lab 8

Mapping the Census

The lab this week was mapping different races according to the 2000 census. Below I have included three maps that show the 2000 distribution of Asians, Blacks, and Some other Race in the Continental United States.

 Above shows the distribution of Asians in 2000. As you can see the highest population density lies in California with the San Francisco Bay area having the highest density. The distribution is probably like this because California is the closest section of The United States to Asia. We also see a spike in Asian population around large cities such as Seattle and New York City.

 Above is a map of Black Population Density in 2000 in the Continental United States. As you can see there is a significant increase in the population in the South. This is due to the slave trade that imported Africans to the South for plantation workers. We again see higher populations in larger cities such as Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco Bay Area.

The last map shows Some Other Race in 2000. The majority of this category is often hispanic/latino. As you can see the concentration of this category is in the countries bordering Mexico. Florida also has a higher concentration from cuban immigrants. In calfornia we see high percentages in agricultural areas as well as right along the border and in larger cities such as los angeles.

Using maps to show race populations from the census make the material much easier to process than say an excel sheet. it's easy to spot trends and high population densities. Using these maps we can see that large cities have higher racial diversity rates and we were able to see where certain races tend to congregate. 

GIS has proven to me to a very useful program and resource. It is much easier to process material in a visual manner rather than browsing numbers and raw material. I had my fair share of frustration while using ArcGIS but found the the program overall was very useful. Once each lab was completeled I felt a sense of accomplishment and each week the basics of the labs became second nature.