In this lab we mapped the United States Census Data for 2000 to determine if there were any trends. Out of the total 3,141 recognized counties of the country, 3,111 were in the continental United States. We examined the percentage of the population in each county of three races: Black, Asian, and Other Races ranked by percent as defined by the US Government Census Bureau. The maps are as follows and show very distinct patterns.
The US Census (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_68184.htm) defines a Black or African American as:
"A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Black, African Am., or Negro,' or provide written entries such as African American, Afro American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian."
As we can discern from the above map depicting the percentage of black residents in each county, the majority of United States residents that are classified as African-American reside in the south. The extent of the high concentrations of black residents stretch along the coast from as far south as Texas to as far north as New York and Maine. There is also some clustering of very high percentages of African Americans in Southern California and there seems to be a linear trend of high black population spanning northeast across the midwest up into Illinois and the Great Lakes. This map also shows that in terms of area, the majority of the United States is sparsely populated with people of African American heritage outside of the regions mentioned above. Based on the cut-off points in this representation, counties with a black population of 0.010289% to 4.328816% is most apparent. The highest category on this representation ranges from 53.197016% to 86.488706% inferring that those areas shaded in a very dark green will have a very significant proportion of African American inhabitants.
The Census defines an Asian by the following:
"A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes 'Asian Indian,' 'Chinese,' 'Filipino,' 'Korean,' 'Japanese,' 'Vietnamese,' and 'Other Asian.'
By contrast to the African American map, the Asian population seems to be very clustered on the west Coast particularly in Southern California, Northern Washington, and Southern Nevada with several spots in the midwest and in the northeastern United States. One might deduce that the West Coast's adjacency to the Pacific Ocean might be a cause for the high percentages of Asians in those counties. Asians appear to be a minority to blacks. In considering the entire continental United States, the 0.008506% to 0.942961% Asian population appears most often; we can deduce that in many areas, there are not a lot of people with Asian roots. Compared to the previous map, the highest category represented ranges from 20.448128% to 46.038719%.
The US Census defines a person of "Some Other Race" as the following:
Includes all other responses not included in the 'White', "Black or African American', 'American Indian and Alaska Native', 'Asian' and 'Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander' race categories described above. Respondents providing write-in entries such as multiracial, mixed, interracial, Wesort, or a Hispanic/Latino group (for example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) in the 'Some other race' category are included here.
Compared to the varied and widely distributed locations of those counties with high ratios of Black or Asian residents, the map showing the "Some Other Race" shows a very unique trend. As one moves from the East coast to the West Coast, the percentage of those who classify themselves as "Some Other Race" continues to increase. We see very lower percents from the Atlantic Ocean (ranging from 0.007950% to 1.766826%) increase very dramatically around Texas yet again to reach the Pacific Ocean (ranging from 22.271270% to 39.079523%). The midwest and southern parts of the country are rarely inhabited by those of an "Some Other Race." California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are the states with counties that have a high number of people of "Some Other Race."
To summarize, although there may be many factors at hand behinds these trends that we have seen by constructing these choropleth maps, one might speculate that population density, locations of major cities, and proximity to a coast line might cause Black, Asians, or people of "Some Other Race" to gather in large proportions. Due to the vast plains of the midwest and low population density, there might not be a lot of desire for Blacks, Asians, or people of "Some Other Race" to inhabit those states. One might also need to take into account the historical nature of the areas in question. For example, the Black concentration in the Southern United States may have lingered from the area's former slave industry. Likewise, California's history as a place for immigrants from Asian countries may have a correlation to the high percentages of people with Asian heritage. Furthermore, one must also take into account the construction of these maps. I no reason behind my choice of 6 bins or categories in these representations. Depending on how one separates the data values, whether equal interval, natural breaks, quantile, quartile, etc. will alter the trend that one sees.
To end this quarter, I would like to say that my experience with Geographic Information Systems has been one of great interest. Sure, ArcGIS may cause some frustrations when one is first introduced to the program, but once the learning curve has been surpassed, one can see the amazing products that GIS can provide. I found that the concepts that the class dealt with were very fundamental not only to geography, but to many of my other classes as well. When one sees a map--whether it be reference, theme, or dynamic--one must delve deeper into its meaning, dissect it and learn its true representation and meaning. GIS is a powerful tool, I can only begin to imagine its possibilities. It creates logic and reason to phenomena seen in the real world. The power of representation is in the hand of the geographer, GIS is their tool, and they must use it wisely to represent the most accurate, true, and objective data.
Thank you, Jida and Professor Shin, for the wonderful class. It was a spectacular quarter.
Includes all other responses not included in the 'White', "Black or African American', 'American Indian and Alaska Native', 'Asian' and 'Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander' race categories described above. Respondents providing write-in entries such as multiracial, mixed, interracial, Wesort, or a Hispanic/Latino group (for example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) in the 'Some other race' category are included here.
Compared to the varied and widely distributed locations of those counties with high ratios of Black or Asian residents, the map showing the "Some Other Race" shows a very unique trend. As one moves from the East coast to the West Coast, the percentage of those who classify themselves as "Some Other Race" continues to increase. We see very lower percents from the Atlantic Ocean (ranging from 0.007950% to 1.766826%) increase very dramatically around Texas yet again to reach the Pacific Ocean (ranging from 22.271270% to 39.079523%). The midwest and southern parts of the country are rarely inhabited by those of an "Some Other Race." California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado are the states with counties that have a high number of people of "Some Other Race."
To summarize, although there may be many factors at hand behinds these trends that we have seen by constructing these choropleth maps, one might speculate that population density, locations of major cities, and proximity to a coast line might cause Black, Asians, or people of "Some Other Race" to gather in large proportions. Due to the vast plains of the midwest and low population density, there might not be a lot of desire for Blacks, Asians, or people of "Some Other Race" to inhabit those states. One might also need to take into account the historical nature of the areas in question. For example, the Black concentration in the Southern United States may have lingered from the area's former slave industry. Likewise, California's history as a place for immigrants from Asian countries may have a correlation to the high percentages of people with Asian heritage. Furthermore, one must also take into account the construction of these maps. I no reason behind my choice of 6 bins or categories in these representations. Depending on how one separates the data values, whether equal interval, natural breaks, quantile, quartile, etc. will alter the trend that one sees.
To end this quarter, I would like to say that my experience with Geographic Information Systems has been one of great interest. Sure, ArcGIS may cause some frustrations when one is first introduced to the program, but once the learning curve has been surpassed, one can see the amazing products that GIS can provide. I found that the concepts that the class dealt with were very fundamental not only to geography, but to many of my other classes as well. When one sees a map--whether it be reference, theme, or dynamic--one must delve deeper into its meaning, dissect it and learn its true representation and meaning. GIS is a powerful tool, I can only begin to imagine its possibilities. It creates logic and reason to phenomena seen in the real world. The power of representation is in the hand of the geographer, GIS is their tool, and they must use it wisely to represent the most accurate, true, and objective data.
Thank you, Jida and Professor Shin, for the wonderful class. It was a spectacular quarter.
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