Week 8: Census Maps

Number of People, 2000: This map is a graphic image of the populations within the different counties on the continental United States in 2000. The population scale is represented by a descending shade of purple: the darkest purple represents the most populated counties while the lightest purple represents the last populated counties. As illustrated on the map, the highest populations live on the west side or on the east side of the country. The middle is the least populated part of the country, with most counties having a population between 107 and 9999 people. The most populated counties often contain the largest cities in the nation, which is logically feasible.

Difference, 1990 to 2000 Number of People: This map displays the changes in population that occurred in each county within the continental United States between the years 1990 and 2000. The color scale goes from dark green to a bright fuchsia color: the dark green being the largest gain in population and the fuchsia representing the largest loss in population. All the pinkish hues signify that there was a loss in population in the ten years and all the greenish hues denote that there were gains in the population within that time period. Similar to the previous graph, the highest numbers were near the big cities on the opposing coasts. It is interesting to note that the places that underwent the greatest increases in population also were the most populated areas at the end of the ten year period. This means that these areas are consistently increasing their populations over time.

Percent Change, 1990 to 2000 Total Population: This map illustrates the percent change in population within the counties in the continental United States of America. The color scale goes from dark purple to a bright gold-yellow: the dark purple being the greatest positive percent change in population and the gold-yellow representing the greatest negative percent change in population. The purple hues represent as the positive percentages, or the increasing number of population. The yellow hues signify the negative percentages, or the decreasing number of population over the time of the ten years. The patterns in this graph are slightly different from the previous two. There are higher changes in percent in the Mid-west (such as Nevada and Arizona) than the coasts. This means that these counties’ populations have increased the most in the past 10 years.

Population Density, 2000: This map displays the density of population in the counties of the continental United States. Density illustrates the concentration of people living in a certain measure of area. The color scale represent the decreasing density within the counties. The darkest blue signifies the highest density with the lowest density illustrated by the near white color. The scale goes from the darkest blue to lighter blue to green hues to off white. Not unexpectedly, the highest density counties are those that contain the biggest cities. This means that the people of the densely populated county live in closer proximity to each other than those that live in less densely populated counties. The denser populations mean that there are more people per square measurement of the county.

The census map series is a useful tool to see the changes over time of population growth. It provides a clear demonstration of the population of 2000, the difference over the ten years between 1990 and 2000, the percent change of total population over those ten years, and the population density in 2000. Overall, the exercise with the census data was very interesting and was a clear demonstration of the different uses of the features of maps. Color, labeling, and organization are all important in order to create an aesthetically pleasing, informative map easy for anyone to see and understand the purpose of it. This exercise with ArcGIS was a good introduction to try and build knowledge and experience with cartography. This program would be easier to navigate if there was a search engine for the system to find certain tools but overall it is a fairly easy system to work once the user knows where all the utilities are located.