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.

GIS I Lab 1: Base Data

Background and Goal:

As an intern at Clear Vision Eau Claire, an Eau Claire county initiative working to create a vision for Eau Claire, I have been asked to prepare a basic report containing relevant information and base maps for the Confluence Project. The Confluence Project is a cooperation of UW-Eau Claire and the greater Eau Claire area to create a mixed-use building that contained student housing, a community arts center, and commercial property
The purpose of this lab was to create relevant base maps of the area of the Eau Claire Confluence Project while becoming familiar with various spatial data sets used in public land management, land use, and administration positions.
Methods:  

Objective 1 - Explore various data sets for the City and County of Eau Claire and answer some basic questions about the base data.

To do this step, I connected ArcCatalog to the relevant data and looked at the contents of the 2009_07_13_EauClaire.gdb geodatabase I explored the contents of the database including the feature classes and feature datasets. I familiarized myself with the rules attached to the topology file PARCEL_FEATURES_topology. I looked at the CENSUS_FEATURES feature dataset and looked at the block groupings and tracts. Finally, I looked at the zoning feature class in the DEVELOPMENT feature dataset to familiarize myself with the area.

Objective 2 - Digitize the Site for the Proposed Confluence Project

I began by greating a new file database named EC_confluence in ArcCatalog. I imported the coordinate system from the BlockGroups feature class (the Eau Claire County Coordinate System). In this new database I added a world imagery base map, an empty feature class, and the parcel_area feature class from the City of Eau Claire geodatabase. Using the editor toolbar I digitized the proposed site for the Confluence Project.

Objective 3 - View Legal Information for the Confluence Project

I first added a new blank data frame, an imagery layer base map, the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) townships, sections, and quarter-quarter sections from the 2009-17-13 EauClaire and the City of Eau Claire geodatabases. I activated the section numbers and symbolized the sections so that I could see the patters with a streteched color filling. I used the legal descriptions (Hemstead, 2015) to identify the section that the Confluence Project sits in using quarter-quarter sections.

Objective 4 - View Legal information for the Confluence Site

I visited the City of Eau Claire mapping services (City of Eau Claire, WI, 2017) and the pdf given to me to identify the parcels in ArcMap and create a complete legal description of these parcels.

Objective 5 - Build a Map of all Relevant Base Data for the Confluence Project

To complete my final objective, I created six discrete maps showing different sets of relevant data.
The first map was of Eau Claire County civil divisions. This involved importing the data from the 2009-07-13 Eau Claire Database and assigning each division a unique value symbol.
The second map was the Census Boundaries map, which was composed of the Census tracts and Block values adjusted to show the population of people per square mile as of the year 2007. The population was adjusted to be expressed as a color gradient for aesthetic appeal.
The third map was of the parcels of downtown Eau Claire. The parcels, centerlines, and water feature classes were added to show the location of the project in relation to legal boundaries.
The fourth map was the PLSS Features map that showed the PLSS Sections and Quarter-Quarter Sections. This is useful for understanding the location as expressed in PLSS system standards.
The fifth map was of zoning assignments. The codes were grouped into broader categories to make the map and legend more simple and easily understood.
The final map was of the voting wards in Eau Claire. Rather than a legend, I used numbers within boxed backgrounds to make them easier to read and identify the individual wards.

Results

The result of this project is a set of six maps as a tangible product, but also a better understanding of the different civil, legal, voting, demographic, and PLSS information that is pertinent to the Confluence Project.