Module 6: Choropleth Maps

When I started this lab, my immediate struggle was figuring out how to change the map projection. After reviewing discussion topics and a few google searches later, I had what I wanted and I was able to continue. My color map was relatively straightforward with the exception of the North arrow. I somehow lost it in transition, and I didn't want to use the one from the AI symbol library, so I generated my own. This lab was by far my most successful one in terms of working with layers. This should prove to be productive going forward. The grayscale map involved tabulating our raw data into census divisions. This was not difficult; however, it was a little time consuming. After rolling all of the states into their respective census divisions, I used the two columns of data and generated a population change percentage. An example of my equation in excel might have looked something like this "=(C8-D8)/D8*100" where C8 would have been the sum of 2000 populations and D8 would have been the sum of 1990 populations. After this, I reviewed the basics on equal interval data classification, and I had something to work with. I didn't have a census division falling into my fourth class, so I hope that I am not missing something.

My only regret is not labeling the divisions clearly on the map. I checked out other blogs and saw some ingenious techniques that I considered applying, but I did not want to be guilty of blatant plagiarism. All in all, I am happy with my final product and look forward to doing more!