Embedded Files
Problem
The Office of State Human Resources requests visual representation of various demographic information relevant to the decision and policy-making process. This project identifies Hispanic or Latino origin by census block group in Wake County, North Carolina, as a first step toward identifying relevant needs in these areas. I obtained 2010 U.S. Census Data on Hispanic or Latino origin using American Fact Finder. I am using Census data table P4: HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN (2010 SFI 100% data) data for Wake County, NC. The P4 table includes the number of persons who are of Hispanic or Latino origin and the number of persons who are not of Hispanic or Latino origin for census block groups in Wake County, NC. For the purposes of this map, I will highlight the number of Hispanic or Latino origin by census block group (using attribute field D003).
Analysis Procedures
Census data (data table P4: Hispanic or Latino Origin) was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau. Also, the geographic dataset for Wake County block groups was obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/line files. The P4 table and geographic dataset were analyzed in ArcMap. A tabular join was used to join the census date to the geographic data. The map was symbolized for visual display.
I readied the census data table for ArcMap use by removing a heading row and by reformatting data field names, where appropriate. The census data table (P4) and the TIGER/line shapefile were added to ArcMap. I set the projection for the TIGER shapefile to NAD 1983 State Plane North Carolina FIP 3200 (meters). The census table and TIGER shapefile attribute table were reviewed. The census data table and TIGER shapefile did not have matching field types (numeric vs string) to perform tabular join. I created a field in the TIGER shapefile called BGID (Block Group ID). The new field established the GEOID10 from the original table as a numeric integer in the new field. I then performed a tabular join of the census table to the TIGER shapefile, keeping all matching records, and creating a new shapefile (hisp_origin). I reviewed tables for accuracy of the join. I then symbolized this map for visual display.
Results
Map displaying number of persons with Hispanic or Latino origin by census block (Click to enlarge)
Workflow diagram (Click to enlarge)
Application & Reflection
Using census data in spatial analysis is an important skill as census data provides population-level information that can be used in various analyses, particularly analyses involving social components. I anticipate using these skills for a significant number of projects in my professional career. As a sociologist, one of the major sources of social information is the Census Bureau and its multitude of survey data available for use. One project I have in mind is to map the cost of grocery stores in relation to poverty in the City of Raleigh. For this project I would utilize available grocery store information for Wake County from Reference USA (available through NCSU GIS library). The grocery stores would be geocoded to a Wake County lines file available from the U.S. Census Bureau’s TIGER/lines. I would also obtain 2000 Census poverty status by age by household type (census table P089) for Wake County. For the grocery store cost, I would create a data table showing the cost of five staple items from the grocery stores available in the City of Raleigh (obtained through direct contact with store). I would overlay the grocery stores on the poverty data (and clip to a Raleigh city boundary obtained from Wake Co GIS) to analyze patterns of store costs in relation to poverty level.
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