Downloading and Mapping GIS Data

Goal and Background:
The main goal of this lab was to learn how to transform a stand-alone table that contained relevant data into an attribute table so that the data can be mapped. Another goal of the lab was to become familiar with the U.S. Census Bureau’s website so that it is easy to find data and information that can be used in GIS.  

Methods:

Step 1: I visited the American Factfinder website of the U.S. Census Bureau

Step 2: I downloaded and unzipped the census attribute table for the counties of the state of Wisconsin.

Step 3: I viewed both the meta data and the tabular data in MS Excel and changed the number data in Excel from “general” to “number.”

Step 4: I saved the CSV file as an MS Excel file.

Step 5: I added the MS Excel file to ArcMap and reviewed the attribute table to make sure it was transferred correctly.

Step 6: I downloaded and unzipped the shapefile for the counties of the state of Wisconsin.

Step 7: I added the WI shapefile to ArcMap.

Step 8: I joined the WI shapefile and the population data table together through a join based on their GEO ID.

Step 9: I changed the symbology of the shape file to display a graduated color scheme that coincided with the population of the Wisconsin counties normalized for area.

Step 10: I repeated steps 1-5 and steps 7-9 using number of Housing units instead of county population.

Step 11: I built an appealing layout for both maps and changed the projection of the data frame to a State Plane projection for Central Wisconsin. 

Results: 

 Figure 1. This map represents the population of Wisconsin counties normalized for county area demonstrated by a color gradient. This map was created using data downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau website which was then transformed into an MS Excel file and joined with a table so that the information could be mapped.

 

 Figure 2. This map represents the number of housing units of Wisconsin counties demonstrated by a color gradient. This map was created using data downloaded from the U.S. Census Bureau website which was then transformed into an MS Excel file and joined with a table so that the information could be mapped.

Sources: United States Census Bereau (2010). American Factfinder. Retrieved from http:// http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh+t.