GEO 301 Final

What are the four basic human factors underlying human activity.

1. Administrative factors 2. Technological factors 3. Cultural factors 4. Economic factors

Describe two ways that the physical environment can influence agricultural land use.

1. Types of crops: can be influenced by climate factors such as air circulation, temperature and precipitation, as well as proximity to water. 2. Field structure: If land is flat, fields will generally have a rectangular shape. Fields of irregular shape, size, and orientation might occur in areas of rough terrain and land segmented by a stream network

If a map has a scale of 1:24,000 how much will the vertical scale for a 2x exaggeration be? How about a 4x?

A 2x exaggeration has a scale of 1:12,000 A 4x exaggeration has a scale of

What is a census block group?

A cluster of census blocks having the same first digit of their four-digit identifying numbers within a census tract.

What is a maximum slope path?

A path that does not exceed a specific slope angle.

What is a constant slope path and how do you determine it?

A path that maintains a constant steepness. Set a ground distance equal to the contour interval, divided by the tangent of the slope angle (GD = CI/Tan(SA)) "Walk" this value along a path.

What is a census tract?

A small, relatively permanent statistically equivalent entity delineated by local participants as part of the US Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program.

What is a gradient

A vector that describes both magnitude and direction, the maximum amount of vertical change on a surface, and the direction in which that change occurs.

What is the purpose of zoning maps?

A zoning map divides an area into a number of zoning districts. The basic districts are residential, commercial, industrial, and other open space, with subcategories for each.Zoning maps can help explain land-use patterns (found on land-use maps). Zoning codes are created and enforced under local law. A zoning district map guides future developments in the city but districts are not set in stone. Zoning codes reflect various aspects of the physical landscape but are also sensitive to human preferences and needs, including food production, shopping, recreation, clean air and drinking water, and high quality residential areas.

What is color infrared photography (CIR)? What are some of its uses?

Film that is sensitive to near infrared wavelengths as well as to visible light. It's useful for vegetation studies, crop inspection, tree growth inventories, and damage assessment of diseased flora. CIR has also been useful in mapping faults, fractures, and joints. Water turbidity. Healthy vegetation appears bright magenta red due to its high near-IR reflectance.

Describe how to calculate a feature's area using the grid cell counting method.

First, use scale bar to determine cell length and height: Measure a distance on the scale bar, find how many grid cells are in this length, divide the distance by the number of grid cells to find the length of a single cell. Do the same for height. Map area = (whole cells + partial cells/2) x area of grid cell ex. = (109 + 93/2 cells) x 2,500 sq. m./cell

How were floodplains formed? Give an example of where they can be found.

Floodplains were influenced by the filling of oxbows with sediment from flows, forming marshy areas typical of the landform. In a floodplains flat valleys, the rivers develop a meandering drainage pattern. Meandering rivers form a natural levee from sediment deposited on its banks during floods, which force tributary streams to parallel the main channel before cutting through and joining the river. Meandering streams develop in areas with low gradients Ex. the Rio Grand flows easterly in its floodplain through the San Luis Valley near Alamosa, CO.

Diffuse (Labertian) reflectors

In panochromatic imagery, objects with uniformly rough surfaces scatter or diffuse light in many directions. Highly reflective objects usually appear light toned.

Corner reflectors

In panochromatic imagery, perpendicular objects are close together and create reflected light when light bounces off of something and is directed back to the camera

Mirror reflectors

In panochromatic imagery, reflected light leaves the surface at the same angle as it arrives from its source but in the opposite direction.

How do you find a gradient path?

It is the point where you could place a drop of water at the highest point and observe the path the water drop takes moving downward under gravity. In other words, downhill along a least-resistance path at right angles to the contours. Maximum gradient is always at right angles to the contour lines.

Describe rural land-cover maps

Land use maps describe the vegetation, structures, or other features that are present on or "cover" the land. Remote sensing is used to digitally classify satellite images of an area to create the map.

Explain how aerial photographs are taken and arranged.

Large-scale air photos are obtained by flying the aircraft at around 10,00 ft above the ground along flight lines. Photos are taken along the flight line so that there is a 60-80% overlap. Typically more than a single flight line is required to cover the area to be mapped, and adjacent flight lines are planned with a 20-30% sidelap to ensure that there are no gaps in the coverage.

Describe thermal-infrared imagery

Lighter tones are associated with warmer objects, darker tones with coler objects. On thermal images, an object's tone is related to three characteristics: - its thermal capacity (amount of energy it can store) - its conductivity (resistance to heating and cooling) - its inertia (the rate at which it gains or loses heat)

Explain alpine glaciation landforms. How can they be identified? Give an example of where they can be found.

Alpine glaciation areas were formed during the Pleistocene when ice fields grew into lobe-shaped glaciers whose downward movement eroded bowl-shaped cirques into the mountains. As glaciation continues, adjacent cirques expand until they intersect, forming steep, narrow ridges (aretes). There is often a saddle (col) in the middle of the arete. Sometimes three cirques converge to form a steep, rocky peak (horn) at the intersection point that can be identified as closed triangular contours. U-shaped contours at higher elevations show steep, curved walls. Contour spacing often increases in the middle of the cirque where the surface slopes gently enough for small tarn lakes to form after glacier melt. Glaciation landforms often have a dendric drainage pattern. Ex. the area just east of Yellowstone National Park

What is a census block?

An area bounded on all sides by visible features, such as streets, roads, streams, and railroad tracks, and by invisible boundaries, such as city, town, township, and county limits, property lines, and short, imaginary extensions of streets and roads. Generally, census blocks are small in area; for example, a block bounded by city streets. However, census blocks in sparsely settled areas may contain many square miles of territory.

What is aspect and how is it expressed?

Aspect is the same as gradient direction. It is the compass direction a hill faces and is expressed in terms of the compass direction of the slope from 0-360.

How were braided river channels formed? Give an example of where they can be found.

Braided channels are formed by the heavy deposition of sand and gravel, giving the stream a broad shallow channel. This occurs when tributary streams deposit more sediment than the main channel can transport. Braided streams are wide, shallow, and heavily loaded with sediment. Ex. The Madison River near Ennis, Montana Typical of either arid areas with sporadic heavy precip. from large thunderstorms, and in alpine or polar areas drained by seasonal, glacial-meltwater streams.

Describe how to calculate a feature's area using the dot grid counting method.

Calculate the area of a grid cel, then divide that value by the number of dots present (4 in the lab) to get the area represented by one dot. Area = (# dots inside boundary + half the # of dots on the boundary) x ground area per dot

How are uniformly sloping plains formed? how can they be recognized on a topographic map? Give an example of where they can be found.

Cataclysmic flooding and volcanic and glacial action create sandy, silty soils. Equally spaced contours in a zigzag formation run diagonally across the map. Uniform, gently sloping plains and V shapes along the stream course aligned with the downward slope direction indicate streams flow parallel to each other. Uniformly sloping plains have a parallel drainage pattern. ex. Horse Heaven hills in Yakima Valley

What do climate maps show? Give some examples of climate maps.

Climate maps show temperature and precipitation averages to map different types of climates. These are created using averages from a three-decade period from station records across the world. Station averages and DEMs are put into a climate modeling program to create national and state maps. Ex. Monthly climate maps (often produced for Jan. and July), climate types, heating degree-days, solar radiation, percentage of possible sunshine received.

What are some of the problems with aerial photography?

Clouds, haze, shadows/sun angle, snow Distortion - tip and tilt - relief distortion - radial distortion

What are some of the factors that shape commercial forestry? Explain

Commercial forestry is shaped by administrative facts and the physical environment. Regulations, ownership, evidence of the most economical way to harvest trees, different tones created by laws regarding replanting of clear-cut land, and riparian buffers are all indicative of administrative issues. Economic facts are indicated by the irregular-shapes of clear-cuts designed to minimize the cost of moving trees to landings.

What are some of the terms we use to describe the shape of an area?

Compact, elongated, irregular

What is the compactness of a shape? How do you calculate it?

Compactness of a shape means that an area feature occupies little space in relation to its area. This is considered a desirable trait because compact regions are most efficiently serviced and defended and partitioning space into compact units for administrative and political purposes conveys a sense of fairness. A compact shape is one in which all points on the boundary are as close as possible to the center. The circle is the most compact two-dimensional shape because its boundary is everywhere equidistant from its center point. Compactness = [A x 4(Pi)] / P A = area and P = perimeter

What are control points?

Control points are positions on a map (and/or on the Earth's surface) from which accurate measurements can be made.

Describe what things might be included in a GLO township survey map and what we might learn from them.

Created by the General Land Office (GLO), these maps show US Public Land Survey township, section, and fractional section lines, and also Donation Land Claim boundaries, types of terrain, vegetation, roads and trails, cultivated fields, and houses. These can indicate whether a town site was well placed from an economic (use of steamboats or trains), technological (invention of cars), or physical (access to water), viewpoint, etc. You can also learn about urban settlement patterns by looking at annexation date information, which can tell us about the history of the area.

Overlap

Duplicated image of the ground in two successive air photos

Explain continental glaciation landforms. How can they be identified? Give an example of where they can be found.

During the Pleistocene, ice sheets advanced and retreated, eroding the bedrock into a flat plain. Topography appears unorganized and randomly placed on a map. Continental glaciation has a deranged drainage pattern. Ex. the area around Menahga, Minnesota

When/how often is the US Census of Population and Housing conducted?

Once at the end of each decade. Data collected at residences are aggregated into totals for the standard census geographic hierarchy of census block, census block group, census tract, city, county, and state. Demographic maps are made at each of these levels, but census block and tract maps display the most detailed information.

What are flight lines?

Paths that the aircraft follow

Describe medium altitude air photos?

Photographs acquired at latitudes from 1,500 to 10,000 feet. These provide less environmental detail but can cover more ground area.

What is high elevation photography?

Photographs taken from an altitude of 40,000 feet and center on a USGS 7.5 minute quadrange. Large ground area can be covered in a single photo but shows much less details. Uses include monitoring forest resources, snow cover, crop yields, and may other environmental features.

What is low elevation photography?

Photos taken anywhere from just above the ground to around 1,500 feet above the surface. These are the most detailed images and usually cover a small ground area at a large map scale.

Describe the relationship between physical setting and the distribution of plants and animals.

Plants and animals have evolved in close association with their inorganic surroundings and each other. Plants and animals have a high degree of environmental sensitivity so they provide powerful clues for interpreting the physical settling from maps.

What are some of the different types of demographic maps? Name six.

Population density Minority population concentrations Ethnic neighborhoods Population age Education, income, and unemployment Housing characteristics

Describe the goals and purpose of land-use maps?

Produced by the city or county, land-use maps are designed to ensure sensible land use by designating the locations for various types of human activity. The goal is to optimize the long-term good for the greatest number of people and minimize damage to the physical environment.

How are Doppler radar maps formed?

Radar information shown on the map is a collection of images from a network of ground radar facilities, each of which sends out radio wave energy into the atmosphere.

How is karst topography formed? What are some of its identifying features? Give an example of where they can be found.

Rainwater picks up CO2 from the air and dead plant debris in the soil and percolates through cracks, dissolving carbonate bedrock (ex. limestone, dolomite, or marble). Features include well-eroded rolling hills, deep hollows, sinkholes, vertical shafts, natural bridges, springs, and disappearing streams. Underground, there will be a complex drainage system and caves. Myakka River State Park, near Sarasota, Florida

What are some of the uses of true color photography? Name one advantage and disadvantage.

Revealing the condition of objects, such as stage of a crop, vegetation and soils classification, geologic mapping, and surface water studies. Easy to interpret Fuzzy due to atmospheric scattering

Describe some feature identification elements and how they can help you interpret an environment.

Shape: cultural and natural features Size: relative size (ex. horse track vs. runner's track, apartments vs. houses...) Color/Tone: an object's lightness or darkness on the image. Color can become more and more muted with increasing distance between the sensor and the ground. ex. coniferous vs. deciduous Texture: the frequency of tonal change such as coarseness/smoothness; smoothness - crops, bare fields, water. Coarseness - forest, lava flows, etc. Pattern: Represents order, and order has cause. Repeating patterns indicate cultural features - random = natural Site: relationship of a feature to its environment Association: identifying one feature can help id another Shadows: ex. storage tanks or towers

What is a side looking airborne radar image?

Side-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) is an aircraft- or satellite-mounted imaging radar pointing perpendicular to the direction of flight (hence "side-looking"). It is used for taking aerial photographs. Rough surfaces result in mid-range tones Smooth surfaces are mirror reflectors Tonal variation depends on a surface's orientation relative to the SLAR sensor.

What are the three primary ways to express slope?

Slope ratio Slope percentage Slope angle

What is slope ratio and how do you calculate it?

Slope ratio is the ratio between the elevation difference (rise) and the ground distance (run) between two points. Slope ratio = rise/run

What are fiducial marks?

Small registration marks exposed on the film at the edges of a photograph. If you draw lines between opposite pairs of fiducial marks, they will intersect at the center of the photo (the principal point).

How are Alluvian fans formed? Give an example of where they can be found.

Streams carrying high sediment loads from mountainous areas to a flat valley bottom, particularly during infrequent, intense rainstorms in arid areas, build alluvial fan. Over time, the stream deposits the sediments on the valley floor as a low cone of sand and gravel. These form where a stream emerges from a narrow mountain canyon. Cedar Creek near Ennis, Montana but are mostly found in the deserts of the southwest.

What does a basic daily weather map show?

Surface observations such as temperature, air pressure, cloud cover, wind, and precipitation data.

How were structural domes formed? Give an example of where they can be found.

Tectonic activity beneath the crust of a flat plain underlain by horizontal sedimentary rocks, pushed the rock layers upward into an ellipse-shaped anticline. Structural domes have annual drainage patterns. ex. Grenville Dome near Sinclair, Wyoming

What is the principal point?

The center of an aerial photo

What methods are useful for determining the volume of a feature on a topographic map?

The discrete ordinate method The slab summation method

What do species range maps tell us? Give three examples and briefly explain each.

The general mapping of species instead of individual animal movements found in species distribution maps. A species range is the region that a species could inhaitat at some time. This is generally classified as range space or non range space. Some maps might classify the habitat area into other categories like poor, fair, and good. Ex. Natural vegetation zone maps: These maps don't show you the actual types of plants currently in an area, but are thematic maps with a message about climax vegetation (the dominant vegetation that would exist if plant growth occurred over a long period of constant climate conditions, without human or natural disturbances/events) Such maps consider soil types, precipitation, and elevation.

What methods are useful for determining the surface area of a feature on a topographic map?

The grid cell counting method The dot grid counting method

What is relief displacement?

The leaning out of the top of higher objects on a vertical air photo. This is caused when a feature is higher in elevation than the nadir point.

What is the nadir?

The point on the ground that was directly below the camera when the air photo was taken.

How is a ridge and valley topography formed? Give an example of where they can be found.

The roots of a much taller, ancient mountain range, formed when North America, Africa, and Europe collided, forming a Pangea (super-continent). Sedimentary rock layers on the east coast were folded and uplifted to form a long narrow mountain range that has eroded to about half it's original height, exposing its folded roots. Ridge and valleys have a trellis drainage pattern. ex. The Appalachian Mountains.

What is the slope angle and how do you calculate it?

The slope angle is in degrees from 0-90 Slope angle = tan^-1 x (rise/run)

What is slope percentage and how do you calculate it?

The slope percentage is also called the percentage rise Slope percentage = (rise/run) x 100

What is a gradient path?

The steepest route down a hill or the steepest grade up a mountain.

Define demographics

The study of socioeconomic groups that differ in gender, age, race, ethnicity, income, or occupation. A demographic map shows where different socioeconomic groups reside.

What do media weather maps show? Name some examples of weather maps.

Weather fronts, the meteorologist's interpretation of precipitation and air pressure variations, isobars (representing continuous air pressure surface at sea level), and the location of high and low pressure centers/areas. These are base on generalizations made from meteorological station data and weather satellite imagery. Ex. Temperature maps, upper-level wind velocity maps, visible satellite image maps, infrared satellite images, water vapor image maps

When is the conjugate principal point on a photo its nadir point on the ground?

When the aircraft is flying parallel to the ground so that the camera is truly taking a vertical photograph.

Describe how to calculate a feature's area using the Discrete Ordinate Method.

With the discrete ordinate method, you can determine the average height or depth of a feature and multiply this value by the feature's area to get the volume. To do so: - Lay a grid over the area. - Calculate area using either dot grid or grid cell counting method. - To get the average elevation, place 30 points inside the area bounded by the base contour line. - Try to determine the elevation of each point and calculate the average elevation. - Subtract the base elevation (z) from the average to get the average height above the base of the feature (z). - Multiply the average height above the base (z) by the surface area within the contour line to get the volume.

What do species distribution maps tell us? Give three examples and briefly explain each.

They use the distribution of plants and animals to examine the influences of various ecological factors on the vegetation and animals found in an area including climate, topography, soil, plant-animal interaction, and disturbance events. Ex. Plant specimen and observation maps: Made from field observations and providing information on various species. These have enabled the mapping of ecoregions at the global, national, and regional levels. Individual animal maps: Due to mobility, these have a strong temporal bias, often following diurnal patterns of movement or migration patterns. These can help biologists gain information for determining an animals range. These maps may be too individual and time-specific to be very useful. Migratory route maps: Based on a general pattern. Individual migration routes represent adjustments to environmental factors, such as land form configuration, winds, etc. Can help tell us why some species choose some locations over others for breeding and wintering, based on limiting factors (parasites, disease, predators).

How were the dissected plateaus formed and what are their characteristics? (ex. the driftless area of Wisconsin) Include how they can be identified on a topographic map. Give a few examples of where they can be found.

They were leveled by Pleistocene ice sheets and were never subject to continental glaciation. Identification: Gently sloping valleys, steep ridges, and gently sloping ridgetops. V-shaped contours outline valleys and ravines and closely spaced U-shaped contours are on the ridges. Dissected plateaus have dendritic drainage patterns caused by the erosion of horizontal layers of soft sedimentary rock. ex. The driftless area in southern Wisconsin

What are some of the uses of panchromatic (black-and-white) aerial photography?

Timber inventories and mapping of national forests by USFS Mapping soils and agricultural activities Transportation, recreation, and land-use planning purposes. Used most often to create image maps Cheap