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Mash Up

http://www.whereintheworldisthehippo.blogspot.com/

Polar Rotation

Lights from Space

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Sweden Series

For this map series I chose to represent the population by county of Sweden. I also decided to make this a bit more interesting and created a new field which is the population per square kilometer. I used the information that was provided in the ARCGIS database and the fields of population per county and that county’s size in square kilometers. After getting these values I plotted them 3 times on a map of Sweden that is projected using a local, Swedish projection. For the first map I used a dot density classification to display the results. This display uses individual dots to represent the population per square kilometer. This representation shows how some of the biggest counties also have some of the least dense populations. This map is good in that it displays the results individually, in that each dot represents 1 person per square kilometer. However when the county has a dense population it becomes difficult to see individual dots, as seen in the Stockholm county area. For the 2nd map I used a proportioned dot display to represent the population per square kilometer. This is similar to the dot density map however this one used a single dot for each county and varies in size depending on the density of the population. This representation is good for it shows different sized dots depending on the density, however it can be difficult to distinguish the difference size dots as well as to truly know what the actual density is. For the 3rd map I used a color ramped display. The counties have are assigned a color depending on their classification and for this I used the natural breaks class. This map, while perhaps the easiest map to interpret, does have problems accurately represented each county and providing each county with a unique value.
Each of these maps has both pros and cons, however the best representation of the data would have to be the dot density map. This map really provides the reader with a clear visual of not only the size of the county but then the population in proportion to its size. This allows one to compare different counties based on their population, size, and population densities all on one map. It also provides the most precise interpretation of the data since one dot equals one person per square kilometer.

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

Why is it improved

The original map is only a display of the election results by state. This map poorly represents the statistics of these states including the demographics of the voters. In order to improve this map I decided to download race specific data for the voting age population, which is 18 years or older. I downloaded the African American specifics and adjusted the percentages to account for the total number of people in the state for all races. Therefore the percentages now represent the percentage of African Americans of voting age in that state out of the entire states’ population. My improved map displays the results of the election as well as the percentage of black voters who voted in that state. It is interesting to note that some of the highest concentration of black voters were found in states that were won by the Republican party. This common misconception of ‘swing votes’ being attributed to racial statistics is seen to be false as these votes did not necessarily benefit Barack Obama. However, it is interesting to be able to see more demographic profiles in the map instead of only who won and who lost.

Improved map

Lab Write-Up

Torsten Niegmann
Geography 167
Lab 1
Census 2000

Looking at the Asian population map one can see that there are the heaviest concentrations(by percentage) in California, or even more general, the west coast. The heaviest concentration appears to be in the Bay Area/San Francisco areas. The Midwest has an almost uniform low concentration of Asians. For the classification I used the natural breaks mode while changing those breaks to easier and cleaner numbers. I used this because in order to fully get a picture of the breakdown of the Asian population it was best to use a method that truly showed the correct concentrations. With this method you can see clearly where the pockets of high Asian percentages are while also seeing low percentages. However, the heaviest concentrations of African-Americans are in the southeast and southeast coast. California also has a greater percentage than most of the Midwest as well. A general trend is that California contains a higher percentage of non-white groups we studied than the rest of the country, for in each of the 3 cases California had a high percentage of that group. I used the natural breaks mode again for the same reasons as above. It had the best breaks because it allowed the different concentrations to be clearly distinguished and for patterns to be recognized. I changed the break values to be easier read, and to further give a clear projection of the population concentrations.
After viewing the last map one can see the trend for California continuing as it has a high concentration of some other race, also concentrated towards southern California. The west coast again has a higher concentration than the Midwest or the east coast although the regions of the Sunbelt seem to have a greater concentration of some other race than the previous two groups. There seems to be a somewhat higher concentration around large cities, such as Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco; all busy places of industry and commerce. For this map I chose the natural breaks mode for its easy and clear representation of the data. This mode tends to accurately represent the different percentage concentrations so that all the areas are weighted equally.

African-American Population Percentage

Some Other Race Population Percentage

Asian Population Percentage