Lab 8

This lab was fun because it allowed us to incorporate all that we have learned in GIS 7. We learned about presentation; making sure things are aligned, in the proper size, colors, and proportions. I chose to keep the color, and sizes the same in order to be able to better compare the data. One important note to keep in mind is the Legend. Each legend has different breaks that allow the reader to better understand the distribution of each race.

Above is the Asian density in the United States as was the case in the 2000 Census.  It is clear that the Asian population is distributed mainly at the coasts and where major cities are.  One thing that I thought to be interesting is the concentration in Hawaii, which is quite concentrated compared to the rest of the United States.  This may because of the size of Hawaii since we are dividing the population by the area of the locations.

Above is the map of the African American density of the 2000 Census.  It is evident by the stronger colors that the main concentrations of African Americans is in the south-eastern region of the United States.  It is important also to notice some spots of concentrated areas that range widely all around the United States. This may be because of large city locations such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.

  Lastly, I chose to make my "other" map on the Native American population density.  This map I thought would be interesting to make and see if they would actually be concentrated in and around Indian Reserves.  This turned out to be true, but it was hard to make the concentrations stand out since the numbers are so small.  I had to tweak it and although the map looks like there are many Native Americans all over, the U.S., it is not true.  The reader must really take into account the legend in order to see what is actually going on.

As far as the class goes, I thought this class was great because we were able to take real live data, manipulate it and present it in a manner that is easy for anyone to read.  I was actually able to use this program and route hurricane paths along their routes as were given to us in lat/long measurements in another class.  I get a great feeling when I can take something that I learned in one class and apply it to another.  Additionally, GIS has such a wide variety of things that it can do that it can reach into just about any other educational field.  The possibilities are endless.  This makes GIS very flexible and applicable everywhere.  Great class!