Lab 7

2000 Census Population Distributions by County

This map shows the distribution of the black population in America during the 2000 Census. The darkest colors on the map represent the densest populations. According to the data, the majority of "Black Alone" populations in America are located in the South. High percentages of people identified as "Black Alone" live in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Low percentages of "Black Alone" populations live on the western side of the United States, especially in states such as Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Counties in southern states have much higher populations of individuals considered "Black Only." Populations in California are slightly higher than the rest of the Western states.This population distribution could support understanding of American history settlement. The government may use distributions like this to relate information such as education and employment rates to see if there are correlations between races and other variables. Many corporations use data information like this to help understand how they want to market products and where.

This map exhibits "Some Race Alone" from the 2000 Census. This cateory is more broad than the other two categories because it encompasses more than one race. According to this map, "Some Race Alone" populations are located predominantly in the Southwest. There are few "Some Race Alone" populations East of the Mississippi River, and the highest recorded populations are genrerally in the southern half of the United States. The East coast has a few higher populations located on coastal states, especially Florida. The densest populations are represented by the darker colors in the legend:blue, purple, and pink. These three shades run along the United States-Mexico border. The higher populations along the border may be correlated to the geographic location. Due to the location of the highest populations, I wonder if "Some Race Alone" involves many immigrants who have settled in places like New York City, Florida, or the Southwest. Some interesting notes are the higher populations in Washington state-Idaho region. The color contrasts on this map help visualise the differences between the dark areas where Some Other Race populations are high compared to where the hue is light and less populated.

This map shows the Asian population in the United States based off of the 2000 Census. The map shows that the Asian population is predominantly and almost entirely located on the West Coast. The Asian populations in 2000 are almost located entirely in California. The darkest shade of blue represents the largest population percentage and these are located in southern and northern California. The middle shades of blue cover much of California, showing a relatively high percentage of Asians compared to other states. Most of the country is green, representing a relatively low percentage of Asian population. It is interesting that the Asian population of the United States is relatively small compared to the other two races represented in this project. Like "Some Race Alone," the Asian populations are dominant in the West. However, Asian populations are almost entirely in California and do not have he range of "Some Race Alone." This distribution could also represent American settlement history, with many Asian populations crossing the Pacific Ocean into California. It would be interesting to compare these numbers with the most current census to see if there has been population change. 

Concluding Thoughts and Overall Impression

The maps in this lab show very clear population distributions. From this lab it is very clear to see that high percnetages of Asian populations are in California, black populations are predominant in the South, and "Some Race Alone" is a category that is dominant in the Southwest. These distributions are important in helping understand the cultures, traditions, and values in each state and see if there is a correlation with race. This kind of data is used to understand voter choices, as well as help companies decided where to place products and how to advertise them there. The disributions represent historical settlement patterns and show how people have very much remained in the location where their ancestors landed.Using dark colors to represent populations is a very good tool for representing dense populations. This way map users can scan maps and have a clear understanding of what they are looking at. Contrast between these colors also helps create a clear understanding of spatial differences.This census map series was very interesting because it included information that is relevant to my understanding of my home country and state.

My overall impressions of GIS are that it is a very complicated subject. After this project, I do think that I am becoming more confident using the software. GIS is a very important tool in our constantly changing world. It allows spatial information to be up to date, but can store old information to keep track of what has changed. One fear is to mess up one step while making a map, because the whole project can be ruined. At first I had difficulty understanding how to join the layers and saving the Excel Charts. With each project , after a few trials it becomes easier to do apply the steps. There are ways that the map maker can influence people to think about maps. For instance these maps could likely be used in modern immigration debates. I enjoyed making these maps because they are very realistic to an assignment someone with a career in GIS might receive. Census information like this is exactly what GIS is best at showing. I would like to continue using GIS for these kinds of distributions. As a visual learner, GIS spatial distributions like these make demographic information more interesting.