The goal of this lab was to learn how to use the US Census Bureau and to be able to download and map data from this website. The most important aspect of the lab was learning to download data from the US Census Bureau and converting this data to a ArcGIS friendly format. The aim of Lab 2 was to create two maps, one following instructions provided to us (by our professor) and the other using data of our choice.
Methods
For this lab I had to create 2 maps on data regarding Wisconsin's counties. The first map I made was on total population, whilst the second map I made was on housing units. To create these two maps I used ArcMap 10.2. Each topic e.g. total population was put in a separate data frame. Each data frame used the basemap Light Gray Canvas and had the state of Wisconsin with counties shapefile (downloaded from the US Census Bureau).
To get the data needed to make these maps I went to the US Census Bureau website. For the first map in the Topics option section I choose People, Basic Count/Estimate, Population Total. To make the data specific to Wisconsin, I changed the Geography option section to County - 050, Wisconsin, All Counties Within Wisconsin. I choose to download the Total Population 2010 SF1 100% Data. This information was downloaded in tables as a zip file. To access the data I unzipped the data. To make the data in the total population table readable in ArcMap I saved the data as a Microsoft Excel Workbook. To be able to make a map I had to link the data table (total population) with the shapefile table using the GEO#id. Once these two tables had been linked I could map the data. To show this data I decided to use the graduated colour map (various shades of pink) in the Symbology tab of the Layer Properties tab. I decided to change the classification to Quantile as I felt this better represented the data.
After completing the first map I created another map as required in a separate data frame. For this map I decided to download housing units data. To find this data I changed the Topics option section to Housing, Basic Count/Estimate, Housing Units. I kept the Geography tab the same. I choose to download the Housing Units 2010 SF1 100% Data. After choosing the data I wanted to download, I followed the same process as above to create the map. Again I decided to change the classification to Quantile as I felt again this represented the data better.
Once I had made both maps, I placed them on a single layout using layout view. For both maps I added a title, scale, north arrow and legend. For the legend on both maps I decided to change the units to have no decimal places (only whole numbers) and used thousands separators to make the numbers easier to read. For both maps I changed the projection to NAD 1983 (2011) Wisconsin TM (Meters) as I wanted the maps to be projected using a more local projection. For the overall project I added the source of my information, the year of the source data and my name.
Results
Figure 2 shows the maps I made in this lab. The total population map shows that Wisconsin is more densely populated in the South than in the North of the state. In counties where there are major cities such as Wasau there are higher populations. From further research the North of the state is predominantly forests explaining why the North of the state is less populated than the South of the state, fitting the pattern suggested above. The housing units map show that most houses are found in counties where there is a large city e.g. Milwaukee. However, compared to total population there are a lot more housing units in the Northern counties. This is probably due to many Wisconsinites having a second home, a cabin in this region.
Figure 2
Sources
US Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau. (2014). American Fact Finder Advanced Search. Retrieved from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t.
Google. (2014) Google Maps. Retrieved from https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Wisconsin/@45.9383265,-89.981085,8z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x52a8f40f9384e3af:0xf2d5d5b8f88649d6.
