Lab 1a: Setting Up Your Blob, ect.

Stefanie Wieschalla
Geog 206

“Generic Names for Soft Drinks”

I located the first map “Generic Names for Soft Drinks” on the website http://www.popvssoda.com/. This map of the United States has been created Matthew Campbell and Prof. Greg Plumb and illustrates the regional variations in the use of the term “Pop”, “Coke” and “Soda” to describe soft drinks in general. As one can notice from the map, the use of these different terms is somehow linked to where people are positioned throughout the country. Hence the greater parts of residents in California and around the state are referring to soft drinks as “Soda”, which is indicated by the yellow to green coloring, but from Texas to Florida people usually name them “Coke” as it is shown in red. Yet, the majority of Americans identify soft drinks as “Pop”, which becomes very clear when looking at the large amount of blue coloring. I found that very interesting given that I actually never heard the term “Pop” before, even though the overall majority of U.S. residents are calling soft drinks this way. Furthermore, I am surprised that only so few states are actually referring to “Soda” because I assumed that would be the most popular term. The results also reveal a certain amount about who these people are and this is something I find particularly interesting. 

“USA National Gas Price Heat Map”

The second map “USA National Gas Price Heat Map” that I located at http://www.gasbuddy.com/  indicates the price for gas by countries. The areas are color coded from red to yellow and then green according to their price for the average price for regular gasoline. It becomes clear that whole Pacific Cost is the most expensive area when looking at gas prices, here indicated in red, where the South East has overall the lowest prices, shown in green. I think it is very interesting to find out that not all major cities have really expensive prices of gas given that I originally assumed that in any given metropolitan city of the U.S., like Los Angeles and for example New York, the prices would be similar. But when looking at the map, one can observe that in all other areas, except from the Pacific Coast, gas is actually fairly cheaper. In general, the map is great because if can also help you find the cheapest gas prices in your city since one can zoom in and out. 

“Earthquake History of CA”

The last map on earthquake history of the complete state of California, which I retrieved from http://www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs/rghm/quakes/PublishingImages/statewide_view_gif.gif  reveals information on where, when and how strong earthquakes have been in CA. The first time span starts around 1769 and lasts till 1868, which is shown in the red coloring code. The second time period (in blue) persists till 1931 and the final one (in green) ends in 2000. Furthermore, the magnitudes of these various earthquakes are indicated in circles that vary in seize according to their strength. Interesting to note is the fact that quite a few strong earthquakes, with a magnitude of 7.0, have been recorded in the very northern part of California’s cost. Then of course areas as San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego have a very knowable history of seismic activity. However, the inland of the state has barely any earthquake activity recorded, only when looking down to the South one can notice some past activity. Also, the North East corner of CA is fairly untouched by past earthquakes. It also seems interesting that earthquakes have actually highly increased through time. Back in the first time span, there where clearly fewer quakes when compared to the last time period, which goes up to the year 2000.