Lab 2

From Census to GIS Online

By: Joey Mandelko

            The goal of Lab 2 was to create a map from census data. With the ability to make a map out of data found online it is possible to map and query a large variety of information that is already at the disposal of the public. In order to complete this lab, I had to choose a set of data to display using the census data I had available to me from the state of Wisconsin, to create a map and publish it on ArcGIS Online.

 I chose the data file average household size and downloaded the excel file containing the information. After unzipping the file it was possible to open it and save it as an excel workbook file, this applied for both the metadata and tabular data. I then removed the second row of data so it fit with the data processing standards in Arcmap and was able to find the folder in ArcCatalog. Next I joined the data file with the shapefile of Wisconsin and downloaded the shapefile. Once the data was joined with the shapefile I was able to map the average household size by county and format it into a map. At that point I removed any extraneous layers and made a description and labels for my map and posted it online in the Arcgis Online forum for UW-Eau Claire. In that display it is possible to click on each county and a box appears showing the name of the county and the dataset, in this case household size, underneath the name of the county. When comparing the map of household size and population one thing is very clear, the largest centers of population do not have the largest average number of people in each home. The largest households are in a few of the northern counties and several in the rural farming areas where the counties containing population centers like Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Eau Claire tended to have smaller sized households. Based off of previous knowledge of the state it was very interesting to correlate a connection between the Amish faming centers and the larger household sizes contained in the county. This would be a very interesting variable to map in more detail to discover if there really was a connection between the two.

Any further potential mapping could be done using the same source, which was the United States Census Fact Finder. Both sets of data, for household and population, were from the 2010 Wisconsin census.  

GIS 1 Lab 1 Basedata

The Confluence Proposal

By: Joey Mandelko

 

The Confluence, a collaboration project between the public University of Eau Claire Wisconsin and the private citizens of the city and county of Eau Claire, aims to develop a center for arts on the confluence of the Chippewa River and Eau Claire River. The goal for the project of developing various maps centered on the proposed site of the Confluence Project is to become familiar with the types of data used in analysis of public spaces and land management in public areas. The first objective was reach was to familiarize myself with the Eau Claire geodatabase and the various data sets inside of it. Once an understanding of the layout of the geodatabase was reached the second objective, of digitizing the proposed area of the Confluence Project could be achieved. The third objective was to learn about the Public Land Survey System by creating a map, again focused on the Confluence, to be able to observe and look for patterns in the land survey system. Objective four was to use an online resource to be able to describe each land parcel in the proposal in legal terms. The last objective to be reached was to organize a layout displaying the maps I had made with the information I needed to use to reach the objectives.

To complete the first objective I made a separate geodatabase to hold the datasets I would use then reviewed the datasets held in the original geodatabase for Eau Claire City and Eau Claire County. I did all of this movement and research in ArcCatalog. For Objective two I added a basemap of World Imagery and added parcel_area dataset to the map. After making that layer hollow I was able to make use the edit toolbar to access the editing tool and digitize a polygon of the two land parcels to be involved in the Confluence. Objective three was designed to teach about the layout of the Public Land Survey System. I added PLSS_Townships dataset from the Eau Claire geodatabase as well as the PLSS_Sections and PLSS_Quarter_Quarter_sections to the map surface and used the Identify tool to look into each Dataset to answer questions for the completion of the objective. Objective four was to create the Legal description of the two land parcels. I used the Identify tool again to obtain the parcel_ID then plugged that number into www.eauclairewi.gov/departments/public-works/engineering/mapping-services and was able to pull up the legal information for each parcel. Objective 5 was completed all in ArcMap by creating a basic map for the following topics concerning public land use and the Confluence: Civil Divisions, Census Boundaries, Public Land Survey System, Parcels to be used for the Confluence, and Zoning area. Each map used a layer of world image projection and the two parcels in questionas well as the specific data from the dataset dragged and dropped into the display. I then added to each of the displays, shown on an 11x17 landscape display, the required features for a clear map such as a scale bar and a legend.