Methods: The first step of this exercise was to find data from the US Census Bureau American FactFinder website (found here), the lab had me find data by searching for datasets which contained data for all counties in Wisconsin. The lab walked me through the steps of finding data on population from the Census, and I was required to find a data set on my own. I found one on Urban vs.. Rural Land types for my own mapping. I did this by using the advanced search feature, searching for a specific dataset and geography, then reviewing the table before downloading it as a zip file. I also found a map using the advanced search feature, and downloaded a map of the Wisconsin counties. After extracting the data, I reformatted the population data fields from text to numeric in order to allow me to join the Census table to the downloaded state table. I then displayed the downloaded county map, and placed the table into my map as well. I then joined the table, with a one to one cardinality join through the Geo_ID assigned to each county by the US Census Bureau, allowing me to then map the counties, based on the newly joined data, through the properties menu.
Results: From this lab, I created two maps found below.
Fig 1: Population of Wisconsin Counties (top) and Rural Prevalence in Wisconsin (bottom).
The Top map displays the population of Wisconsin counties and illustrates how people are concentrated towards the south eastern part of the state, near the big cities like Madison or Milwaukee. The bottom map shows a related phenomena to population, the percent of rural land in a county. This map shows an inversed relationship, where smaller population counties almost all have a larger percent rural land cover.
Data Source:
U.S. Census Bureau; generated by Philip Schadegg; Using American FactFinder; <http://factfinder2.census.gov>; (12, March, 2015)
U.S. Census Bureau; 2010 Census; TOTAL POPULATION, P1, summary file 1; generated by Philip Schadegg; Using American FactFinder; <http://factfinder2.census.gov>; (12, March, 2015)
U.S. Census Bureau; 2010 Census; URBAN AND RURAL, H2, summary file 1; generated by Philip Schadegg; Using American FactFinder; <http://factfinder2.census.gov>; (12, March, 2015)
Information on Coordinate System: Wisconsin DNR, DNR Coordinate Reference System, Retrieved from: <http://dnr.wi.gov/maps/gis/wtm8391.html>
