The Scales of Disaster (Part Deux)

Kobe Earthquake, Japan, 1995 [MAP] [Background]
Some 9 years after the Chernobyl disaster, an Earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 shook Japan and flattened the port city of Kobe. This VIDEO displays images from the aftermath of the Earthquake which killed over 5000 people. One very clear scaled interest here would be the Richter scale by which the magnitude of earthquakes is measured. This link gives an easy reading explanation of the Richter scale and the effects that may accompany the range of magnitudes. Kobe at 7.2 is in a category of earthquakes that according to this site occurs around 15 times a year, so one matter for you may wish to investigate is why are the scale of impacts seen in Kobe not more common?

This was a disaster of tragic proportions there can be+ no doubt, but what has become of Kobe now close to 15 years since this earthquake? Very noticeable in the case of Kobe when compared to Chernobyl, is that when you simply type the name into google, Kobe returns some results that are not solely focused on this disaster, while Chernobyl returns nothing but reports and views on its disastrous events. Kobe's is featured in an online Japan travel guide, which displays several areas of interest and a present day picture of a thriving port city and ranks Kobe 11/111 destinations worth visiting in Japan. There is a mention in the guide of the events of 1995, and a memorial is among the tourist attractions, but Kobe has been entirely rebuilt and moves on looking towards the future.

Chernobyl vs Kobe
These are two tragic events that have death tolls that reach well into the thousands and have cost fortunes in their aftermaths. The key scale by which Chernobyl extends beyond Kobe in its impacts however, is time. These examples were picked to demonstrate to you the enormous scale of destruction that both man and nature can bring to the world, but as stated at the beginning of part 1 these are older examples chosen to allow you to see how the impacts of disasters can develop over time. In the case of Kobe, the earthquake and the lives lost will never be forgotten, but the city has been brought back to life. The events of Chernobyl in contrast continue to cause political, financial and (depending upon your sources) medical issues to this day, and will continue to do so well into the future.


One final thought for you. Watch this video on the Earthquake we experienced in the UK a few years back which centred in Lincoln. The BBC reporter for this story use the terms 'disaster' to describe the events. Compared to the disastrous events that have occurred in Kobe and Chernobyl, in your opinion, can this relatively small scale incident really class as a disaster? And whatever your stance, why?

SHIFT HAPPENS!

This video gives some interesting insights into scale by looking at Globalization in an Information Age

Its an effective piece that just stirs some useful thoughts about the wonder that is scale

We'll call this, the scales of ignorance- its just funny to be honest

The Chaser- Geography lesson for Americans

This hopefully justifies the need for our chosen proffesion!

So bad that its good.......... well its not actually

Cap'n Cook tell us about scale........

MAPS!!! Looking at scales of maps and different types of maps.

I told you the pretty stuff was coming back, and here it is! so take a ponder at the maps, but please also read the text, as its quite good.

Introducing Maps and thier Scales

Geographers use a variety of maps, photographs and Earth scans to help them study and better understand our small blue planet. Because of the many modern technologies available today, geographers are able to depict the Earth more accurately than has ever been possible before. By using both technology and hands on exploration and field study a clear picture of the world we live in begins to emerge.

Remember that a map is a visual representation of a much larger area of land. In order to be useful, a map must be small enough to be handled by an individual. Imagine drawing a map of the Earth that was full-size. A full-size map of the Earth would not only be too large to be useful, but it would also be impractical to make. Maps are scaled down so that they fit on the available paper or screen. When scaling down a map, every part of the map is scaled by the same amount. This insures that every object on the map is the same proportion as everything else on the map.
Because the Earth is round, and maps are flat, it is impossible to create a map with a perfect scale. Some parts of the map will be too large, while others will be too small. The larger a territory represented by a map, the greater that the distortions in scale will be.

The Graphic Method

A Graphic Scale depicts scale using a line, with separations marked by smaller intersecting lines, just like on a ruler. One side of the scale represents the distance on the map, while the other side represents the true distances of objects in real life. By measuring the distance between two objects on a map, and then referring to the graphic scale, it is easy to calculate the actual distance between those same items.

There are many benefits to using a graphic scale. Firstly and most importantly it is a straight forward and easy way to determine scale. Secondly, if a map’s size is enlarged or decreased the scale is also enlarged or reduced, meaning that it is still accurate. The map adjacent shows a graphic scale.

The Verbal Method

The verbal method of depicting scale simply uses words to describe the ratio between the maps scale and the real world. For example, a map might say something like “One Inch equals one hundred and fifty miles”. Calculating scale on a map using the verbal method is easy. Simply measure the distance on the map and then follow the verbal directions to calculate the actual distance. this is what you would expect to find in the corner of your map if it was made using the verbal method of scale:

The Fractional Method

The fractional method for portraying the scale of a map uses a representative fraction to describe the ration between the map, and the real world. This can be shown as 1:50,000 or 1/50,000. In this example 1 unit of distance on the map represents 50,000 of the same units of distance in the real world. This means that 1 inch on the map represents 50,000 inches in the real world, 1 ft on the map represents 50,000 feet on the map, and so on.... this is what you would expect to find in the corner of your map if it was made using the fractional method of scale:

Maps Are Not Perfect

Maps have been used by humans for hundreds of years. As technology has improved, so have the quality and accuracy of maps. Ancient maps were usually drawn by explorers. It was impossible at that time for anyone to leave the Earth, and look down at the huge continents below. All they could do was walk around the different land formations, and then do their best to draw what they thought the land probably looked like. This is a map from many years ago (exact age not known), as you can see it is a very rough interpreation of the country / area the mappers were trying to map. Can you guess where the map is suposed to be of?

An old map, but of where?

OS MAPS and GIS inc. Google Maps.

a 2009 OS map of Leicester.

Ordinance Survey (OS) are the official UK map company financed by the government. They create maps like above with a range of scales and purposes. Their most popular products are leisure maps, which people buy to use whilst walking, rambling, cycling or trekking. People also buy maps as a hobby, with their ultimate aim being to collect every OS map and being able to look at the whole country via a map and at different scales. There however is one major problem that map collectors are facing, and that is that OS produce updated maps nearly every year, therefore it would impossible to own every single map in one scale series as they are constantly being updated. There are many types of leisure maps created by OS, they are:

- Route (1:625,000 scale) – Designed for long-distance road users. One double-sided map covers the whole of Great Britain.
- Road (1:250,000 scale) – Designed for road users. They have green covers; 8 sheets cover the whole of Great Britain.
- Tour (c.1:100,000 scale except Scotland) – One-sheet maps covering a generally county-sized area, showing major and most minor roads and containing tourist information and selected footpaths. Tour maps are generally produced from enlargements of 1:250000 mapping. Several larger scale town maps are provided on each sheet for major settlement centres.
- OS Landranger map (1:50,000 scale) – The "general purpose" map. They have pink covers; 204 sheets cover the whole of Great Britain. The map shows all footpaths and the format is similar to that of Explorer, albeit with less detail.
- OS Landranger Active map (1:50,000 scale) – select OS Landranger maps are available in a plastic-laminated waterproof version, similar to the OS Explorer Active range. As of October 2009, 25 of the 204 Landranger maps were available as OS Landranger Active maps.
- OS Explorer map and Outdoor Leisure (1:25,000 scale) – Specifically designed for walkers and cyclists. They have orange covers, and the two series together contain 403 sheets covering the whole of Great Britain (the Isle of Man is excluded from this series). These are the most detailed leisure maps that Ordnance Survey publish and cover all types of footpaths and most details of the countryside for easy navigation. The Outdoor Leisure series complement the OS Explorer Map, showing areas of greater interest in England and Wales (e.g. Lake District, Black Mountains) with an enlarged area coverage. It appears identical to the Explorer, except the numbering and a little yellow mark on the corner (relic of the old OL series). The OS Explorer maps, together with Outdoor Leisure, superseded the previous Pathfinder maps (green covers) which were numerous in their coverage of the country.
- OS Explorer Active map (1:25,000 scale) – the OS Explorer and Outdoor Leisure maps are also available in a plastic-laminated waterproof version.

Also a threat to the OS operation is the use of technology and GIS. The examples that were used above to describe the various scales given on a map were taken from a GIS piece of software called Google Earth, this software is free to download and can you used to look at any place on the globe either in map form, or with limited results aerial / satellite photos. There are also a limited number of terrain maps showing the various terrain of an area which is layered over a street map.

Below are a range of examples of maps, aerial photos and terrain maps you can get from Google maps/ Google earth.

Street Map

Aerial Photo

Terrain Map

So that concludes this section on maps and thier scales. We hope you have gained a valuable insight into maps, thier history and how they are "scaled" when created. There are many many many more types of map, and you can pretty much create a map to show whatever you want based on a country, such as rainfall, population, politics, the list goes on....literally anything can be put on a map! Why not try and think of some more things that could be put on a map.

The Scales of DISASTER!

Just to be clear before we start a general warning, the videos linked on this post may cause distress to some readers so be aware of this before watching!

In the next two posts we will look to demonstrate the varying scales that both man-made and natural disasters can impact upon all manner of scales. Both the initial examples we will use were chosen as they are both older examples than other options which allows us to investigate more long term implications and have had different scales of implications. We will be looking at Chernobyl in Ukraine firstly in this post and soon afterwards we will look at Kobe in Japan.

Chernobyl, Ukraine [Map]

On April 26th 1986, an accident caused by a sudden surge of power at Unit 4 of the nuclear

power station at Chernobyl destroyed the reactor and released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment. The impacts of this disaster are still felt today through medical issues and political battles as just two examples. This video gives some images from the site of the disaster.

The medical and political issues appear tied together from the research I have done prior to this post. Attempting to find accurate statistics regarding health issues seems hugely biased by political affiliation, and to provide the broadest scale of difference I could for you all, here are two articles displaying the 'facts' pushed by:-

1. The World Nuclear Association (WNA)
2. Greenpeace
   

The difference in the statistics is staggering. 56 deaths as claimed by the Nuclear lovers compared to hundreds of thousands by the nuclear haters. Interestingly ignored by the WNA are effects other than death tolls while Greenpeace use the word 'prediction' very often, perhaps just a coincidence....

Politically it would appear that the scale of impact Chernobyl has had varies massively depending upon your political affiliation, meanwhile this also demonstrates one long term impact of Chernobyl. To this day Chernobyl provides Greenpeace with its central anti-nuclear argument, meanwhile the WNA has Chernobyl forever as the thorn in its side that it just cannot remove. From this alone we begin to display how the scale of almost any event can be skewed by political bias in the media representing it, a matter to be aware of whenever you pick up a newspaper. Always be critical of what you read!

As recently as just a couple of weeks before this post, issues surrounding the management of Chernobyl were raised by Ukraine's President. This article displays the scale of impact the Chernobyl disaster is still having today as a very much international scaled issue with links to the US and Europe as a broad entity. The level of funding required still now to safely seal the reactor at Chernobyl close to 24 years since the initial accident demonstrates vast scale of impact that this disaster has had, and will continue to have for a long time to come.

The after effects of the Chernobyl disaster can still be seen at work very clearly today and hopefully with the links we have provided you could begin to help you investigate this matter further if you wish as there is so much to discover about this issue beyond mere matters of scale.

Meanings of Scale

Right, Now all the pretty stuff is over (well...to be honest, there is more to come!) but anyway, when it comes to looking at Scale in Geography there are 3 main meanings to consider, they are:

Cartographic Scale; this refers to the depicted size of a feature on a map relative to its actual size in the world.

Analysis scale; this refers to the size of the unit at which some problem is analysed, such as at the county or state level.

Phenomenons Scale; this refers to the size at which human or physical earth structures or processese exist, regardless of how they are studied or represented.

Although the three referents of scale frequently are treated independently, they are in fact
interrelated in important ways that are relevant to all geographers and the focus of research or some. For example choices concerning the scale at which a map should be made depend in part on the scale at which measurements of earth features are made and the scale at which a phenomenon of interest actually exists


Issues of scale have always been central to geographic theory and research. Advances in the understanding of scale and the ability to investigate scale-related problems will continue, particularly with the increasingly common representation of geographic phenomena through the medium of digital geographic information (Goodchild and Proctor 1997)

References:
Goodchild M F, Proctor J (1997) Scale in a digital geographic world. Geographical and Environmental Modeling 1: 5-23

I Had A Play On WORDLE!

So Yeah, I had a play on the cool picture creator called WORDLE where you type in a bunch of words and it puts them into pretty pictures. These are the best of the ones from all words to do with Scale:

The scales of......The Recession (Part 2)

So here's the follow up. Now we'll look to show you more local, individual company and personal UK based examples of the recession, starting with our local - Leicester.

The Local Scale
In the previous post we used an article relating to empty store space in the UK, so what better way to link into our local area of Leicester than look at the same issue in this fine city. 'One in seven shops in city centre empty' was an article released by the Leicester Mercury in May 2009. At the same time there has been huge investment in the old Shires shopping centre, now The High Cross which has brought more big name stores into the city. In the majority of cases the common pattern has been the closure of small independent stores coupled with the introduction or often expansion of larger chains. On this local scale, as well as the previous national scale you can observe small scale stores being lost while larger scale players are able to stave off the challenges of the recession far better. As such, scale appears to play a key role in succesful business in times of economic hardship.

The Individual Store
One independent store lost in Leicester's city centre however, was one store within the UK's largest independent entertainment retailers chain, Zavvi. This web based electrical entertainment retailer which bought out Virgin records high street store chain had 114 stores stores in the UK plus 11 in Ireland. However, 'The end of the road for Zavvi stores', came despite the scale of Zavvi's operation. Zavvi as a high street store is no more across the UK, now just maintaining its original web-based operation.

The Individual Person

So what could possibly be the individual example that can tie all this together I hear you cry? After a long search no obvious examples jumped out, then I had a think. I graduated with a lovely degree in Geography in the summer 2008 to be greeted by a job market in my home town of Cambridge saturated with brighter individuals than myself from the charming University and many people with better CV's due to the levels of lay offs across all sectors. I had an interview with the bank Northern Rock, but after my first interview the company suspended all hiring as the recession hit harder on them than most at the time. At this point I looked to the high street shops for short term work, but as the previous examples display why, this was not fruitful. So I did what any person my age would do faced with a lack of jobs, emptied my savings and left the country to travel around Eastern Europe.

Overview

So here we go..... there I was, unable to find work due to high street store closures, taking life savings away from the UK that had I spent at home may have aided UK stores such as Zavvi by buying DVD's and other things I don't need. Instead my money got spattered across Europe, as did many others from the UK in similar positions who I met along the way. Using planes, trains and automobiles (a title from an awesome film if you get the chance) I am fairly sure I upped my carbon footprint for the year which has Global implications as was discussed in part 1.

Hopefully we have displayed a useful personal insight with this example showing the varying scales and finally the interconnections between them all through my experience.

In the next case study we will look to show you some different aspects of scale in, The Scales of Disaster!

Olly

The Scales of......The Recession (Part 1)

This post along with Part 2 which will follow shortly will look to demonstrate the different levels on which the Global recession has had an impact. Looking at individuals, companies, cities, counties and the globe, not only will we look to demonstrate the scales on which the recession has hit, but also to demonstrate how these varying scales are linked together. In this first post we will look to tie together the Global and National scales

The National Scale- UK
So first of all, for any readers outside of the UK, and those who do live here but have been living in a bunker for the last two years or just haven't noticed, here is a short article and attached video from The Telegraph investigating how, 'High streets have been left empty by the recession' , in the UK. The first tie directly coming from the article is the link to global phenomenon that is the internet as a potential cause of the loss of stores; and also something which may have now taken away demand for the high street store in the long run. The internet opens up individuals market options to a whole host of global chains such as Amazon who may have started trends towards internet sales and now more budget sellers such as CDwow among others. So, aside from the crippling global recession, global actors have driven the UK's high street further towards obscurity.

Global Scale
Hopefully this has provided some nice Global-National scale links for you all. But now lets flip the focus round, here is another article taken from The Guardian, 'Recession "threatens UK effort to tackle global warming"' . (Please note that the central theme here is more important in this case than spending too long reading the whole article.)

Bringing the first article again into the equation, here we have global factors impacting upon UK markets, reducing sales and taking them overseas- and as a result the UK's stance on the very global matter (the clues in the name) of Global Warming is in danger of being effected in potentially globally negative ways. Now, if the recession within the UK were infact to prove to have negative impacts upon climate change legislation, then Global influences upon the UK may turn around to have very global results. As such, in this case alone (and there would be many other avenues through which to demonstrate a similar point) we hope to have demonstrated the links between global and national scales in the impacts of the current recession.

In Part 2 which will follow shortly, we will tie this example into local and individual case studies within the UK to hopefully build a full picture of the scales of the recession.