GIS I: Lab 2- Downloading GIS Data

Goals and Background

The goal of this lab was to learn how to download data from the U.S. Census Bureau and use that in ArcMap to create an original map.

Work Flow

The first objective was to visit the American Factfinder website that has information from the U.S. Census Bureau.  From there, I downloaded 2010 Census data for all the counties in Wisconsin.  After downloading that data I had to unzip it.  From there I needed to open the excel worksheets that were in the zip file and I needed to save them as excel workbooks rather than what they were saved as originally.  After doing so, I opened the files and looked at the data to make sure it all looked good.  After that I needed to download the shapefile for the Wisconsin census data.  I also did this through the American Factfinder website.  After downloading all of this data I viewed it through the attribute tables in ArcMap to make sure it all transferred properly.  I mapped it all on ArcMap and then continued to download another dataset for all the counties in Wisconsin.  I chose the data for the amount of housing units per county in Wisconsin.  After doing so I joined the housing unit information with the original data I had downloaded.  In order to make this join permanent I exported to the joined shapefile to a new file.  I then created a second map to represent my new data. 

Results

Figure 1: Lab 2 final product.



The map above is my final product, with the total population of Wisconsin by county on the left and the amount of housing units in Wisconsin by county on the right.  The maps look quite similar because it's obvious to note that if there is a higher population then there will be more housing units and vice versa.  Looking at it now I wish I had done a different dataset for the second map so that it would look more different than the first, but I am very satisfied with the result and I came across fewer problems than I did with the first lab.  This lab also asked us to upload our map where we chose the data to ArcGIS online.  The link for my map is below:

http://uwec.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=95c04423f6db4faa86bdf68e83873d7b

Sources

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

http://www.arcgis.com/home

GIS I: Lab 1- Base Data

Goals and Background

The background behind Lab 1 is as follows, I was to pretend that I am an intern working at Clear Vision Eau Claire.  Clear Vision Eau Claire were some of the developers behind the "Confluence Project".  From there I am to try and achieve the goal of becoming familiar with spatial data sets used for the Confluence Project and develop base maps based on the data. 

Methods

 The first thing I did in order to start this lab was to read all of the definitions that accompanied the instructions.  They all helped along the way with vocabulary I didn't know.  After that, I proceeded to start the portion of the lab that involved using ArcMap.  The certain geodatabase that was found in the lab 1 folder was vital to the become familiar with in order to grasp the concepts in the lab.  The geodatabase had information about the Eau Claire confluence project.  After looking at the data in ArcCatalog and seeing all that it has to offer and what was missing I moved onto the next portion of the lab.  Next, I had to digitize the proposed site for the Confluence Project.  Through using the editing tool and also using the MAG book I finally digitized the area and moved on.  Next was learning about the Public Land Survey System.  I added a layer to the base map that represented the townships of the PLSS.  I made the layer hollow with a bright outline so it was easier to see.  Next was to create a brief legal description of the proposed site.  The information for this was found online through the Eau Claire mapping services.  After all of this I needed to build the final map that is pictured below.  I created a data frame for all six maps (Civil Divisions, Census Boundaries, PLSS Features, EC City Parcel Data, Zoning, and Voting Districts).  This was the toughest part of the lab for me.  I had some trouble figuring out how to create the maps, but eventually was successful in the end.

Results

Figure 1: Lab 1 final product.

The result of the lab are the maps pictured above.  As I stated above, I had some trouble when it comes to these maps, but I eventually worked out the problems in time and made the maps that looked pleasing to me.

Sources



 http://www.eauclairearts.com/confluence/

https://www2.uwec.edu/News/more/confluenceprojectFAQs.

http://www.sco.wisc.edu/plss/legal-descriptions.html

http://www.eauclairewi.gov/departments/public-works/engineering/mapping-services