Lab 1, Part A: Coordinates

Lab 1, Part A: Coordinates

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(For this lab, I am encouraging you to download and use Google Earth. It is a free platform and works well on most computers, laptops and tablets. Please let me know if you have any issues using it. For tutorials/help, visit: https://support.google.com/earth/#topic=7364880)

For zooming in, you will want to adjust the setting so it doesn’t “tilt” as you zoom in. (you always want to work with a top-down view for these exercises). To do this, in the dropdown menu “Tools” choose “Options.” Once options is open, pick the “Navigation” tab. In the square on the bottom right pick “Do not automatically tip while zooming.”

The easiest way to determine the coordinates for a location is to select “Add Placemarker” in the “Tools” menu. This will give you  push pin to put down on the map where you choose, and the coordinates will be tied to this push pin. You can name the push pin and save it off to your menu on the left. You can also make a new placemaker buy just hitting the yellow push pin icon right about the map in bar of icons along the top of the map. Be exact as you can with how you determine the asked for coordinates and where you put your placemaker pins. You should play around with the added features, like creating lines to determine distance/coordinates and creating polygons to determine areas of interest. A lot of this will get more in depth and fun once you take a GIS course! Those of you who already have, know what I am talking about. 🙂

To show the map grid… which only works on about half of the displayed coordinate systems… Open the “View” menu and then select “Show Grid.” This will not work for UTM and Military, for example, and you will have to create a new placemaker to get coordinates of a single spot.

To change the coordinate system displayed… Again go to the “Tools” menu and select “Options.” The box that says “Show Lat/Long” displays your options for the coordinate system, from UTM to Military, etc, etc.

When you locate a place, either by map or GPS, you’re connecting into a coordinate grid that is superimposed on the surface of Earth. This grid is projected, meaning it holds its grid-like shape regardless of the irregularities of the shape of Earth’s surface. This is hard to accomplish…and varieties of different projections exist, giving us multiple different ways to describe a location. The two most common systems are UTM (Universal Transverse Mercator) and Latitude & Longitude – both our National mapping system and our GPS devices use these two systems.

Latitude & Longitude:

The Earth is assumed to be a sphere with its axis passing through the North and South poles. If a plane passes through the center of the earth, as when cutting an orange in half, its intersection with the Earth’s surface is a great circle. Another of these great circles is the equator – a circle that runs horizontally around the earth midway between its poles. Its distance from each pole is 90 degrees, and the equator, being a complete circle, is divided into 360 degrees.

Latitude defines position on the earth north or south from the equator. Latitude is zero degrees on the equator, 90 degrees N at the North Pole, and 90 degrees S at the South Pole. Each degree of latitude is divided into 60 minutes, otherwise notated as 60’. On topographic maps, parallels of latitude appear as horizontal straight lines that are read along a vertical axis. Note: latitude can never exceed 90 degrees. See the following diagram (from www.geocachegirls.com).

Longitude defines position on the earth east or west from the meridian of Greenwich, which is called the prime meridian. The longitude of a place on the earth is the horizontal distance between the prime meridian and the meridian nearest to the place. It is measured East or West from the prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) and therefore cannot exceed 180 degrees or halfway around the earth, where east meets west (a location that is called the International Date Line). The prime meridian and the International Date Line divide the earth’s surface into the ‘eastern’ and ‘western’ hemispheres see diagram below (from www.geocachegirls.com).

All National Topographic Series (NTS) maps are bounded by latitude/longitude lines, given in degrees (°), minutes (‘) and seconds (”) from the equator and Greenwich meridian. On NTS maps, they are shown with black and white edge bars. At a scale of 1:50,000, it should be feasible to get within 5” of accuracy.

1. Using Google Earth, zoom in close to Tofinoand use a straight edge to align the location to the axis, provide the latitude and longitude of the following features.

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Mount Colnett on Meares Island

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The center of McCall Island

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The center of Angora Lake

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Decimal Degrees:

Computers do best with standardized numeric notation – just strings of numbers – something that Latitude and Longitude coordinates are not. With the launch of satellites and the reliance on computer calculations for navigation, a variant of latitude and longitude was developed: decimal degrees. Decimal degrees convert traditional latitude and longitude coordinates from the sexigesimal system to the decimal system and shift the hemispheric system to a Cartesian coordinate grid. It sounds harder than it is. In order to do this entails some simple arithmetic math. Please watch the below youtube video on how to do the math and practice some of the steps. In this section, you will be converting from degrees/minutes/seconds (DMS) into decimal degrees.

Helpful videos on how to do this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9kousU6AI0

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ovyeRepSQk

2. Showing your steps/work, convert the following coordinates from the last question into decimal degrees. You need to show your work!

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Mount Colnett

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The center of McCall Island

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The center of Angora Lake

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Universal Transverse Mercator:

The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid is based on a projection of the Earth in which the lines of latitude and longitude always intersect at right angles – therefore, the grid is rectangular rather than converging (like it is with latitude and longitude). Due to this projection, the UTM grid is only usable between 80ºS and 84ºN. Within these constraints, the world is divided into large grid zones which cover 6 degrees of longitude and 8 degrees of latitude. The UTM coordinate system can be utilized two ways – Civilian or Military.

For Civilian UTM notation, the large grid zone number is declared at the front of the coordinate. Following this is a six-digit easting coordinate, determined from reading the blue coordinates declared in the four corners of the map sheet and then measuring, depending upon the scale of the map sheet, the precise location of the identified feature.  This six digit easting will be followed by a seven-digit northing coordinate; again, it is read from the declared northing information on the map corners with the addition of the measurement of the identified feature.

In Military UTM notation, the large corner numbers are ignored and, instead, a second level of grid notation is used. Zone and subzone information for a particular map sheet can be read of the side-bar and these letters position the map sheet on the globe. From there, local codes can be determined, the length of which will be influenced by the scale of the map involved (eg. on a 1:250,000 map, only four-digits are needed whereas on a 1:50,000 map, six-digits are required).

3. Zoom into Kelowna, BC and explore around the map with the grids visible on the map (only works for a couple of the coordinate systems Google Earth will display.  Then select to use the Military grid reference coordinate system.  (Remember: Tools > Options > 3D View). Provide the Militarycoordinates for the following features. Make sure you provide the appropriate level of precision in your measurements.

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The center of Woodhaven Regional Park

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The campground closest to Minnow Lake

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The southernmost end of James Lake

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4. On the Kelowna map, provide the Military UTM coordinatefor the following features.

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The summit of Mount Knox

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The center of Orchard Meadows

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The bridge over Belgo Creek

Lab 1, Part B: Environmental History /52

I’d like to you pick an event from the past that had globally significant environmental consequences and look into the details. It could have happened in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, even the new millennium. Choose an event that you don’t know much about, maybe you’ve heard the name but you don’t know the details, and then hunt down as much information as you can. It can be an environmental disaster, local, regional or global ecological emergency, social movements (like Earth Day), international agreements (like the Paris Climate Accord. You can choose any scale, from local events, to regional, national or global, just be sure there is even material out there for you to learn enough and share.

Assignment Deliverables:

1. Using 12point font, 1.5 spacing and normal margins, write a 2-3 page summary and introduction to the details of your chosen environmentally significant event.
2. Include an image or two if they’re relevant but remember, you only have two pages so ensure your text wraps around the inserted photos and that the images are worth the space they take up.
3. Use 5-7 sources for your write up. Be sure to use and cite your references in text approprioately. We use APA citation styles for this course. I would recommend the helpful “Purdue OWL” resource online.
4. Ensure the details are cited, remembering that Wikipedia is not a primary source and that you should always refer to the primary citations provided by Wikipedia.

Marking Criteria:

Fail = A brief summary of an environmental event with no citations included. There are spelling and grammatical mistakes throughout.

Pass = A short summary of an environmental event with appropriate citation of sourced material. Poorly edited with spelling mistakes, formatting errors and run-on sentences.

Good = A complete summary of an interesting environmental event; well cited, appropriately sourced material; with images and context provided. Obviously edited, reads well.

Excellent = A complete summary of an interesting environmental event with well-cited, appropriate sources. Words and images not only summarize the event but also show the resonance the event had on the world at the time and the future as it unfolded. No spelling or grammatical errors, no formatting issues; reads beautifully.

Due Date: Thursday, May 28^th at 11am.