Los Angeles case study
https://www.cynthiaannett.org/2024-workshops/nepa-mapping/2024-los-angeles-case-study
Google Maps
The simplest way to use a map for your report is to look up the location on the public Google Map and use 3D and Street View to do a virtual site visit. Go to maps.google.com
Use the search bar to find your location. Switch to Satellite View and then you can use 3D view. Use Street View and the photographs in the side bar to get a close up of the location.
You can print the map as a PDF file by using the menu in the upper left corner.
If you have Google Earth Pro on your computer you can use a much more powerful platform that will also let you access satellite imagery from different dates. For a tutorial on Google Earth Pro (desktop) click here. For today we will use Google Maps and the Google My Maps platform for our work.
In this example, let's use the printed map given to us for our case study and locate the building using Google Maps.
The Google Map will give you a variety of tools that you can use for your case study.
Go to Maps.Google.com to access the Google Map. The slides to the left will walk you through the activity.
Since we don't have a street address for the building, let's search for the Veterans Home of California using the search bar in the Google Map.
Once you are zoomed to the location clear the search bar, visually locate the building you are interested in and click on it - the map will then give you the location address.
You can switch to satellite view and use street view, and if you take screenshots you can get images to use in your report.
Here is what an embedded Google Map looks like when you zoom in, click 3D, and then share to get the embed code
The map is interactive
Click on View larger map to get a map with full functionality
Google Earth Pro Timeslider
Google Earth Pro is a free desktop platform than can be downloaded as https://www.google.com/earth/download/gep/agree.html?hl=en-GB
The timeslider will give you access to historic imagery
2007
2008
2009
Google My Maps
Google My Maps is a very easy way to start a GIS analysis that can be used to create PDF files for your report, can be embedded in a website and shared with the public, or shared through a link with colleagues for collaborative work. You can also export the map file in KML or KMZ format to import it into ArcGIS, which allows you to do more sophisticated analytical work.
To begin you must have a Google Account and be able to use Google Drive. If you cannot do this for today's activity because you are on a work computer that doesn't give you permission to access Google tools you can use the map below to explore the map mashup by going to this link for the map.
Google My Maps: Landing page for Google My Maps
Google My Maps Help: Documentation and support articles about My Maps.
Google Drive: You can create My Maps directly from Google Drive.
Collaborative Mapping With Google My Maps: Workshop held at Geo for Good Summit 2019.
If the dataset includes latitude and longitude as the location data, make sure that it is all entered in the same format, that the format can be mapped, and that it is complete before you add it to your Google My Maps. You can only use one format for locations, so you will need to make sure all of your data is either in lat/long or street addresses. You can use street addresses that have more than one column, for example address, city and state columns can all be mapped.
Federal Agency Data Sources
There are a number of online platforms that you can use for your analysis. These mapping tools act as data query tools and provide you with an easy way to obtain data and analyses from federal databases. Some of the most useful are presented below.
NEPAssist
Click on the Get Facility Report link in the map pop-up to go to the EPA database
FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer
EJScreen
CEJST
FEMA RAPT
