[up206a - introduction to gis]

Midterm Assignment: Working with Demographic Data

Your midterm should be posted to your web page by Friday, January 18th.

This assignment allows you to apply the skills you've used in the tutorial and lab exercise to investigate urban issues in a spatial context.

In general, this assignment requires you to acquire geographic and attribute data, assemble that data in an ArcView project and then to design four layouts that investigate your interests.

You may work independently or in groups of two. If groupmembers would like to expand his/her midterm into a individual final project, though, each member must address a unique planning/policy question within that specific geography. For example, two people may analyze the City of Carson for their midterm. Then for the final project, one groupmember may look at transportation issues, while the other analyzes social services.

Data Acquisition.
First, pick an issue and/or geographic area that you are interested in examining spatially. Consider what type of geographic scale is appropriate for addressing the questions that interest you. For instance, a neighborhood analysis could use block group level data. An analysis of an entire region of Los Angeles County could use track level data.

Next, you will need to acquire geographic and attribute data which will help you investigate the issues and geographic area you are interested in. You will need to review the layout requirements below in order to be sure you acquire data that is needed to create the required layouts. You may choose to only use census-based data for this project, although you may use other data sources (remember, you will be required to use "original" data for the final).

You can acquire both geographic and attribute data from MGI. In addition, you may acquire this data from other sources, including a few Internet sources outlined in the Data Sources section of the links page.

Assemble Data.
After acquiring the data for your midterm, you should assemble it into an ArcView project. Review the layout requirements below and organize the Views, Tables and Layouts in your project in a way that allows you to create the required layouts. Here are a few helpful hints as you proceed:

File Size. Size down large geographic and attribute files to the size you need. Try not to work with files that are extremely large.
File Management.Use naming conventions for your files and directories that are systematic and are logical to you.
Backup your Project.Create backup copies of your work, either on your computer and/or on floppies or Zip disks.

Creating Layouts.
Create four of the layouts described below. You will turn in screen prints of these layouts. Each layout should be somewhat distinct and should display your data in a clear and uncluttered way. In addition, each layout should include any titles, your name, a scale, a north arrow and a legend. You are required to generate four layouts that meet at least four of the following requirements (one layout can use more than one of these options):

Inset map. This layout includes a small inset map indicating the location of your project within a larger area.
Point or line graduated symbol. This layout displays points or lines using graduated symbols or colors. For instance, points with low values could be displayed with small symbols and points with high values could be displayed with large symbols.
Aggregating attribute fields. This layout shades and/or displays geographic boundaries according to attribute fields that have been calculated in ArcView, Excel or a database program. Text at the bottom of the layout should indicate how the aggregated field was derived, such as "Tl_NWHite=NonWhite Histpanic+Black+Amind_Other_API".
Creating indices. This layout shades and/or displays geographic boundaries according to indices that have been calculated in ArcView, Excel or a database program. You are free to invent new indices, or re-invent established indices such as "Hispanic person", "poverty", "mobility", "accessbility" and "urbanized area". Text at the bottom of the layout should indicate how the index was derived.
Boundary sub-sets with Table Query. This layout includes geographic boundaries which have been selected out of a larger shapefile using the Table Query Builder in order to create a smaller shapefile. For instance, a major highway theme could have been created from a streets file. Text at the bottom of the layout should indicate how the new shapefile was derived, such as "Majorhwys was derived by Querying la_streets for CFCC=A11 and A31 and converting to shapefile".
Boundary sub-sets View Selctions. This layout includes geographic boundaries which have been selected out of a larger shapefile using Sections in the View in order to create a smaller shapefile. For instance, a census tracts for Pasedena theme could have been created from the census tract file for LA County. Text at the bottom of the layout should indicate how the new shapefile was derived, such as "Tracts_pas was derived by selecting tracts in the View from la_streets and converting to shapefile".
Distance. This layout uses distance functions in ArcView. For instance, you can use the measurement tool to measure from two significant points or boundaries. Then you could use ArcView graphics tools to draw a line from two points with a certain distance. Another option is to do a select by distance and display certain features within a certain distance with a distinct symbol. With either option, text at the bottom of the layout should indicate how distance was used.
Buffering. This layout uses ArcView 3.1 to create a buffer that helps demonstrate relationships between your themes. Consider displaying your buffer as an outline or with a hatched fill pattern.

In addition, all layouts should experiment with various shading and representational methods. In addition, key descriptions should be cutomized using the "Label" option in the legend editor when needed. For instance, percentages such as ".051-.083" should display on the map as "5%-8%". Maps should explore various ways of representation and should not use one boundary file to display five different attributes.

Short Write-up.
Provide a brief, half-page write-up describing your mid-term project. Discuss your planning/policy topic, how you decided on the scope/scale of your analysis, the source of your geographic and attribute data, and methodologies used to derive any indices or aggregated fields. You are free to comment and self-reflect on the process of attaining and/or manipulating data, the eccentricities of desktop GIS software, and other problems/difficulties encountered.

Grading
Effective graphical representation of urban data seeks to inform an audience in a clear, simplistic manner. Your layouts will be evaluated on the basis of how well you convey fairly complex data into graphical forms that are both aesthetically pleasing and informative.

Place screen prints of your four final layouts and write-up for this assignment on your web page by Friday, November 12th.

Samples:

Below we provide links to previous midterm projects:

Developing the Adult Civic Education Programs [By Katsumi Nonaka]

The Chinatown Yards [By Lauri Ames and Roderick Burnley]

Marketing the Maya Breadnut [By Jill Sourial and T.H. Culhane]

Rail Lines in Santa Monica [by Douglas Miller]