GIS I Lab 2

GIS I Lab 2: Downloading GIS Data

Background and Goal:

The goal of this lab is to learn how to retrieve, perform analysis upon, and map U.S. Census Bureau Data, as well as to create an Arc GIS WebMap. The tangible products are two maps showing Wisconsin population and a variable of our choosing, respectively.

Methods

Objective 1: Download 2010 Census Bureau Data

The Fact Finder website, run by the U.S. Census Bureau was used to find the total population of the counties in Wisconsin. Utilizing the Advanced Search with conditions of "population totals" and "All Counties within Wisconsin" the data was found and downloaded as a zipped file. After extracting the data, the second row of data was deleted because it was not a record. Periods were removed from titles to adhere to naming conventions in ArcMap.

Objective 2: Download a Shapefile of the 2010 Census Boundaries

Under the "Map" tab on the Fact Finder website, and the corresponding  shapefile was downloaded as a .zip file and extracted accordingly.

Objective 3: Join the Downloaded Data to the Shapefile

The shapefile was added to the data frame, which was renamed "Population." The shapefile was joined with the standalone Excel table using the common GEO_id field.

Objective 4: Map the Data

The 0500 shapefile was changed to a graduated color symbology with four classes in a quantile classification to appropriately distribute the tiers of population.

Objective 5: Download and Map a Variable of My Choice

Using the Fact Finder website, the housing data from the 2010 census was downloaded.

Objective 6: Build a Layout with Both Maps
Both maps were adjusted to the NAD_1983_Wisconsin_TM projection to make them more accurate for this project. Both maps were given a basemap, author name, date, title, the source of the map date, a legend, and scale bar.

Objective 7: Build a WebMap with One of the Variables

A new map file was saved for the purposed of uploading to ArcGIS online, after logging on through a UWEC account. The second data frame was deleted and the standalone table was removed to avoid errors in the process. A service was created and published for this map, with pop-ups  that would show the name and population of the Counties. This was shared with the UWEC Anthropology and Geography group after the Title, summary, and tags were updated.

Results:

These maps show the population (first map) and number of housing units (second map) in the counties of Wisconsin. the population is most heavily concentrated around the Southeast corner of the state. Some counties have more housing units than would be expected based on population. I would suggest this could be explained by either a large tourist industry, as is the case in Door county, or by higher rates of homelessness.
The third map is a screen capture of the uploaded map on ArcGIS online.

Sources:

Data:
United States Census Bureau American Fact Finder. (2015). [online] Retrieved from  https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t [Accessed: April 8, 2017].

Basemap

ESRI, HERE, DeLorme, MapmyIndia, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS user community.