Conformal Projections

Although these two map projections are both Conformal projections, they are different. The Gall Stereographic and the Mercator projections both display the Earth, however, their scales are off. The first noticeable difference that alerts the viewer is the size of the grids. The Gall map's parcels are much more consistent that the Mercator's parcels. Both map's parcels are smaller near the equator and larger at the poles, but the Mercator projection's change in sizes is much more drastic, resulting in Antartica looking larger than all the other conitnents combined, which is obviously false. These changes in parcel sizes make the measured distances from Washington, D.C. and Kabul, Afghanistan different.The Mercator and Gall maps are not intended to display measurements accurately. Instead, they are desinged to display shapes correctly. Because of this, distances displayed on the map are not precise beacuse of the distortions on the map.

Equal Area Projections

When looking at the Equal Area Projections, we notice that the Sinusoidal and Cylindraical Equal Area maps have different distances from Washington, D.C. and Kabul by a difference of about 3,000 miles! This difference occurs because equal area projections are not desinged to measure distance accurately. As one may tell by the name, Equal Area Projections preserve area on a map, not so much distance. This is apparent by the large difference between my two maps.

Equidistant Projections

The Equidistant projections above are desingned to preserve distance accurately. Therefore, the maps should have similar distances from Washington, D.C. to Kabul. However, there is a 3,000 mile difference. The Equidistant Conic map is an example of a solid Equidistant projection, but the Plate Carree map does not exactly do what the map is intended for. Because the parcels are all the same size, distances that are not directly near the equator are slightly off. This is why the Plate Carree's distance from Washington to Kabul varies from the Equidistant Conics distance.

Lab 2a

View Sports Arenas in Southern California in a larger map

Neogeography truly gives the map maker freedom to express what he wants without strict guidlines and rules to abide by. I personally enjoy this kind of map because I can construct and unique and detailed map without meeting a series of criteria. My map above is an example of my neogeography.
A problem of neography that I imagine will cause much confusion is the fact that there are so many versions of maps that it could be difficult for a stranger to interpret a unique map. Neography teaches viewers to expect the unexpected because of the lack of rules and guidelines. The map maker has the potential to design his map in a variety of ways, and this might confuse of potential viewer.

Lab 1b

1. Beverly Hills
2. Canoga Park, Van Nuys, Burbank, Topanga, Hollywood, Venice, Inglewood
3. 1995
4. North American Datum of 1927 and 1983
5. 1:24,000
6.
a) 1,200m
b) 1.71mi
c) 2.64in
d) 12.5cm
7. The contour interval is 20 feet
8.
a) 34,4' 28.95" N x 118, 26' 20.4" W
b) 34,0' 28" N x 118,30' 0" W
c) 34,6' 7.2" N x 118,24' 47.8" W
9.
a) 575ft, 179.7m
b) 140ft, 43.75m
c) Aprox. 650ft, 203.1m
10. The UTM zone is 11
11. 34, 1' 18"
12. 1,000 meters squared
13.


14. 14 degrees
15. It flows North to South
16.

Old Europe

This map was taken from a Spanish art website found by Google Images. It is an old map of Europe and how it used to look. The map shows rivers and mountains, as well as distinct borders between land masses by using different colors and shades. It also labels various features and places. It is very interesting to view a map that was created back in time. Not only is it intriguing to see what an area used to look like but also the different styles and mapping techniques used at this time. Though I could not find the exact date of when the map was created, it is obviously either extremely old or simply wrong because Europe does not look exactly like this in contemporary maps.

My Hometown in LA

The map above was copied from maps.google.com. It shows the area of Los Angeles where UCLA is located, as well as my current residence (marked by the red dot in the left of the map). The upper right portion of the map is none other than the UCLA campus, however, only a portion of it it is displayed. For this map I used the "traffic" option which highights the traffic status. The yellow/orange color shown on the 405 freeway tell the map reader that there is medium traffic. One thing I noticed about the streets of Westwood is that there is no apparent pattern between them. Usually, cities use some form of the "grid system," which are straight streets with 90 degree angles at all the intersections. This is not visible in Westwood, with the exception of the far left of the map. Now I realize why Westwood is such a hard area to give directions to someone.