In my Geography 180 class, I had the chance to look at the median income in every county across the United States by creating this map. (View as PDF)
In my Geography 181A class, we learned to analyze the slope of a section of land. I made a map of the percent grade of the area within Los Angeles County to for an example of what that looks like. (View as PDF)
I used the aforementioned slope analysis, along with a number of the other techniques I learned in my classes in that class, to attempt to compute the difficulties of a variety of ski pistes from resorts around the country. As a part of that, I made a map of Bear Mountain Ski Resort from satellite imagery annotated with the locations of each of the ski runs listed on the official resort map. (View as PDF)
For details on the methods and results of that project, you can read my full report, which includes the ski piste map. The coolest part of the report are Table 6, Table 7, Table 8, and Table 9, which estimate piste difficulties as real numbers instead of as vague categories. Since the difficulty model is based on the ratings at Bear Mountain, the decimal difficulty estimates reflect their trails the best.
| Run Name | Difficulty | Re-rating |
|---|---|---|
| Learning Curve | 1 (Green Circle) | 1.35 (Hard Green) |
| Easy Street | 1 (Green Circle) | 0.67 (Easy Green) |
| Inspiration | 1 (Green Circle) | 0.65 (Easy Green) |
| Amusement Park | 1 (Green Circle) | 1.20 (Moderate Green) |
| The Gulch | 1 (Green Circle) | 1.22 (Hard Green) |
| Park Run (Lower) | 1 (Green Circle) | 1.36 (Hard Green) |
| Back Yard | 1 (Green Circle) | 1.57 (Easy Blue) |
| Accelerator | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.26 (Hard Blue) |
| Ripcord | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.01 (Moderate Blue) |
| Silver Connection | 2 (Blue Square) | 1.73 (Easy Blue) |
| Park Run (Upper) | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.36 (Hard Blue) |
| Expressway | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.08 (Moderate Blue) |
| Boneyard | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.11 (Moderate Blue) |
| Park Run (Face) | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.19 (Moderate Blue) |
| Outlaw's Alley | 2 (Blue Square) | 1.63 (Easy Blue) |
| Street Scene | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.06 (Moderate Blue) |
| Pipeline | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.20 (Moderate Blue) |
| Hidden Valley | 2 (Blue Square) | 1.27 (Hard Green) |
| Central Park | 2 (Blue Square) | 2.16 (Moderate Blue) |
| Exhibition | 3 (Black Diamond) | 2.92 (Moderate Black) |
| Showtime | 3 (Black Diamond) | 3.05 (Moderate Black) |
| Rip's Run | 3 (Black Diamond) | 3.08 (Moderate Black) |
| Outlaw | 3 (Black Diamond) | 2.83 (Moderate Black) |
| Gambler | 3 (Black Diamond) | 2.56 (Easy Black) |
| Grizzly | 3 (Black Diamond) | 2.83 (Moderate Black) |
| Geronimo | 4 (Double Black) | 3.53 (Easy Double Black) |
| The Wedge | 4 (Double Black) | 4.11 (Moderate Double Black) |
Table 6 from the full report