Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

The population percent of African Americans in the continental U.S. for the year 2000 is shown in Map 1. A large number of African Americans live in the southeastern states, ranging anywhere from 5 to 90 percent of the population. This is depicted by the darker blue colors. Northwestern states have very low African American populations, ranging from 0.01 to 2 percent of the population. This is depicted by the light green and pink colors. The overall trend of this map shows that African Americans populate coastal areas, primarily the southeast, and very few live inland.

The population percent of Asians in the continental U.S. for the year 2000 is shown in Map 2. Large numbers of Asians live on the coasts of the United States, ranging anywhere from 5 to 50 percent of the population as depicted by the darker blue colors. The map shows that more Asians live on the west coast than the east coast. Very few Asians live inland, ranging from 0.01 to 5 percent of the population. This is depicted by the light green and pink colors. Like the African Americans, Asians tend to live in coastal areas although Asians favor the west coast while African Americans favor the southeast.

The population percent of "Some Other Race" in the continental U.S. for the year 2000 is shown in Map 3. Data for this classification is taken from the ethnicity box titled "other". A large number of other races live in the southwestern states, ranging anywhere from 1.5 to 40 percent of the population. Very few people from other races live east past Texas, ranging from 0.01 to 1.5 percent of the population. Other races follow a trend from both Asians and African Americans: they favor the west coast and large populations expand inland toward Texas.

This series of census maps show us important trends in the population of certain races. Asians, African Americans, and other races tend to populate coastal areas over inland areas. Asians strictly stay on the coasts and favor the west coast over the east coast perhaps due to proximity to the orient. African Americans populate the southeast states, again due to proximity from the Dominican Republic and Africa. Finally, other races are the only ones to have any significant population of midwest states, although they primarily live in the southern most midwest states. This shows that the northern midwest states lack any strong ethnic influence. It's also interesting to notice that most "No Data" came from this region of the United States.

ArcGIS serves many purposes in visualizing data and decision making. We have read a considerable amount of material on the program, GIS as a whole, and how important it is to crime, politics, and landscaping, to name a few. However, actually using the program on these lab assignments really emphasized the varied and unique uses of GIS. I thoroughly enjoyed familiarizing myself with ArcGIS; not only is it an emerging technology that can be applied to multiple fields, but it's a lot of fun. This was a great program and a great class!