1. American Factfinder
2. On the left side click data sets > decennial census
3. Choose Census 2000 Summary File 3.
4. Click Detailed Tables
5. Choose “geo within geo”
6. Under the “Show me all” drop down list choose tracts
7. Choose State from the “within” list.
8. Select a state
9. Select “all census tracts” and then click the “add” button.
10. Click the “by subject” tab and select a subject of interest.  Click search and then “add” the table to the list of data you want to download by clicking the add button.  Be sure to include total population.
11. click show result.  The result is a not very readable table that is probably spread over hundreds of pages.  We want to download the table so that we can map it.
12. click download from the blue bar near the top of the page.
13. Select Microsoft excel under “database compatible.”  Keep the “include descriptive data elements” box checked (it should be checked by default).  These descriptive data elements describe the contents of each column.  Without the descriptive elements the columns have names like “P155A001″.
14. You have to edit the file you downloaded.  To work in ArcGIS an excel file must have “header”, a single row that contains the names of each column.  You can rename the columns based on the descriptive text in the second row (and then delete the second row) or you can retain the original codes.  I do this by copying the first two rows of the file (by typing ctrl-c).  I then open a new excel workbook and choose “paste special” from the drop down list under the word “paste” on the “home” tab.  In the paste special dialog I check the “transpose” box, the result should be list where one column contains a description and the other column contains the code associated with each variable you downloaded.

Now we need to download a map of the census tracts for the state you selected.  This is done through a seperate census website.

1. Go to the 2009 Tiger/line files main page
2. Select your state from the list on the right side of the page.
3. Download the census tracts for the 2000 census – its confusing, I know.  The website with the census 2009 boundary files includes a ”census tract (census 2000)” data set.  This file contains the boundaries of the census tracts used to report the data collected during the 2000.
4. Open the downloaded files in ArcGIS.
5. Join the excel table to the shapefile.  The unique IDs that you’ll use for joining are “CTIDFP00″ (in the shapefile) and “GEO_ID2″ in the Excel File.

Now we’ll download a raster population data set for North America.

1. Go to CIESIN SEDAC Gridded Population of the World website.
2. In the upper right “switch region” to north america.
3. Select GPWV3 “population grid”
4. Choose the Grid format and the year 2000.
5. Extract the zip file and add it to your map.

Next week we’ll learn more about working with this type of file.  and integrating raster and vector data an analysis.

An alternative type of project involves working with a community based organization.  This semester two local-not-for profits have identified specific projects for students with GIS skills.

1. The Rhode Island Family Life Center supports ex-criminal offenders and their families and is looking for several students to explore the geographic correlates of incarceration and criminal recidivism (more detail provided in class).
2. The Providence Plan, a local not-for-profit has developed an innovative application for the tracking of foreclosures.  This data set is under construction and the providence plan would like a student to critically engage with the construction and analysis of this dataset in an effort to understand how national foreclosure problem is manifest locally in RI.

The goal of your final project is to use the tools of cartography and spatial analysis to gain insight into a problem and/or policy.  The project should be MORE THAN A SERIES OF MAPS. I want you to learn something from the maps and/or analysis in your project – something that you would not have learned if you had not explored the data spatially.  You have a good idea if its difficult to describe your project without using spatial keywords like where, accessibility, environment, neighborhood, cluster, diffusion, etc.

The maps you make and/or spatial analyses you conduct should inform your understanding of the problem under investigation; a successful project will teach you something about your problem that you might not have otherwise known.

Project Timeline:

Meet with Seth to discuss your idea(s):  Week of 10/13-10/20
Project proposal due: 10/20/09
List of data sources and gaps due: 10/27/09
Literature review due: 11/10/09
Maps and description of data due:11/10/09
Extended 1500 word proposal due: 11/17/09
Final Project Due: 12/8/09

1. Design the map in the data frame of ArcMap.
   

   Step 1: Make the map using ArcMap.

2. Once you’re satisfied with the map choose “Export Map” from the “File” menu.
   

   Step 2: Select "Export Map" from the "File" menu

3. Where it says “Save as type” choose “JPEG.” Name the map using the following convention:
   • YourNameCh#Q# – Include your first and last nae with the first letter of each captialized. Then, without any spaces indicate the chapter # and question number.
   • For example: SethSpielmanCh2Q1
   

   Step 3: Choose JPEG and set Resolution to 150dpi

Set the export resolution to 150dpi under the “General” tab of the “Export Map” dialog box. Under the “Format” tab set color mode to “24-bit True Color” and the JPEG quality to slider to around 70 or 80.

4. Once you’ve finished creating all of the maps for the assignment create a new “zip” or “compressed” file by right clicking on the desktop and selecting “New.”
5. E-mail me the zip file that contains you maps.