Week 8 Lab

             

            The first map shows the percentage of the Black population compared to the total population by county.  The map is interesting because it shows that compared to the total population of the county, the highest concentrations of blacks is in the southeast.  This may be expected due to the historical slave trade which tragically brought many Blacks from Africa to the east coast.

            The second map shows percentage of the Asian populations compared to the total population by county.  This map also shows the interesting trend that the Asian population is most concentrated on the east coast.  This may be due to the historical event of the gold rush.  During the gold rush many Asians sought fortune on the west coast in the form of gold.

            The third map shows percentage of some other race alone compared to the total population by county.  This map shows that this race is concentrated in the southwest and southern parts of Texas.  I’m not exactly sure what race this is referring to, so it would be interesting to do some research and find out which race is being plotted on this map.

            Working with census data has been extremely interesting and fun.  It was actually quite easy to produce these maps.  Despite the ease with which they were produced, they are extremely useful.  The maps are much easier to interpret than the excel files which they were downloaded in.  Just by looking at the map, you can very quickly determine where the populations are most concentrated.  This exercise shows just how great of a tool GIS can be.  It can take huge tables of data which would be very difficult to analyze, and turn it into an easily interpretable product.