Project 2: Mappings, Part 3 – Gilberto Cardenas

Project 2: Mappings, Part 3 – Gilberto Cardenas

My base map is an aerial view obtained from Google Maps, depicting the Orange Coast College and OC Fairgrounds area in Costa Mesa. Through filters in Photoshop I removed all the noise and focused only on the roads and pathways.
The areas I selected is one I am very familiar with as it’s a place that my family and I do a lot of walking. I that there were only a few forces that influence my perception of this area, and modified my original five forces.
Through my observations, there is a transformation that occur periodically, I wanted to illustrate how these transformations effect the surrounding areas by creating a distorted view of the map.
The venues are another force I wanted to depict in my map, and show the influence they have around the community. There is a high concentration of people that attend the venues, the swap-meet, and the amphitheaters, and their reach extends across the area as people will park or walk from various directions to attend the venue. Since the venues are so close to each other, there is an overlap in their influence and they are competing to attract people, and parking space.
Lastly, I included a force of the walking paths that my family enjoy when we spend time outside walking. We have explored these areas many times, and feel comfortable taking children here. I’ve also created a slight distortion in some of the paths, as we tend to spend a lot of time in that area, and we’ve observed many people drawn there also to walking their children or pets.

 

Final Map SlideShow

 

 

Project 2: Mappings, Part2– Gilberto Cardenas

Please click on the individual map to enlarge.

For this part, I explored the various forces in greater detail. I used color, patterns, and shapes to identify the various components of my forces which I have confined to specific areas. Some of the forces have a greater influence outside their physical location and which can be seen in the illustrations.

Force: Business Types

Force: Government

Force: Human Habitation

Force: Transformation

Force: Venues

Project 2: Mappings, Part 1 – Gilberto Cardenas

Mapping studies centered around my current living environment, located in an apartment complex in Costa Mesa, CA.  Various forces at play were observed within a 15-20 minute walking distance and recorded with photography.

Business Types- In the business area, there are an eclectic assortments of shops that cater to low & medium income customers. Within walking distance, I can purchase groceries, go to a hardware store, look at fancy furniture, and go to specialty shops that satisfy various vices.

   

Government– Various city services are found in the Costa Mesa City Hall, I’ve had to come here to obtain a business permit. They will assist Costa Mesian’s with matters of the city. The police department is also located here.

Human Habitation– Affordable housing is becoming very hard to find,  there are many construction projects attract high income earners, displacing lower income families to other cities. These single family homes start at 800k.

Transformation– On the weekends, the main parking lot of Orange Coast College (OCC) is transformed into a Swap-Meet, allowing people to barter for goods and services using cultural business norms not easily found in brick and mortar stores.  This is one of two swap-meets found in this area. The other Swap-meet is across the street in the Orange County fairgrounds. Spanish, Vietnamese, and English are the main languages used for business. I once purchased a wacom tablet for .50 cents.

Venues– The Orange County Fairgrounds is home of the Pacific Amphitheater, where a lot of activity  takes place through the year. The good thing about living so close is I am able to walk to attend a concert. The drawback is that some events get out of control, such as when candidate Trump rallied, and protesters were out in the street rioting.