SO432, GIS Fall 2009

Vector Analysis This lab is individual work, and will be due at the start of  class on Wed 7 October. Objectives: This lab will teach you

• Downloading Census Bureau economic data, and joining it to shape files.  Joining is an important GIS concept.
• Computing areas for shape files, and population densities

• Your best friend from high school wants to set up a dating service in your county, and wants help doing a GIS analysis on where in the county efforts should be concentrated.  You are to pick either men or women as the target audience, and prepare maps showing:
  • If you use just the SF1 data (you can define optimal):
    • The distribution of population in the "optimal age group" in the county.
    • The distribution of median age of the target gender
    • The distribution of average household size in the county
  • If you use the SF3 data (you can define optimal, and adjust the exact category if needed)
    • The distribution of the target gender in the "optimal age group" in the county.
    • The distribution of the target gender in the "optimal educational level" in the county.
    • The distribution of the target gender in the "optimal income bracket" in the county.
  • Whichever data set you use
    • The population density of the target gender in the county.
    • The ratio of men to women (or women to men) in the county, by age group if you want
   
• Use at least two different mechanisms to show the results for the five maps
  • Color coding
  • Scaled symbols

• Put your maps on a DEM reflectance base map. If your previous county map did not cover the entire county, get a new version of the DEM.  You might want to get the date by entering the coordinates, which you can get from the shape file map, to avoid the problems..
• Get the block group data, unless your county has a huge number of block groups, in which case you can use the tracts.
• Detailed direction are in the help file under Contents, Tutorials and labs, GIS, Census economic and demographic data
• If you want your grade to start at the 85% level, you need only use the SF1 data from ESRI.
• If you want your grade to start at the 100% level, you need to download the SF3 data from the Census Bureau and convert it for use.