Lab 7: Mapping the Station Fire in ArcGIS

In 2009 there were 63 wildfires in California. These fires burned more than 300,000 acres of land and lasted from July until November. They destroyed hundreds of structures and lead to the death of two people. In Southern California august was full of noticeably severe and large fires. The most notable of these was the Station Fire.

The Station Fire started in the Angeles National Forest near highway 2. It was the largest and deadliest wildfire in 2009 and the 10th largest in California history, burning over 160,000 acres and killing two firefighters who were trying to put it out. The fire is remembered by many from the towering clouds of smoke that loomed over Los Angeles for days. Investigators discovered a substance where the first started that they believed accelerated the flames and thus was an act of arson. 

The flames reached part of the Angeles Crest Highway, melting road signs and leaving burned debris in the road. The fire lead to neighborhood evacuations as the flame was uncontrolled and spread in three different directions. This put many communities and neighborhoods at risk of losing their homes or worse, their lives. As my theme map shows, two hospitals were located very close to the fire and were at risk of burning: Verdugo Hills Hospital and Villa Oaks Hospital. Evacuating a hospital is a hard and potentially dangerous process for patients that are serious ill. Verdugo Hills Hospital was the most at risk. Workers could literally see the flames from the hospital. 

A year after the Los Angeles house members questioned the U.S. Forest Service officials if costs concerns had hampered their response time to the fire. The U.S. Forest Fire denied these allegations. A Forest Service commander overseeing the firefight claims that there was a window of opportunity that wasn't taken. This lost opportunity left these communities and hospitals in these communities at serious risk. The house thinks that a desire to control the costs slowed the arrival of vital resources that could have stopped the fire before it rapidly augmented. These concerns are important because of the proximity and potential danger the fire posed to local hospitals.

At the end of the fire more than 12,500 homes were threatened and 6,600 were ordered to evacuate. It took more than 2,800 fire fighters, 12 helicopters, and 8 air tankers to contain the fire. Urbanization has fragmented the landscape and helped facilitate fast and powerful fires like the Station fire. After the fire, the Angeles National Forest turned into a research site as scientists studied the environmental aftermath of the burned forest. Scientists studied bugs, fish, tadpoles as well as vegetation because loose soil could produce huge mudslides. They also analyzed the effects the fire retardant used to contain the fire had on the eco-system. The chemicals it contained could affect vital water sources that could be harmful to patients in nearby hospitals. 

Bibliography:

1. "L.A. County fire doubles in Size; more homes destroyed; Mt. Wilson Threatened." L.A. Now. Aug. 31. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/la-county-fire-doubles-in-size-more-homes-list-mt-wilson-threatened.html>

2. 'Angry Fire' roars across 100,000 California acres. CNN U.S. Aug. 31. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-08-31/us/california.wildfires_1_mike-dietrich-firefighters-safety-incident-commander?_s=PM:US>

3. "2009 California Wildfires." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 1. Nov. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_California_wildfires>.

4. "After Devastating Fire, an Intense Study of Its Effects." The New York Times. Oct. 2. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/03/science/earth/03fire.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1>

5."Station Fire's lost Window of Opportunity Recounted." LA Times. Oct. 13. 2009. Web. 22 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/13/local/la-me-station-fire-20101013>

Lab 6: Dems in ArcGIS

The area I chose is the East Bay of the San Francisco bay area. The elevation in this area is very interesting because of its proximity to San Francisco. People can go up to the top of the mountains and see a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the San Francisco Skyline, and many more iconic sites of the Bay Area. The geographic coordinate system that is used in this area is the 1983 N. American GCS, based on the 1983 Datum and the area is found in UTM Zone 11. The extend information is Top: 37.998, Bottom: 37.773, Left: -122,343, and right -121.984.

 

Lab 5: Projections in ArcGIS

Map projections are used to represent the surface of a sphere or another shape on a plane. They are critical in creating maps but it is important to note that they always distort the surface in some way. This distortion is very apparent by the difference in distance from Washington D.C. to Kabul, Afghanistan in the maps. Map projections are used to preserve many different properties of Earth, but not all of them at the same time. Each map projection I modeled (equal area, conformal, equidistant) acts to preserve specific properties and have unique applications.

Equal area attempt to preserve the area. Preserving area is essential for many important applications of maps: scientific information of geographic distributions (pollution, deforestation, crop yielding, etc...) and education atlases and charts. Equal area maps serve to display true area ratios that are hard to interpret from a table.

Conformal map projections preserve angles. They are usually used for large-scale applications; conformal maps are used in solving engineering and physics problems. They have been important in the study of the electromagnetic field, the gravitational field, and much more. They are generally better used for calculations than continental or world maps.

Equidistant map projections are used to preserve distance from a standard line or point. The distances are only correct between points along a straight line and otherwise are not accurate. Useful application are a polar projection, where all the distances from the center are measured along any longitudinal line will be accurate, to show airline distances, and for seismic and radio work.

Lab 4: Introducing ArcMap

I enjoyed my tutorial with ArcMap. Although I only completed the tutorial and followed a list of instructions, it allowed me to see the control I will have when creating GIS maps. I think it is very cool that you can make so many different maps with different layers and then juxtapose them in one page. This has allowed me to see how valuable GIS is and can be in many different ways. I look forward to learning more about GIS and how it is used in our society.

There is a lot of potential with GIS. The use of GIS is augmenting rapidly as environmentalists, cities, the FBI and many more have adapted the mapping technology. GIS offers a way to visualize the real world and calculate objective consequences that may happen if specific events occur (such as deforestation, crime rate, starvation). It can be used as a mediator to help people on different sides work together. GIS has and will continue to have a huge impact on many key decisions for the future of our society.

Although there is a lot of potential, there are also a lot of pitfalls. GIS is only as good as its data, which isn't always accurate. GIS can do a lot to mimic the real world but in the end it is only a computer program and cannot truly see into the future.

Overall I think there is much more potential than pitfalls; as long as people realize that it is only a computer model and use it accordingly. GIS is changing the way that many aspects of our society visualize problems and possible solutions to those problems, and ultimately impacts their final decision. GIS is here to stay and with an increase in social and environmental issues, its importance will only increase.