Census Map

The first map that is shown above is a census map of U.S. Counties with Black Population. Base on this map, the highest black population is located in the South Eastern part of the U.S.  You will see that the states of Arkansas have a high percentage of black population. The highest percentage of black population is shown using the darkest blue color. The percentage of black population in the areas that have the darkest blue color would range in about 53%-86%. You will also notice that on the other side of the U.S. for example the North Western part and the middle part of the U.S.  there’s  a least percentage of black population in these locations.  Though, another astonishing fact is that there is about 12%-23% (shown in yellow) black population located in the west side of U.S. which is probably  located in the state of California. 

The second map that is shown above shows the Asian Population in 2000. You will notice that the highest percentage of the Asian population is shown in red. The highest percentage of the Asian population that is shown in red would range in about 20%-46%. If you would look at the map, you will notice that there isn't that much Asian population in most of the states. The highest percentage of Asian population that is noticeable in the map would mostly be located in the west side of the U.S.  which might probably be the state of California. I've implied this due to the fact that most of the red spots that correspond to having the highest percentage of population are mostly located in the west side of the U.S. Also the other 3%-5% (light orange) and 5%-10% (orange) are mostly located in the west side of the U.S. as well. However, there is also an average percentage of Asian population in the North Western and North Eastern (e.g. New Jersey, Maryland, etc.) part of the U.S. 

The last map that is shown above shows the percentage of some other races’ population in the U.S. during 2000. The highest percentage of population is shown is dark blue color. You will notice in this map that there is a very high percentage of population of other races alone in the states located in the South, South Western, and  West side of the U.S. There is also an average percentage of population of other races located in the North Western side of the U.S. which might probably be around the states of Washington.  You will also notice that there is at least 4%-15% of other races’ population in the South Eastern part of the U.S. which would probably be around the states of Florida.  There is also at least 4%-9% population of some other race in the North Eastern part of the U.S. around the states of New Jersey, Rhode Island, etc.  

These three census map that was created during the lab, shows different numbers of percentages about the population of the races black, Asian and some other races in the U.S. Comparing these three census maps, you will notice that each of them have different locations of where their highest percentage of population is located at. Most of the highest percentage of black population is located in the South Eastern part of the U.S. while the highest percentage of the Asian population is the total opposite of the black population because they’re mostly located in the Western part of the U.S. On the other hand, the map that shows the percentage of the other races alone, clearly shows that there are a lot of other races that are located in the South, South Western and Western part of the U.S. and also some parts in the North Western and South Eastern part of the U.S.

Being able to use GIS to make a census map wasn’t a very good experience for me. It was explained and stated to be easy. However, I had a lot of confusion while doing the lab. First, I wasn’t able to plug in the information correctly in GIS which was the table from excel that we had to download. Every time I would download the table and edit it on excel, I would then incorrectly plug the wrong information on GIS (“Sheet$” instead of the new edited name of the table). Also it was confusing on the part where we have to join and relate the tables on the map because if you don’t know how exactly to join and relate tables in the map, it is possible that the step you’re trying to do to add information on the map will not work. Despite this, being able to learn how to use GIS to make census maps and join table to add in information on the map is a good way of making maps that will show accurate information. Knowing how to use GIS in making census maps made it easier for me to understand how a census map is created and where those percentages we see in the maps are coming from and also how those information are being added in the map. I would say that GIS can show accurate information in a map if it is used in the right way in making a map. 

 





















The potential and significance of being able to create different kinds of maps is that we can have different ways of viewing the terrain of the ground in a map. The 3D image of the map is the final product of all the other maps that were represented in this lab. The 3D image that was created helps us view the map more clearly with more precise details in it, which means it shows more details about the steepness of the terrain of the ground in our map. The aspect - slope map’s significance on the other hand, helps us show the direction and degree of the slope of a terrain in the map, which also helps us see the surface of the ground in our map easier. The aspect – slope map also helps us see the steeper slopes in the map by showing it with brighter colors. The hillshade model map helps analyze a better digital elevation model of the map before simulating it into a 3 Dimensional terrain map. It also gives the map a good look of the map’s terrain. Therefore, all these three maps that were created helps us view the terrain or surface of the ground in the map more clearly by showing us how steep a terrain is or how flat it is by using different colors to show the steepness of the terrain.  

Map Projection

Base on the exercise about making six maps with different projections (two conformal, two equidistant and two equal area), we can imply that the significance in having map projections is that they are able to reshape a three dimensional earth map into two dimensional map. Map projections transforms the spherical coordinates of a three dimensional map which has the x, y and z coordinates into two dimensional map that will have the x and y coordinates. For example, in this exercise, we made six different maps with different projections. The equal area and the conformal map projections in this case are the most common projections. Therefore, both projections are good in preserving the area and shape of the maps within its features. However, despite the significance in map projections, there are still perils within the usage of map projections.

           

One of the dangers in using map projections is that every map projections have different measurements and angles in them. For example, when you’re trying to measure a country (e.g. South America) for a history project, you can find a map with an equal area projection or you can find a map that is conformal. Therefore, when comparing these two maps with two different projections, it can result in having different measurements among them. Just by looking at the maps, you will see that the same country will have different shapes in the map, which can cause in having different measurements or angles in them. Another example for this will be the three maps from the exercise that was created, the Mercator (conformal) projection, Bonne (equal area) projection, and the two point equidistant projection. When these three were measured in the Geodesic line measurement, all three had different segment and length measurements. Therefore, we can conclude that when we’re doing a research or when someone is not well informed about different map projections, we can gather wrong information that might also result in having the wrong measurement for a certain map.

            

Despite its perils, the potential of having map projections and knowing more about map projections is that when we are measuring the distances of one place to another for example in the maps created, Washington D.C. to Kabul, we can get an accurate measurement of the distances from these two places. Though a map creator should know which type of projection should be used in creating their maps because not all projection can preserve all the properties of a three dimensional map into one. However, that’s why different map projections were created, so that the different properties of a three dimensional map can be shown in different projections. For example, a conformal projection can maintain true directions, but cannot provide for accurate area and distance. An equal area projection on the other hand, can provide accurate area calculations, but has inaccurate shapes. Therefore, the potential in knowing different map projections is that, it can give you different kinds of measurements, and information in them. Though you will have to be well informed about the different projections that exist or else you will not be able to distinguish what projections and what the maps’ measurements are and its accurate data.

           

The significance in having map projections is that it can help people measure the area, distances and shapes of a three dimensional map because map projections help transform three dimensional maps into two dimensional maps. This can also lead to the map projections’ potential in helping people gather accurate distance and area measurements in different kinds of map projections. However, there are perils in place of these potentials in using map projections. Without enough knowledge about map projections, no matter how accurate the measurements it can give you, if you’re not well informed, then you wouldn’t be able to distinguish the accurate measurements and the type of projections you are exactly looking at. Before looking at a map, or before making a map, you should be able to distinguish what projections the map that you’re making should have or what kind of projection does the map you’re looking at have. Otherwise, map projections are good tools in helping people gather accurate measurements of a map.  

Lab 4

           My overall ArcMap experience can be described in two words, exciting and fun. Since it was the first time using this kind of program, it was exciting and fun. It never occurred to me that such great technology/program such as this exists, though I’ve always wondered how they made those paper maps. I would say that the potential of having this kind of technology and being able to use this to create maps is that it makes it easier for people to create maps with such accuracy in them. Also by being able to use GIS in creating maps, the coordinates, graphics and the things that defines the map like the symbols, colors, etc. makes it easier for people to understand what the map basically intends to imply. I would say that its most potential is its accuracy in giving precise information on the map. However, the GIS’s pitfalls are that for beginners who have never used GIS before, it will be very hard to understand how to use it. Also people who have been used to creating maps without relying on technology such as GIS, will have difficulties in understanding how to use this program. Another pitfall is that, this program is available to anyone in public. Therefore, anyone can buy the program and create their own maps and post it on different websites online, which can give inaccurate information at times.

            The potential of GIS is that it gives accurate information when you’re creating your map. For example, in the map that I made for the lab, it included population information on it. By having the population included in it, I was able to find the population of the area in my map without even counting and calculating the data that I will need in order to find how many people are in that area of the map. Therefore, I’m implying that GIS includes every information that you will need in order to find a certain information on your map like the population. The population of the area and the so called “Field Calculator” helped calculate the accurate population information of the area in my map. Also the potential of GIS is that you can choose different colors and symbols to represent different information on your map, which in fact can also help for your readers or audience to understand what your map is about. Another potential of it is that by zooming in and out of the map, the scale of your map will already be set. The measurements of your map are also included and are accurately given in the program, which is also a good potential of GIS.

            GIS is a good program to use because of its accuracy. However, it has its pitfalls too. One of its pitfalls is that you cannot use GIS without technology. As we all know, not everyone is capable of using the technologies that we have in today’s time. Therefore, for people who are still used to the old ways of creating a map, it will be very hard for them to use GIS. Another pitfall of GIS is that ArcMap/GIS are available to anyone in public. Therefore, anyone can buy this program and create their own maps. Therefore, in result, it can give inaccurate information to other people because other people would create their own maps and post it on online websites. By posting your own maps on different online websites, it can give inaccurate information because your own map itself is subjective. Whether you have gathered the information yourself through different databases, it is still not a reliable source of map to use for researching for other people once it has been posted online.

            Therefore, even if GIS has good accuracy and has good information on it, it still has its pitfalls. There were parts that were complicated to do like shrinking the map so you could fit four different maps in one layout, and using the field calculator. While I was trying to do the step of shrinking the map, my maps wouldn’t shrink, so I had to manually shrink everything by myself by highlighting the maps and then shrinking them one by one. For beginners or for people who aren’t used to using GIS it will be very complicated to understand how to use this program. Though my experience of using ArcMap has been a good, exciting and fun experience because it was my first time using it and the tutorial was easy to understand. The program is really good with accuracy and once you have understood how to use it, your job in creating maps will be easier to do. Also being able to know how to use GIS is not as frustrating as you know because at some point, creating your own map can be fun and exciting as well.