View source for ArcGIS 10: Working with 2010 Census Data

<u>NOTE:</u>&nbsp; This tutorial requires that you download the "[http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/wwtl/brochures/DownloadingAFFData.pdf Downloading AFF Data]" guide from the [http://www.census.gov US Census].

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'''ArcGIS 10: Working with 2010 US Census Data'''

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'''Finding Boundary Files (and giving them a spatial reference)'''

1. Navigate to the US Census Website<br> 2. Click “Geography” at the top of the page<br> 3. Click the TIGER link; then choose “Cartographic Boundary Files”<br> 4. Locate and Download the Boundary Files for 2000 Census Washington State counties in shapefile format.<br> 5. Unzip and Load the shapefile.<br> 6. What coordinate system is it using? Ooops… No coordinate system.<br> 7. Open ArcCatalog. (may need to refresh the folder)<br> 8. Set GCS to NAD1927 (note that the USFS uses this)<br> 9. Close ArcCatalog<br> 10. Reproject using Dataframe Properties: select NAD1927 State Plane, WA<br> 11. Click “full extent” button<br> 12. Check out the attribute table. Turn labeling on and remove duplicate labels for counties.<br> 13. Save this map as “WA counties.mxd”

<br> '''Finding and Joining 2010 Census Demographic Data'''

1. Return to the Census Home Page and click “Geography”<br> 2. Go to the TIGER page and click “TIGER/Line Shapefiles &amp; Files”<br> 3. Under “Previous TIGER/Line Shapefiles,” Click on “2010 TIGER/Line Shapefiles Main Page.”<br> 4. In the yellow-ish box on the left, click on “Download Shapefiles.”<br> 5. From the “Select a layer type” dropdown box, choose “Census Tracts”<br> 6. Choose Washington State and then Thurston County 2010. Download the file to your work folder. Unzip it and load it into ArcMap.<br> 7. Note the brief attribute table<br> 8. Return to www.census.gov<br> 9. Click “Data” (at the top of the page) and then “American FactFinder”<br> 10. Introduce the concept of “summary files” and explain how the Census website has changed its interface to be “friendlier” (Hmmmm….)<br> 11. Open “Topics” and then “People.” Note the various demographic choices.

12. Get Thurston Co, WA. Census tract data on race<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a. FIRST, ESTABLISH YOUR GEOGRAPHIC LEVEL<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i. Geographies&gt;&gt;Geographic Type: “census tract”<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ii. “Within State”: Washington<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; iii. click “All census tracts within Thurston County, Washington”<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; b. NEXT, CHOOSE YOUR DATA SET<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; i. Topics&gt;&gt;People&gt;&gt;Race &amp; Ethnicity&gt;&gt;Race &amp; Ethnicity of Individual. Close the selection window.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ii. In the big window, click “Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin: 2010”<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; iii. Examine the resulting table

13. Download a zipped CSV file (do NOT download the Excel file)<br> 14. Open the file in Excel and examine the contents.

15. What do the categories actually mean???<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a. Expand all columns by selecting all and then using Format&gt;&gt;Columns&gt;&gt;Autofit Selection<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; b. Go through process of editing the Excel file to meet DBF standards (only one row of headers; header labels 10 characters only, with no special characters except underscores)<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; c. SAVE as an XLS or XLSX file<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; d. CLOSE EXCEL

16. Open boundary file in ArcMap<br> 17. Open attribute table

<br> 18. LOOK FOR CENSUS CODES THAT MATCH THOSE IN THE DOWNLOADED RACE DATA FILE<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a. Answer: the Geo.id2 field is a match with the GEOID10 column in the Attribute Table<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; b. BUT---the Geo.id2 field is a “Number” format, while GEOID10 is a “String” (or Text) format!!!! This will not do….

19. CREATE A COLUMN IN THE FACTFINDER FILE TO BE A “TEXT” COLUMN THAT MATCHES the GEOID10 COLUMN<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; a. follow the directions in the Census PDF: [http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/wwtl/brochures/DownloadingAFFData.pdf DownloadingAFFData.pdf], starting with Page 11.

<br> 20. In ArcMap, right click the layer and choose “Joins and Relates”<br> 21. Keep all records<br> 22. Join the layer to your FactFinder data file using the appropriate matching columns<br> 23. Create your map using your new data<br> <br>


[[Category:GIS]]