Download Shapefile for QGIS - Wikipedia Definition of Shapefile

1. Create “GIS” folder on your network drive
2. Create “Texas Counties” folder within “GIS” folder
3. Go to https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/
4. Find and Download Unites States “County” Shapefile
   1. Click “TIGER Products” → “Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles” → “County” → “2010 Census“ tab → “gz_2010_us_050_00_500k.zip”
   2. Your browser settings might download, by default, to downloads folder. Please Copy/Paste “gz_2010_us_050_00_500k.zip” to GIS /Texas Counties Folder
5. In “Texas Counties” folder right-click “gz_2010_us_050_00_500k.zip” file → Extract All…
   1. This should unzip the file in “Texas Counties” folder

Open United States Counties Shapefile (.shp) and save a new copy to edit.

1. Open “QGIS Desktop x.xxx”
   1. There will be version numbers different from the video
   2. Does not matter if you open desktop version with/without Grass; as long as you make sure it is a “DESKTOP” version.
   3. This program is old and huge…, so it often a minute to load.
2. Add Vector Layer of United States counties.
   1. Click “Add Vector Layer” Icon
   2. Click Browse
   3. Find “gz_2010_us_050_00_500k.shp” → Highlight → Click “Open”
      1. The layer is open in data view.
      2. It contains a single Layer called gz_2010_us_050_00_500k.
      3. Right-click and rename “gz_2010_us_050_00_500k” to “US Counties”
3. We want to edit this map, but don’t want to ruin its data. Therefore, we need to save a new copy and use that new copy to make changes.
   1. Right-click “US Counties”
   2. “Save As…”
   3. Make sure “Format” = ESRI Shapefile”
   4. “File Name” = Texas Counties”
   5. (Optional) “CRS” = EPSG: 4326 - WGS 84 (This is what Google Maps/Earth use as their projection type)
   6. Click “Browse” and change the file path to your network drive “./GIS/Texas Counties”
   7. Click “Save” or “OK”
4. You should have a new Layer “Texas Counties” in the Layer Panel
5. Remove “US Counties” Layer
   1. In Layers Panel right-click “US Counties” → “Remove” → “Ok”

Edit Texas Counties .shp down to only Texas counties.

1. In Layers Panel right-click “Texas Counties” → Select “Open Attribute Table”
   1. This is will open the spreadsheet within the .shp file.
2. While I know Texas is #1, this file as Texas #48.
   1. Click any row and move the table away from the map and you should see the corresponding county of that row highlighted. (Make sure you click the number of the row...to the left of “GEO_ID”
   2. Click a county row that corresponds with the Texas STATE #48
3. Delete all county rows outside of Texas (Read Carefully)
   1. Select Row 1
   2. Hold “Shift” key and Select around Row 2523 (Make sure this is the last STATE #47 and not any State #48)
   3. Click Yellow Pencil (Toggle Editing Mode) Icon in upper left.
   4. Click Red Trashcan (Delete Selected Features) **This is permanent so be careful**
   5. Follow the same procedure to Delete all the STATE #49 - #153
   6. Click “Save” icon in the Attribute Table
   7. Close Attribute Table → Click the “x” the window to close
4. You should have a map showing only Texas counties

Style Map by County Name

1. Right-Click “Texas Counties” Layer → “Properties”
2. Highlight Style tab
3. From drop down menu select “Categorized”
4. From Column drop down menu select “NAME”
5. Click “Classify” button. (The button might be in a different location than the video, but it is named the same)
6. Click “Apply” → “OK”
7. Expand “Texas Counties” layer by clicking the “+” sign to the left of “Texas Counties”
   1. Uncheck “Travis” and “Williamson” counties to see where we live.
   2. Check “Travis” and “Williamson” counties to make the map whole again.

Getting DATA to join the Texas County .shp file (NO LIE...this is the most difficult part of GIS)

1. Download latest census data for Texas counties.
   1. Go to https://factfinder.census.gov/
   2. Click “Guided Search”
   3. Select “I'm looking for information about people.” → Click “Next”
   4. Under “Basic Count/Estimate” Select “Population Total” → Click “Next”
   5. Geography Drop Down Menus
      1. Select a geographic type: …..County - 50
      2. Select a state: Texas
      3. Select one or more geographic areas and click Add to Your Selections: Highlight All Counties within Texas → Click “ADD TO YOUR SELECTIONS” → Click “Next”
      4. On next page simple Click “Next” again
      5. At table will appear with varying census data reports
         1. Click the “Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010” It has the ID of DP-1
      6. Click “Modify Table”
      7. Uncheck all rows, that can be checked, under “RELATIONSHIP”
      8. From “Table Tools” options above Click “Transpose Rows/Columns”
   6. Download Data
      1. Click Download Icon in Actions:
      2. Select "Use the data (e.g., in a spreadsheet or database)”
      3. Uncheck “Merge the annotations and data into a single file?”
      4. Uncheck “Include descriptive data element names?”
      5. Click “OK”
      6. After processing time a .zip file will download
         1. Please Copy/Paste new .zip file to “Texas Counties” folder
         2. Right-click new .zip file and “Extract All”
      7. In that data folder you will have several .csv files.
         1. One has the data with short field names
         2. Another has the translations of short field names to long names.
         3. This is because historically field names in Databases had strict requirements on length and character use.
      8. Next section you will create a new .csv file with only total population.

Preparing simple .csv file to join

1. Navigate and Open “DEC_10_DP_DPDP1.csv” with Excel
2. Save a new copy of .csv file as “County Total Population”
   1. File
   2. Save As
   3. County Total Population
   4. Save
3. Open “DEC_10_DP_DPDP1_ann.csv” in Excel
   1. Notice that Cell D1 “HD01_S001” = Total Population
   2. This means that “HD01_S001” in the new “County Total Population” sheet is the total population of each county
4. In sheet “County Total Population” change the column name from “HD01_S001” to “TOT_POP”
5. The only TWO columns we need in the “County Total Population” is “GEO.id” (Column A) and “TOT_POP” (Column D)
   1. Delete all other columns
   2. You should have a two column sheet with “GEO.id” (Column A) and “TOT_POP” (Column B)
6. Save .csv file

Join the DATA to .shp file

1. Open QGIS and load “Texas Counties” if applicable
   1. You should see the Texas County maps in main panel and Texas Counties in Layer Panel
2. Add .csv file
   1. Click “Add Delimited Text Layer”
   2. Click Browse and find “County Total Population” sheet
   3. In the “Geometry definition” select “No geometry (attribute only table)”
   4. Click OK
3. Join Data with Shapefile
   1. Highlight “Texas Counties” Layer in Layer Panel
   2. Right-click Texas Counties” → Properties
   3. Highlight “Joins”
   4. Click “+” sign
      1. Join Layers = County Total Population
      2. Join Field = GEO.id
      3. Target Field - GEO_ID
   5. Check “Choose which fields are joined”
      1. Select “TOT_POP”
   6. Check “Custom field name prefix_”
      1. Delete any text in that textbox
   7. Click “OK” in Join window
   8. Click “OK” in Properties window
4. Check your work
   1. Right-click “Texas Counties” → “Open Attribute Table”
      1. You should see “TOT_POP” column
5. Save new .shp file
   1. Right-click “Texas Counties” → “Save As...”
   2. Name ESRI Shapefile “Texas County Pop”
      1. **Make sure you save the file in the “Texas Counties” folder

Style Texas Counties (Equal Interval)

1. Open “Texas County Pop” in QGIS
2. Right-click “Texas Counties” → “Properties”
3. Highlight “Style”
4. Change “Single symbol” to “Graduated”
5. Change “Column” drop down to TOT_POP
6. Leave Mode at “Equal Interval”
7. Make sure to have “5” Classes selected
8. Click “Classify” button
9. Click “Apply” → OK