Expert Answer :PROJECT 2: CREATING AND INTERPRETING MAPS

Solved by verified expert :PROJECT 2: CREATING AND INTERPRETING MAPSWritten by David DiBiase and Jim Sloan© 1999-2015 The Pennsylvania State UniversityOVERVIEWEducational ObjectivesIn this project you will create and interpret reference maps and thematic maps of your home town and countyusing geospatial and attribute data produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. (If your home is not in the U.S.,please choose a U.S. town and county with which you are familiar enough to be able to interpret the mapsyou make.) You will use American FactFinder, the Census Bureau’s Internet-based data disseminationsystem. American FactFinder enables you to create maps from TIGER/Line files and census demographicdata.In the process of producing the deliverables assigned for this project, you will demonstrate your ability to:1. Use American FactFinder to create reference maps and thematic maps.2. Recognize and describe the use of TIGER/Line file data and census demographic data in AmericanFactFinder.3. Interpret geographic patterns revealed in thematic maps.4. Compare the effects on apparent patterns caused by different data classification schemes.5. Calculate map scale.DeliverablesYour complete project report, submitted to the Project 2 module in Canvas. See the Canvas courseCalendar for the due date.Evaluation CriteriaProject 2 is worth 100 points. Evaluation criteria include:•Quality: 54 points. Maps should be produced using American FactFinder. They should be appropriatelysymbolized, scaled, and the content appropriately framed. Map descriptions should be thoughtful,insightful, as original as possible, and well written. As with any writing assignment, pay close attention tospelling, punctuation, and grammar. Communication skills count!•Completeness: 31 points. All maps, legends, and descriptions should be present.•Timeliness: 5 points. Project report should be submitted by the assigned due date. Students requestingan extension must contact their grading assistant prior to the deadline.•Above and beyond: 10 points. At Penn State, the course grade "A" (which corresponds to at least 90percent of possible points in this course) denotes "exceptional achievement." In this course, project reportsthat fulfill minimum requirements earn a score of 90 out of 100 points. Up to 10 additional points areawarded for report elements that exceed minimum requirements. See the Project 2 rubric, below, fordetails.1 RUBRICPROJECT 2 REPORT ELEMENTSPOINTSTIMELINESSProject report submitted to Canvas by deadline5REFERENCE MAPReference map (street level) with legend and caption present, and formatted properly(Completeness)6Reference map description names town, cites American FactFinder (Completeness)2TIGER features discussed as source data. Some feature layers identified (Quality)5Map scale present, correct; scale explained; math shown (5 Completeness, 5 Quality)10THEMATIC MAPThematic map (county level) with legend and caption present, and formatted properly(Completeness)6Thematic map description names county and cites American FactFinder (Completeness)2Census demographic data (attributes) and TIGER (features) discussed as source data(Quality)5Map scale present, correct; scale explained; math shown (2 Completeness, 3 Quality)5INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS OF THEMATIC MAPEnumeration unit (e.g., block, block group, tract) reported (1 Quality); choroplethic methoddiscussed (5 Quality)6Description includes interpretation of thematic map pattern (Quality)8Description identifies thematic classification scheme, and justifies its use (5 Completeness,5 Quality)10ACADEMIC INTEGRITY, PROSE and CAPTIONSSource material properly paraphrased and/or cited and referenced. At least two inlinecitations included. Active hyperlinks to websites included in source section. Source accessdates correct. (Quality)10Prose quality (complete sentences, student’s own words, punctuation, spelling, grammar)5Figure captions well-composed and complete (3 Completeness, 2 Quality)5ABOVE AND BEYONDAdditional maps and analysis comparing: datasets over time, classification methods,geographic areas, etc.; historical information; comments on personal experience, etc.Up to10TOTAL maximum score1002 INSTRUCTIONSYou will be using the American FactFinder web site to create maps for this project.http://factfinder.census.govThe basic parts of Project 2 are:Part 1) You will create a minimum of two maps (1 reference and 1 thematic) using the tools at theAmerican FactFinder site. You will capture each of the maps that you see on your computer screen andpaste them into an MS Word document file.Part 2) Create your report by: calculating a map scale for each map, and describing and discussing eachmap.The Project 2 report template (LASTnameFIRSTinitial_P2_TEMPLATE.doc), which can be found in theProject 2 module in Canvas, includes a sample reference map at street level, a sample thematic map atcounty level, placeholders for the discussions of the two, and for your references.Citation TIP: See Appendix B.•You may prepare your report in any of the following formats: Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or AdobeAcrobat (.pdf). Whichever format you choose, the report should include all the elements that appear inthe Project 2 report template.•Project reports should be formatted so that images are legible. Instructors cannot evaluate reports thatcontain blurry, shrunken images. Consider making your margins more narrow, changing your pageorientation, or choosing a slightly larger page size in order to make room for legible images.•Please use the following naming convention for your report file name: LASTnameFIRSTinitial_P2. Ifyour name is Jack Smith, your file name would look like: SmithJ_P2.doc3 Part 1: Creating your mapsIt is a challenge for web page builders to keep up with the ever-updating of web browser applications. If yousee odd behavior in the FactFinder mapping interface it more than likely is due to the fact that thefunctionality was designed to comply with previous browser versions.Take a look at these two Census site FAQ entries:https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?id=5000&faqId=1585https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?id=5000&faqId=7803So, do your best with the assignment and do not get too frustrated with the FactFinder site. You should stillbe able to satisfy the requirements of the Project 2 Rubric, but as some of you may see, the map interfacecan be somewhat idiosyncratic and your maps may not render perfectly in your browser.Step A: Reference MappingBegin by creating a map like the first figure in the Project 2 report template.Create a reference map with the American FactFinder interface:Help buttons — The instructions that follow should be adequate to complete the exercise, but if you needadditional aid please avail yourself of the Help tips by clicking the blue circles with the white questions marks inthem.1. Point your browser to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American FactFinder site.2. Make certain you are on the MAIN page (see button in upper left). In the Reference Maps box on the rightclick the GO button.This will take you to a view that shows a Select Geographies overlay window. Select the Map tab. (Itshould be selected by default.)3. In the Select Geographies overlay window expand the Find a Location dialog box by clicking thearrowhead.4. In the Search for a geographic area: text box, type the name of your home town and the state name,separated by a comma. For example, Fremont, Michigan5. Hit the GO button at the right end of the text box. The dialog box will expand to show search results thatmatch what you entered.6. Under Place within State, or under one of the other entries in the Search results for list (the resultscan vary depending upon the place you specified) click on the name of your home town. In the examplethat we are using the choice was Fremont city, MichiganA Loading splash will appear. After several seconds the map view will change to display a map of thetown you selected.7. In the upper right corner of the Select Geographies window click on the window icon to maximize the sizeof the Select Geographies window.This will only enlarge the actual map by a small amount or not at all (and you may notice the map areachange size as you are working with the interface). We want you to do this in order that the SelectGeographies window fills the browser window, making it so you get only pertinent information when youuse the Alt-PrintScreen (explained in Appendix A) method to capture your map prior to placing it in yourreport document.8. You might want to shrink the smaller Select Geographies dialog box in the upper left by clicking itsarrowhead.4 Optimize map view:1. Use the tools provided to pan and zoom on the map. We want your map to display named streets in aportion of the town that you choose.Customize the map:1. Click the arrowhead on the Boundaries and Features box. This will open a separate dialog window thatgives you access to a list of Boundaries and a list of Features.If the Features list is empty then in the Display Boundaries and Features from pick list choose 2010.After making any desired selections from either list, click the Update button at the bottom of the window inorder to add the features and/or the labels to your map. (Be patient while the map refreshes.)Note the text at the bottom of the Legend – not all features and boundaries will show at all map scales.And, not all of the features that you know to exist in your home town will display on the map. Why is that?Recall what this geographic data was intended for.2. You are expected to label the map with at least the name of the town. You can do this one of three ways.(1) via the Boundaries list (20xx Place), (2) with the Map Markers tools, or (3) after you paste the mapinto your MS Word document with the Insert | Text Box capability.If you choose to experiment with the tools in the Map Markers dialog be certain to have finalized yourchoice of zoom factor before placing any text, otherwise the position of the text may be altered when youzoom.Place the map in your report document:1. Even though there are Print and Download options available via the tool bar on the map interface, none ofthe results will include the scale bar that should accompany the map. So, you will need to capture the mapfrom your computer screen, and then paste it into your document file. See Appendix A at the end of thisdocument for instructions on how to create a screen-captured image.2. Be certain that the map, with its scale bar, and the Legend are all present in your document.5 Step B: Thematic MappingNext, create at least one thematic map of your home county, like the second figure in the Project 2 reporttemplate. (If your home is not in the U.S., map an "adopted" U.S. county about which you are familiar enoughto evaluate the resulting thematic pattern.)For the sake of limiting the choices you have to make we will be constraining you to the use of 2010 censusdata. You can experiment if you want. If you want to compare 2010 data to the data from a past census, forexample, you are welcome to.A considerationAll of the thematic maps one can create in American Factfinder employ the choroplethic method. Choroplethmaps were discussed in Chapter 3 of the course text.Regardless of simple definitions you might find that define a choropleth map as thematic maps displayingclassified data by colored or shaded areas (polygons), the most appropriate use of the choroplethic mappingmethod is in the depiction of rate and density data; data values that have been divided by other values. Thisis because the varying sizes of the polygons can alter the impression of the mapped data. Also, a uniformdistribution can be masked if raw count instead of rate or density data is mapped. Keep this in mind whenchoosing the data theme to portray in your map. You will be expected to discuss this in your report.The instructions that follow guide you to datasets that allow you to map either percent or density data. Seethe headings in blue text.There is much more data available from the U.S. Census than the themes we steer you toward. You arewelcome to deviate from the instructions when it comes to which datasets to choose. Just keep in mind thenature of the data you are mapping.Create thematic maps with the American FactFinder interfaceHelp buttons — The instructions that follow should be adequate to complete the exercise, but if you needadditional aid avail yourself of the Help tips by clicking the blue circles with the white questions marks in them.To produce a thematic map showing Percent dataGo to the Search page of the American FactFinder site:1. Return to the MAIN page of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American FactFinder site.2. Click the ADVANCED SEARCH button in the blue bar, or the Advanced Search link then theSHOW ME ALL button). This will bring up a Search page.Proceed to make your mapSelect Geography and Enumeration Unit:1. Click the Geographies box on the left side. This will open an overlay window titled SelectGeographies. Select the Name tab.In the next step you will select a county in order that the census data you map shows enoughvariation to make an interesting map. However, you may instead choose a large city, as long as itencompasses enough enumeration units to make an interesting map.6 2. In the in the text box beneath Enter a geography name or use the Geography Filter Optionsbelow: type the name of a county and its state, separated by a comma. As you type you will be ableto choose from selections that match your text. For example, for map that appears in the templatedocument, typing Newaygo, Michigan allowed the selection of Newaygo County, Michigan to bemade.3. Hit the GO button at the right end of the text box. The Your Geography Filters box should nowshow your selection, and the Geography Results box should be populated with Geography Nameresults pertinent to the county you named.4. In the Geography Name list you need to check the box for one of the choices that will result in amap of the county that is subdivided into multiple enumeration unit polygons. So, choose one of thefollowing (You may need to page through the list in order to find the entries shown below.):- All County Subdivisions within <your> County, <your State>- All Census Tracts within <your> County, <your State>- All Block Groups within <your> County, <your State>- All 5-Digit ZIP Code Tabulation Areas fully-or-partially within <your> County, <your State>- All Blocks within <your> County, <your State> (This is apt to take a longer time to map. Whymight that be? What level are Census Blocks in the size hierarchy of enumeration units?)5. Click the Add button. This will add the entry to the Your Selections box.6. You can now close the Select Geographies overlay page by clicking the X in its upper right corner.This will leave you at the Search page.Now, select a data theme:7. First, constrain the census year to 2010:Click the blue Topics box and in the Select Topics dialog window expand the Year list, and choose2010. This will place the Year 2010 in the Your Selections box. (Notice that the 2010 entrydisappears from the Year list.) Close the Select Topics window.8. Now, you want to select the data that you will be mapping.Recall that in this section of the assignment we want to map percentage data. The selections thatwill have mapable percentage data are those showing a QT- value in the ID column.You can page through the Search Results pages until you find a data set that you want to base youmap on or you can further constrain the search by interactingwith the various tools on this Search page. The image belowshows the possible contents of the Your Selection box at thisstage.This image shows the results after also (1) sorting by typing QTin the topic or table name text box of the Search Results:window and hitting the GO button, and (2) opening the Topicsdialog back up and from the Dataset list selecting 2010 SF1100% Data, and (3) opening the Race and Ethnic Groupsdialog and selecting Hispanic or Latino.To remove unwanted results that you have selected, click theblue circle with the white x next to the entry. Be careful to leave the original county-level enumerationunit entry (your home county).7 9. Back in the Search Results window; take note of the information in the Dataset column. You canclick the i icon in the About column for information on a given dataset. The information you find willsupport your report.10. Now, click the box for your selection – make certain a check mark shows.11. Then click the View button. Find it at the top and the bottom of the Search Results window.Once your request is processed you should be presented with a table. A typical table view will looklike this:Even though data from only one of the census tracts (in this example) is displayed in the Geographyslot, when you make your map the data for all of the census tracts will be mapped.12. If the results are not desirable, use the BACK TO ADVANCED SEARCH button to return to Searchpage.Un-check the selection box or use the Clear All button to clear the check mark from the unwanteddataset before making a new selection.Create the map:The next steps depend upon the Create a Map button being active (blue).Find the Create a Map button in the row of Actions on the Table View page of your search results.If the Create a Map button is not active, you need to use the BACK TO ADVANCED SEARCH button to getback to the Search Results window. Un-check the box for the data set that you selected and chooseanother dataset. Not all of the data tables that can be viewed present data that can be readily mapped. But ifyou stick with the QT datasets you should be able to make a map.13. Now, click on the Create a Map button.A Loading . splash will/may appear indicating that the data is being processed.A Click on a data value in the table to map. box will appear, and the data values in the table willhave turned blue.8 14. From the Percent column click on one of the blue data values in the row of the data type you wish tomap. (Click a different data value if you get a message that Selected Summary Level Is not availablefor mapping) Another Loading . splash will/may appear.15. Click the SHOW MAP button in the popup window that next appears.Your thematic map will eventually appear; it may take several seconds.16. Proceed to the Optimize Map Scale section, below.An interesting exercise would be to go back, via the Create a Different Map link and plot the raw count datafrom the Number column for the same data type and compare the patterns on the two maps. (This would begood for Above and Beyond points.)To produce a thematic map showing Density dataGo to the Search page of the American FactFinder site:1. Go to the MAIN page of the U.S. Census Bureau’s American FactFinder site2. Click the ADVANCED SEARCH button in the blue bar, or the Advanced Search link then theSHOW ME ALL button). This will bring up a Search page.3. Empty the contents of the Your Selections window, if it still holds search criteria from your previouswork.Proceed to make your thematic mapSelect the Geography:1. Click the Geographies box on the left side. This will open an overlay window titled SelectGeographies, and select the Name tab.2. In the in the text box beneath Enter a geography name or use the Geography Filter Optionsbelow: type the name of a county and its state, separated by a comma. As you type you will be ableto choose from selections that match your text. For example, for map that appears in the templatedocument, typing Newaygo, Michigan allowed the selection of Newaygo County, Michigan to bemade. (As mentioned above it is preferable that you choose a county and not a city, but a large citymight also be acceptable.)3. Click on the Go button.4. In the Geography Results listing, click on the check box for your home county – it ought to be thefirst entry on the list. Then5. Click the Add button. This will place an entry in the Your Selections box on the SEARCH page.6. Close the Select Geographies overlay window.Choose a theme:9 7. Constrain the census year to 2010: In the Topics dialog window expand the Year list, and choose2010. This will place the Year 2010 in the Your Selections box. (Notice that the 2010 entrydisappears from the Year list.)Close the Select Topics window.The Your Selections box should look something like this:8. Now, in the topic or table name text box of the Search Results: window, type Density, and hit theGO button. This will drastically reduce the list of choices you see, perhaps to only one or two:9. Click the check box of your choice (if you are given a choice) and then10. Click the View button. This will take you to the Table View of the data, with the data for the countyenumeration units listed.Note that on the right side of the table there are two columns of density data: Population, andHousing units per square mile.Create the map:11. Now, click the Create a Map button. The data values will turn blue.12. Click on one of either the Population or the Housing unit density values for one of the enumerationunits (not the top row for the entire county — you will get a message that Single Geo Cannot bemapped)This will allow you to13.click the SHOW MAP button.14. Proceed with customizing the view and the content of the map.Then place the map in your report. See Appendix A at the end of this document for instructions onhow to create a screen-captured image.15. Proceed to the Optimize Map Scale section, below.An interesting exercise would be to go back, via the Create a Different Map link and plot the raw count datafor the same data type and compare the patterns on the two maps. (This would be good for Above andBeyond points.)10 Optimize map scale:Use the mapping interface tools to pan and zoom to show as much of your county as possible at thelargest possible scale. The pre-set zoom levels may not allow you to do both. For this project it isusually better to cut off small amounts of area at the edges of your county than to show the wholething at too small a scale. A small amount of the top and bottom of the Newaygo County example inthe template was actually lost at the zoom factor chosen.Customize the map:1. Use the tools in the Colors and Data Classes dialog to experiment with the data classification andsymbolization options. Finally, choose the number of classes, classification method, and colorscheme that reveals the most meaningful patterns for the theme you selected.Your map description should include your rationale for selecting a classification method (ideally, withreference to the relevant text in Chapter 3).2. Change the settings in the Boundaries and Features dialog as you see fit. (Again, you may need toselect the display of boundaries and features for 2010. Adding Place boundaries and names, forexample, can help support your interpretation of the map. The Transparency option, in the Colorsand Data Classes dialog should not be set too low, or such features and labels will not showthrough the polygon fill colors.)3. With the tools in the Map Markers dialog add an appropriate map title. Be sure to do so only afteryou have finalized the zoom setting of the map.Or, instead of grappling with the Map Markers tool, you can just be certain that your screen captureincludes the portion near the top that shows the name of the data set that was mapped.(The “Persons” title in the Legend area is not always appropriate, but it cannot be changed.)Place the map in your report document:1. Again, even though there are Print and Download options available via the tool bar on the map interface,none of the results will include the scale bar that should accompany the map. So, you will need to capturethe map from your computer screen, and then paste it into your document file. See Appendix A at the endof this document for instructions on how to create a screen-captured image.2. Be certain that the map, with its scale bar, and the legend are all present in your document.11 Part 2 – Producing the Project ReportThe first part of the project involved assembling the two maps required for the report. This second partinvolves (A) producing the report that will accompany your maps, and (B) submitting it for evaluation.Step A: Create Your Project ReportMap Scale CalculationsFor each of the two maps that you are required to make you are to calculate a map scale – a RepresentativeFraction scale for the reference map and a Verbal (Descriptive) Scale for the thematic map. (Verbal…