Ethan Nauman
March 18th, 2015
Lab 2
The objectives of lab two was to teach us how to download information from the U.S Census Bureau, save it and unzip it again, and then to properly join metadata and an image to make a map pleasing to the eye. There were essential steps I had to follow that would allow me to be able to carry out the task I wanted to perform. The most precise steps had to do with saving the metadata and unzipping it properly in a way that would allow me to perform my task. Another key task that I performed in Arcmap was joining the image and the metadata. This allowed me to be able to show either the total population or the total population of african americans in Wisconsin. Joining the information caused me the most trouble as I had to change the metadata into an excel file that would allow me to properly join the information.
I now want to go into greater detail about the steps that I performed for lab two. Like I stated above, I started with downloading a map of Wisconsin from the census website. This was a easy step seeing I didn't have to change the data at all. On the census website, you are able to select different fields such as county, state, and what parameters you want to search from. I followed the simple steps which allowed me to download the image of Wisconsin. The next step was locating the metadata for the population of Wisconsin. Again, I was able to follow parameters on the website that allowed me to search by state and county. I was also able to search for population in these parameters. Once I located the population metadata, I downloaded and saved it into my lab2 folder. From that folder, I had to unzip the data. This allowed me save the information, four files, again into my lab2 folder. I opened the metadata in excel. The next step was to save the data as excel workbook. The next steps was building my map in Arcmap. This was relatively the easiest part. I brought in my picture of Wisconsin, and also brought in the metadata through the catalog. You are allowed to bring excel saved tables into Arcmap which makes the job way easier. After bringing them both in, the next step was to join the data and picture. I used the join tool which Allowed me to combine the pictures attribute table and the metadata attribute table. I based this join off of the ID from both of the tables as they matched each other. Now that I had one attribute table, the next step was to change the symbology of the map. I used graduated colors which allowed me to properly display my total population information by county of Wisconsin. I then was asked to complete the same steps of downloading metadata from the census website on information that I wanted to find out more about. I chose to download information on race, geared specifically towards the african american population in Wisconsin. I wanted to find out were the majority of the african american population subsided in the cheese state. I conducted the same steps that I performed in the prior process of downloading the data and bringing it into Arcmap. When I was complete I had two different maps displaying the total population of Wisconsin and the total african american population of Wisconsin, all by county.
While I was downloading the information from the census website and was trying to save it properly and build a map, I thought that it was very difficult to remember the order of the steps I needed to carry out. Before settling on building my last map on the total african american population, I tried the number of vacant houses in Wisconsin and sex by age. When it came to downloading my final info on african americans, I was able to carry out the steps without rereading the directions. Looking back on this lab I realized that the tasks that I carried out were relatively easy and was overall happy with how my maps turned out. (Pictured below) I brought in a baseman of the United States and also brought in the outline of the individual states. This allowed for a nice backdrop for the information I was trying to show. I made separate legends and also put in a north arrow. I cited my source as the U.S Census Bureau and included a scale bar. I messed around with changing the number of classes on both maps but they didn't come out very pleasing so, I left each of them with five classes.
