1) Map of Public Transportation in Los Angeles (Metropolitan Transportation Authority)
I obtained a copy of this intricate map detailing all metro lines and rails directly from MTA's website: http://metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/System_Map.pdf.
The public transit system spreads throughout the greater Los Angeles County, and even unincorporated areas. Since Downtown Los Angeles serves as the hub for multiple bus lines, a separate inset depicts the routes of those buses. As a transit dependent, I often rely on maps detailing MTA's bus lines and rails to navigate my way in the city. Many natives and non-natives of Los Angeles often denounce LA's public transit system as inadequate and incomparable to other metropolitan cities or developed areas (i.e. New York, Europe, San Francisco, etc.). However, this map clearly shows how spread out and expansive the Los Angeles County is, especially in comparison to places like Manhattan, and we must consider the effectiveness of public transit in a sprawled city. How interesting!
2) Map of total housing units in zip code 90031
This local neighborhood map is from HealthyCity, which is often used for studies of demographics, housing, health, civic participation, employment, and economic information (http://www.healthycity.org). I chose "90031" since it is the area of my neighborhood, Lincoln Heights, and surrounding areas such as Montecito Heights, Happy Valley, and El Sereno. The darker green color represents a higher value of total housing units, whereas the lighter green color represent a lower value. A housing unit is defined as "a house, an apartment, a mobile home or trailer, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied as separate living quarters, or if vacant, intended for occupancy as separate living quarters." The light beige color surrounding the block labeled "Lincoln Heights" clearly conveys the land use development. Though residential itself, Lincoln Heights is surrounded by schools, businesses, hospitals, and other places of economic (as opposed to residential) use.
3) Map of Los Angeles
This map is obtained from the Los Angeles Times (http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/), yet powered by Google, depicting all of LA's 113 neighborhoods. The blue shaded area indicates its incorporation into Los Angeles County, especially "the Valley" areas, which are often neglected or unknown. The map furthermore shows how some areas remain unincorporated, such as parts of Marina del Rey, Beverly Hills, San Fernando Valley, and Culver City--as well as areas bordering Los Angeles County such as East Los Angeles. I have wondered: what are the benefits and costs of being subsumed into county borders?
Unlike my drawing of Los Angeles (during 1st lecture of Geography 7) which only depicted the urban core neighborhoods (Koreatown, Westlake, Echo Park/Silver Lake, etc.), this map is comprehensive and thoroughly accurate. Amazingly, on the LA Times page, if you click on a neighborhood, you obtain information about schools, income, demographics and news from that area. They are continuing to find more information, especially regarding crime statistics and restaurants finds. This interactive map allows readers to share stories of their experiences, their childhood lives; thus, community members can bring their own provoking, informative, humorous, and enjoyable narratives onto the web.
