ArcView Assignment #3:
GEOGRAPHY 1004 Fall 2007
Name_________________________
Pledge_______________________
YOU MUST WORK ON YOUR PROJECTS INDIVIDUALLY.
Projects are due Friday, October 12.
Every year we see numerous articles in newspapers and magazines that
rate the "attractiveness" of places to determine the "best" place to
live. Companies also rely on such ratings to find new locations for
their businesses. To illustrate how place ratings are employed,
you are going to use ArcView to produce maps to rate the
attractiveness of the states based on several criteria. To
produce the maps, you will have to calculate a summary value based on the
criteria in each category. As we did in our ArcView
class, we will be using attribute tables and creating new fields
within these tables to produce the summary scores.
The data on US states that we will be using are already in project
(.apr ) files. To locate these files, start ArcView in the usual way.
When ArcView appears, select File and Open Project from the drop
down menu. Under the "esri" directory, double-click on the subdirectory
"av_gis30." Then click on the subdirectory "arc-quality" and note
that four project files appear on the left side of the dialog box.
These are the files that we will be using.
When you double-click on one of the project (.apr) files, one of
two things will happen. In some cases, the "View" window will
appear; in such cases, click on the Open button to produce the map.
In other cases, a map of the US will appear. Expand (maximize)
the map to make it easy to interpret the spatial patterns that you
will produce.
When you finished producing the maps from one of the project
files and answer the relevant questions, you will need to go
on to the next project file. To do so while the map is still
in view, select File and Close. Then ArcView will ask you "Do
you want to save changes to ___.apr". Select No. Then the View
window will appear. Select File and Open project. When asked
again if you want to save your changes, select No again. Then
the Open Project dialog box will appear and choose the next project
file.
The following are the fields in the four project files:
BUS.APR This project file has fields that we will use to rate
the attractiveness of states for locating a new factory for a
business, which involves physically demanding and dangerous work.
We know what types of employees the company has at its other
plants and it wants the same type in a new location. The
following are the fields and why we are using them:
% MALES-the percent of the population that is male. Most of
its employees are male.
POPDENSITY-population density. With higher population densities,
it will have more potential workers nearby.
NET_MIGRAT-net migration. It wants a state that has high rate
of in-migration that can help boost its potential workforce.
% 25_34-percent of the population aged 25-34. Because the work
is so demanding, it needs young workers.
HOSBEDS_10-hospital beds per 1000 people. It needs a lot of
hospitals nearby because so many of its workers get injured.
LOC-TAX_PE-local taxes per person. The lower the tax, the
more money it can make.
HOUSE.APR This project file enables us to rate locations based
on various criteria related to housing quality. If you own a
real estate company, you will want to locate your new offices
in areas with higher property values. These criteria will help
you select such areas and enable you to avoid others with lower
values.
% MOB-HOME-the percentage of housing units that are mobile
homes. The presence of mobile homes usually indicates lower
property values.
%18_64-percent of the population aged 18-64. Most people
who own homes are in this age category.
% OWNER-OCC-percentage of housing units occupied by owners
(as opposed to renters). A higher number indicates a wealthier
population as people can afford to buy their houses.
% VACANT-percentage of housing units that are vacant. Vacant
housing indicates run-down areas with low property values.
MED-HOUSE-median value of housing units. The higher the
value, the better the quality of housing and the better off is
the population, which means it can spend more when purchasing
housing.
SOCIAL.APR This project file has criteria that rate places
based on an evaluation of their social attractiveness. Such
criteria often influence businesses because they know that
when they hire new employees, such as college graduates,
their employees will be attracted to work for companies located
in socially desirable areas.
% MARRIED-the percentage of households with a married
couple.
% DIVORCED-the percentage of households with a divorced
person.
SER-CRIME-serious crimes per 1000 people.
% COLL-GRAD-the percentage of people that are college
graduates.
INC_CAPITA-income per capita.
TOTAL.APR This project file has criteria that rate places
based on a combination of all the fields listed above. This
would come closest to rating the states to determine the
"best" place to live.
In creating these ratings, every state was ranked according
to data from the US Census. For variables that are positive
attributes, such as "income per capita" or "net migration,"
higher scores in these tables indicate higher values reported
in the census. For variables that are "negative" attributes,
such as "serious crimes per 1000 people," higher scores in
these tables indicate lower values reported in the census.
Assignment: Answer the questions in the spaces provided.
Part I: Use BUS.APR project file. Create a new field whose value
(score) is equal to the sum of the values in the six fields listed
above for BUS.APR.
1) Which five states are the most attractive, based on having the
highest total scores? _____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2) Which five states are the least attractive, based on having the
lowest total scores? ______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
3) What rank is Virginia based on its total score?________
4) Can we make a generalization as to whether the north or south
of the US is less attractive for our business, based on the total
scores? (To answer such questions, you will need to create a map
showing the spatial distribution of the five categories of the
values for the field being examined. In your explanations, base
your answer on whether the highest and lowest categories appear
to be concentrated in one of the regions listed in the question.)
Yes/No________Explain_____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Part II: Use HOUSE.APR project file. Create a new field whose
value (score) is equal to the sum of the values in the five fields
listed above for HOUSE.APR
1) Which five states are the most attractive, based on having the
highest total scores? ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2) Which five states are the least attractive, based on having
the lowest total scores? _________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3) What rank is Virginia based on its total score?________
4) Can we make a generalization as to whether the north or south
is less attractive for our real estate company, based on the total
scores? Yes/No_______Explain_____________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Part III: Use SOCIAL.APR project file. Create a new field whose
value (score) is equal to the sum of the values in the five fields
listed above for SOCIAL.APR
1) Which five states are the most attractive, based on having
the highest total scores? _______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
2) Which five states are the least attractive, based on having
the lowest total scores? ________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_______________________________
3) What rank is Virginia based on its total score?________
4) Can we make a generalization as to whether the north or south
of the US is more attractive in relation to social setting, based
on the total scores? Yes/No_______Explain________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Part IV: Use TOTAL.APR project file. Create a new field whose
value (score) is equal to the sum of the values in the sixteen
fields listed above for TOTAL.APR
1) Which five states are the most attractive, based on having
the highest total scores? ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2) Which five states are the least attractive, based on having
the lowest total scores? _______________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3) What rank is Virginia based on its total score?________
4) Can we make a generalization as to whether east of the
Mississippi or west of the Mississippi is more attractive overall,
based on its total score? Yes/No_______Explain___________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
5) Can we make a generalization as to whether the north or south
of the US is more attractive overall, based on its total score?
Yes/No_______Explain____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Part V: Create your own rating index that determines, based on
your own preferences, the best state in which to live. To do
so, you must choose only 5 fields from the 16 fields in the file
total.apr and then produce a new field whose value is equal to
the sum of the scores for each of the five fields that you have
chosen. These fields should be the five most important factors
that would influence where you would most like to live. When
you have done so:
1) Produce a map that portrays the spatial distribution of
the rankings that you have created. In the legend of the map
on the left, change the name of the theme to "Ratings".
2) Then create a layout of the map. For the title, use the
font size 72. For the subtitle, print "Best Places to Live" in
font size 24. Center the title and subtitle over the middle of
the map. The legend on the right of the map should have a font
size of 18.
3) Print your name on the map using the ArcView program. I do
not want you to write your name on the map.
4) On an attached piece of paper, list the five fields that
you have chosen to produce your rankings and explain why you
have chosen each of them. That is, why are they important to
you personally? Also, state whether there is a region of the
US that seems to have a concentration of high and low values
for your ratings.