GIS 1 Lab 3

Goals and Background

The primary goal Lab 3 was to obtain GIS and standalone data and use it for mapping and analysis. One of the main objectives was to take standalone table and transform it into an attribute table which can be mapped. The US Census Bureau's statistics were utilized in these methods to transform collected data into a visual map. Once the data was transformed, the static map was was uploaded to ESRI Online using a feature service, with the primary goal being to create a dynamic web based map.

Methods

The lab was started by visiting the US Census Bureau's fact finding website. Once on the webpage, the advanced search tab was used to select more specific data sets that were useful in completing the lab. Specifically the 2010 SF1 data under the topics selection narrowed the data down to the 2010 census data. Once that was added, Wisconsin's counties' data were added by selecting geography, then "Select a geographic type", then once that is selected: "County". After county is clicked, a list of states pops up and Wisconsin is selected, and the next step is to add all of the county data from Wisconsin into the search currently ongoing. After the search is completed, the 2010 Population Data is downloaded in a Microsoft Excel file. For the personal choice, Household Units were selected to be downloaded as well. While looking at the data, the Wisconsin shapefile is downloaded by clicking "map", then within the download screen shapefile is selected. After all the data is downloaded, the next step is to format the Microsoft Excel tables into doubles to be added to the attribute tables of Wisconsin within the shapefile in ArcMap. After the numbers are configured, the data is saved as an Excel Workbook.

After all of the downloaded data is reformatted, it is added to a new map within ArcMap, starting with the shapefile of Wisconsin. Once the standalone tables are in the table of contents, it is opened alongside the shapefile's attribute table. These are joined by Geo_ID. After the tables are joined, two gradient colored maps are made. One based on the population density of counties within Wisconsin. The other of personal choice from the US Census Bureau Data (Housing Units). These maps are then made to look cartographically pleasing by manipulating them using the layout view.

After these steps are done, the map made by personal choice is uploaded to ESRI Online to be created into a dynamic map. It is published through the feature service  - "UW-Eau Claire Geography and Anthropology Department". It's capabilities are changed to be feature access only. After this, an item description is created. It is then analysed for errors and published. Once it is on the feature service, ESRI is accessed online. Within "My content" the map is found as a feature layer. It's pop up configurations are changed to remove decimal places within doubles, and to rename the aliases within attributes. After this, the map is shared with our colleagues. 

Results

Static Maps

This map represents Wisconsin's housing units per county.

This map represents the overall population per county within Wisconsin.

Dynamic Map

This screenshot represents the dynamic map created with housing units data collected from the US Census Bureau.

Sources

US Census Bureau

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t

ArcGIS Dynamic Map

http://uwec.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=856ecccc4ca642a8b6d46d2c290075bd