are of very little use to people navigating through cities, tourist maps are of no use to most researchers , and road maps are of little use to aviators and back country hiking enthusiasts.

Going along with this map fact/ map fiction theme, it is the map creators literal duty to create a map that accurately expresses what they are trying to convey to the audience in the best way possible and while presenting this map, clearly define the audience so as not to confuse anyone else who may want to unknowingly use it for other than its intended purposes. By doing this, the map creator reduces the liability of their information, and reputation. They will be able to produce an accurate, well planned map and know that it is being used so as to maximize the information it has to offer within.

That is my take on this map fact/ map fiction theme. I just know that information can be portrayed in so many different forms and used to sway an audience either in favor, or against a topic or issue and the misuse of this resource could be detrimental in the wrong circumstance. Just as in medicine, law and government...well maybe not so much in government, there is a strict code of ethics that should be followed, so too must the geographer when producing these maps because one never knows when it could be used wrongfully and what the consequences of that may be.

That is all...