Mapping Census 2000 with ArcView 3.X or ArcGIS

April, 2004

By the government document unit, Fenwick Library, GMU

 

This exercise is to create several maps using Census 2000 and 1990 data in Fairfax, VA:

Population change (number and %) from 1990 to 2000, Median value for Owner Occupied Housing (1990, 2000 and change) and the Median Year of Housing structure (1990, 2000 and change of Years).

 

Outcomes of the Exercise.

Students learn how to explore and download Census data from the online Census Web site (www.census.gov) or American Factfinder (factfinder.census.gov); how to create this data in a dbf file, how to join this data to work with ArcView or ArcGIS; how to create thematic maps using ArcView 3.x or ArcGIS.

 

What you will need: ArcView or ArcGIS desktop, An Internet Browser, Excel, Access, and WinZip (or any unzipping utilty).

 

1. Downloading Shape files for Fairfax County:

- Census Tracts 2000

- Census Blocks 1990

- Census Blocks 2000

- Congressional Districts - 106th

- School Districts – Unified

- Voting Districts 2000

- Key Geographic Locations

 

NOTE: When you unzip each of the zipped files, they will in turn give you three files. One file with ‘.shp’ extension, one with ‘.shx’ extension and one with ‘.dbf’ extension.

 

2. Downloading the Census data:

 

 

NOTE: The following files have to be downloaded from the American Factfinder website to complete this exercise.

      Year 2000

Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1):

·        P1. Total Population

Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3):

·        H35. Median Year of Housing Structure

·        H85. Median Value for Owner Occupied housing

 

Year 1990

      1990 Summary Tape File 1 (STF 1) - 100-Percent data

·        P001. Total Population

1990 Summary Tape File 3 (STF 3) - 100-Percent data

·        H 025A. Median Year of Housing Structure

·        H 61A.  Median Value

 

 

IMPORTANT

The census data that has been downloaded as above gives us excel sheets of information on the total population, median value and median year. Each data set gives us 2 excel sheets with the names ending with ‘geo’ and ‘data1’.

For example, when we download the total population data set for the year 2000, it would give us 2 excel sheets. One would be named as dt_dec_2000_sf1_u_geoand the other excel sheet would be named as dt_dec_2000_sf1_u_data.

The file data1 contains the population information in it while the geo information contains the county geographic information such as tracts, etc. We will be joining the above data tables with the Fairfax county shape file on the basis of the geographic information in the form of Tracts.  In order to join the population information to the Fairfax county shape file, we need to join the above 2 excel sheets into one file which contains the population information as well as geographic information.

 

To make things easier, we will also join all the above files into one census data file, which can then be imported into ArcView or ArcGIS for further analysis.

 

 

Unzipping the downloaded files:

 

Unzip all the downloaded census files using Winzip software (or any other unzipping utility) and save them in folder named accordingly. Rename all the excel sheets with the same name as the folder for easy reference.

Example: after unzipping the H35 file, save the contents in a folder named “Med_Year_2000”. Then rename the 2 excel sheets as “Med_Year_2000_data1” and “Med_Year_2000_geo” respectively.

 

 

3. Joining the tables

 

MS Access database is required to continue with this exercise!!

 

Before starting this exercise, make sure that you give appropriate names to the columns containing housing, year and population information in the downloaded Excel sheets.

 

We have to import all the excel files into the MS Access database in order to join them. We need a relational database (like Access) for us to join the tables relationally keeping a column as reference.

 

Importing Excel files into Access:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joining the imported files using the Access query builder:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Make sure that you save it as DBF IV format, which is ArcView and ArcGIS compatible.

 

 

Using ArcView:

 

This exercise helps you learn how to analyze the census data and create thematic maps on the basis of the census data. The exercise involves importing the DBF file and joining it to the Fairfax county data and also plotting the changes in population, median value and median years from 1990 & 2000.

 

 

 

 

After joining the two tables we have to start analyzing the data in order to come up with meaningful maps based on the census data. The next step would be to calculate the difference in the median values, median years and the changes in population in 1990 & 2000. We have to create new fields for the difference values so that we can plot them in the map.

Note: We need to calculate the percentage changes in population, percentage changes in median value and percentage changes in median year each in a different field.

([Tot_Pop_2000]-[Tot_Pop_1990]/ [Tot_Pop_2000])*100

 

           

In the above example, we have formed an equation to calculate the percent change in population (%_Ch_Pop). Similarly, we have to calculate the value for the following two fields.

 

o       For the percentage changes in the median value for owner occupied housing

([Med_val_2000]-[Med_val_1990]/[Med_val_2000])*100

o       For the percentage changes in the median year of housing structure

([Med_yr_2000]-[Med_yr_1990]/[Med_yr_2000])*100

 

           

 

Repeat the above last 5 steps to display the changes in median value and median year by selecting the appropriate fields and color ramps. You can save this project by going to File>Save. The ArcView projects are saved as ‘.apr’ extensions.

 

 

 

Using ArcGIS:

 

The above exercise can also be performed using ArcGIS. The steps to be followed are basically similar. First you have to join the two tables, then build new fields and finally plot the new fields. Lets look at each part stepwise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you have any question on this handout, please contact Joy Suh, government documents librarian at George Mason University,  at hsuh1@gmu.edu.