ISOBARS

This is a fairly simple but good map of Australia illustrating isobars and a few other weather symbols. The black contour lines labeled with numbers are connecting points of equal pressure across the map. The image came from the Australian Government website and is a clean, easy to read, representation of the weather leaving off an unnecessary detail to jumble the map. The little barb like symbols indicate wind direction and speed while the cross hatching reflects rainfall in the past 24 hours. Where the isobars are close together, change in the variable is larger and generally the winds are stronger. Around the high pressure systems the pressure is increasing quickly but around the lows the change is gradual. It looks like the four pressure systems and land mass are greatly influencing the wind patterns.

Link to website source:
http://www.bom.gov.au/info/ftweather/page_7.shtml

LIDAR

LIDAR (light detection and ranging) seems to be the up and coming thing and I am sure this particular image has been used extensively. Most people should recognize the haunting illustration of Ground Zero taken in September 2001. This was a direct result of the terrorist attacks that reduced the World Trade Center to 16 acres of rubble. LIDAR is a remote sensing system using laser, instead of radio or microwave radiation, to collect topographic data. With LIDAR, scientists collect elevation figures and create false color images (not photographs) for visualizing information. Each image pixel represents a data (x,y,z) point that is colored according to its value. The points allow generation of a digital elevation model (DEM) of the ground surface and construction of a complete image.

Link to website source:
http://imaging.geocomm.com/gallery/

DOPPLER RADAR

I chose this Doppler radar, base reflectivity image of Tropical Storm Alberto, June 2006 because of the colorful display and great location. They have used vibrant colors against a very simple background which makes the storm really stand out. Doppler radar is tracking a circular motion in the clouds by pulsing the atmosphere with microwave radiation and measuring attenuation in the return pulse. With this technology they have calculated the size and types of particles in the air and created a color chart to show heavy, moderate, light and very light rainfall. They are also estimating the speed and direction of the air and watching for the possibility of tornadoes.

Link to website source:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tlh/wxevents/alberto061306.html

BLACK AND WHITE AERIAL PHOTO

This is an incredible black and white aerial photo of what they called the “Balloon Track Site” in Eureka, California. It was taken in 1952 by Merle Shuster when this facility was a fully operational railroad switching, maintenance and freight yard. This photo was part of a study conducted in 2001 showing evidence that the parcel was at one time a tidal marsh. It is now considered an urban brownfield and part of an environmental restoration project. The clarity and visibility of this “old” photo is amazing and I love black and white.

Link to website source:
http://online.redwoods.edu/instruct/colloquium/0607/

INFRARED AERIAL PHOTO

The colors in this infrared aerial photo of Onondaga Lake and the surrounding area drew my attention to this particular map. Most of the maps I have seen of this type use a similar color scheme but there are usually more pinks and reds reflecting the presence of vegetation. This map has a lot more shades of blue because of the water, streets and buildings in the frame. The city of Syracuse, NY partially surrounds this lake and its large population is evident in the abundance of man-made structures. This aerial is part of a website for The Onondaga Lake Partnership promoting a clean lake and fighting the obvious impact of pollution from the surrounding infrastructure and human intrusion.

Link to website source:
http://www.onlakepartners.org/p1101.html

CARTOGRAPHIC ANIMATION

This particular map is a non-temporal (not representing change over time) cartographic animation of Omaha, Nebraska. It reflects the spatial trend of population based on age groups across the city. Omaha’s early growth happened along the river which is the easterly border giving reason for the higher percentage of older people in this area while the younger ones are in the north and west parts of the city which developed later.

Link to website source:
http://maps.unomaha.edu/mp/Articles/GISLIS/VisAnim.html

NON STATISTICAL MAP

This map reflects the unequal distribution of phone lines around the world. The data is from 1992 and it uses different colors to represent the number of main lines per 100 inhabitants. I imagine the numbers are higher today but the variation between countries would probably be close to the same. This map is part of a minority telecommunications development program dedicated to developing programs and policies that increase minority ownership of broadcast and telecommunications businesses. The map is more clear when you click on it.

Note: I originally had this posted as a statisitcal map but upon further study, I realized, by slide definition, this one is not the type.

Link to website source:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/opadhome/mtdpweb/outline.htm