Census Data Graphs

 The Total Black Alone Population shows distinct trends in dispersion of black individuals across the United States. Central and Southern California support a large number of African Americans, but the population count is quickly cut off outside the state’s borders. Most of the mid-west and northern United States are populated by very few African Americans. The south, south-east and north-east are home to the majority of American Americans in the United States. This map is interesting and useful because of its obvious representation made possible by GIS’s attention to detail. When fewer subdivisions of population measures were used, the trend was not clearly defined. Thanks to the customization available on the program, I was able to make a coherent map that provides useful information.

The Total Asian Alone Percentage map shows the percentage of Asians in a county in comparison to the total county population. One can see that Asians are clustered on the coastal cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Miami. It seems as though they have then spread throughout the rest of the states from those three main points. One could use this map to further investigate immigration trends of Asians throughout history. It would be useful to compare this map to the Total Asian Alone Population map to see if the percentages are accurate representations of Asian migration or just a reflection of limited or excessive county population.  

I have interpreted this map to express the diversity of individuals within a county in regards to those other than white, black and Asian decent. The percentage creates a gradient from west to east, with the highest percentage of “some other race” in the former and the lowest percentage in the latter. It would be useful to pair this map with an immigration levels map or a population density map in order to better grasp why the percentage breakdown is as such. GIS was again helpful in creating this graphic by providing enough customizability so this trend could accurately be displayed. When fewer levels of percentage breakdowns were chosen this distinct pattern was not visible.

CONCLUSION 

This series of maps were helpful because they raised a series of questions that may have been ignored if this information was not available.  GIS’s customizability and attention to detail were huge factors in being able to generate these images. With further effort I would be able to pair these graphs with other ones, add more information, titles and scenarios and eventually provide the answers to the questions. For example, I could create an Asian immigration rate map that goes along with the Total Asian Alone Percentage map to describe why they have mainly congregated along three coastal cities.

This was the first lab in which I felt as if I was left alone with the steps and procedures to customize the map. At first I was skeptical, but GIS proved to be a very rational and easy-to-use program. Everything I wished to do was easily accessible and things played out smoothly. 

Spatial Analaysis

The area I am examining is the southernmost tip of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. The valley shown is the outskirt of Bakersfield. The extent in decimal degrees is North 35.5889, East -117.9878, South 35.1067, and West -118.8867. The Global Coordinating System is North American 1983. 

 

 

Map Projections

Map projections all encounter the issue of trying to represent something out of its actual element. Whenever attempting to do this, things become distorted and information can be falsified. The consequences of such portrayals are influential along a negative trend and hazardous in certain situations. People use and trust maps for a variety of purposes; these include and are not limited to, political strategy, social analysis, geographical specifics, and simple navigation. If information on the map is flawed, politicians could use them for propaganda, inaccurate representations of populations could be made, landmarks could be misrepresented, and distance, trajectories and areas could be skewed.

For example, politicians used a map that displayed a massive Russia, completely out of proportion. It was used as propaganda to instill fear in Americans about the Soviet Union and its power. Although this may seem like something miniscule, the power of such a representation is grand and helped politicians gain support for an ill-purposed cause.

Also, as shown on the map projections displayed above, distances can be skewed up to two-thousand miles. In the Equidistant and Conformal Projections the distance from Washington D.C. to Kabul is 8,468 miles. In the Equal Area Projections that same distance changes to 6,934 and 8,763 miles in the Cylindrical and Behrman Cylindrical Projections respectively. Such a difference is astronomical and poses a substantial threat to simple navigation around the world. Angles, areas, directions, shapes and distances all become distorted.

The perks of map projections are found in the basis that it actually can display a three-dimensional thing onto a two-dimensional surface. This makes it extremely valuable in society despite its errors. The errors from this process will always be present but modern technology allows for those errors to be minimalized so the projections may serve a beneficial and informational purpose. While all projections distort things in some way, specific ones can be used for specific causes that makes the distortions acceptable and the map still useful.