Week 1 Assignment

 The source of the map is http://www.i5losangeles.com/.

This map shows live traffic on Los Angeles freeways and highways. This map is updated constantly and thus allows the audience to make a decision on whether to take one freeway vice the other. Additionally, the audience can predict the length of time that it will take them when going from point A to point B. This map is very interesting to me because it is extremely helpful to a large number of people in the city. The fact that this map is constantly being updated makes it a fluid map and relevant at different times during the day. It can be accessed on computers and portable devices, which makes it accessible to a large number of people.

This picture is from http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/mexico_usa_trade_corridors.jpg.

It depicts trade routes between the United States and Mexico. The interesting thing that I see about this map is that it ignores borders and focuses on the amount of trade that each route handles. This picture is important because it shows the interactions that occur between the United States and Mexico. It ignores borders and emphasizes globalization. It is also important to note the larger amount of trade the goes to the East Coast vice the West Coast of the United States.

This is from http://projects.latimes.com/homicide-report/map/?year=2009.

It depicts the amount of homicides throughout the city of Los Angeles. The larger circles represent areas with larger amounts of homicides. Here we can clearly see that the Walnut area had the largest amounts of homicides in 2009. What is interesting about this map is that it ties social issues to a graphical location. This information can be very useful to policy makers that make decisions as to the amount of funding that may go to certain locations for police enforcement. Additionally, this data can be used to create new policy to prevent such crime. Lastly, it can be used by people interested in moving to Los Angeles. This data can be used to make a decision on which area to move to.