U. S. Racial Groups in Metropolitan Cities Project

U. S. Racial Groups in Metropolitan Areas, 2000

In this project you will be mapping US Census data for the five racial/cultural groups -- White, Black, Native American, Asia-Pacific (add these two together), and Hispanics -- using the mapping software CensusCD 2000 Long Form, found in all general access computer labs at UWEC. The source for these data are the 2000 U.S. Census of Population.
To complete the project, follow the :
Find the Mapping Program
Find the Start button in the lower left-hand corner of the computer screen; select Programs, Departmental, Geography, and then the software CensusCD 2000 Long Form.
REGARDING ERROR MESSAGES: Should you get an error message trying to run CensusCD 2000 Long Form, do this:
Open the program, click “File->New Request”. The program will ask where to create the new request; select either c:\temp or your H:\ drive. Saving files to the H:\ drive is probably better because other people can’t see your project. If the files are too big for your H drive, then use the W drive.
Select the Metropolitan Area
To determine which metropolitan area YOU MUST STUDY, divide the last two digits of your 7-digit UWEC ID number by 2 and round up, if necessary.
For example, the last two digits of the ID# 1234533 are 33, divided by 2 equals 16.5 and rounded up results in 17.
Now select the corresponding ranked number (17 from the above example) from the list of the 77 largest metropolitan areas (Milwaukee, WI is number 17). Be sure you map only the metro area that you are responsible for. Many metro areas consist of two or more cities -- map only your metro area!!! Consult a detailed atlas or use the MapQuest web site.
Map the Census Data
When the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program is open, make a map by following these steps:

1a) Under Area, select Geographic Area and then Counties.
1b) From the list of states, select the state you want, which is highlighted with a black strip. Scroll down on the right-hand side to see more states.

1c) After selecting a state, a list of counties in that state appears. Select the county or counties you want, which is is highlighted with a black strip. Scroll down on the right-hand side to see more states. And click on .

Which counties make-up a particular metropolitan area?
Here is the list of counties for all US metropolitan areas.

2) Under Subarea, select Tracts.
3a) Under Counts, select Display. Now it gets complicated! Each of the four left-hand icons provide different kinds of data: Geo_IDs, POP1, POP2, HH1, and HH2. [Geo= spatial mapping areas; POP=population characteristics; HH=household characteristics.]
3b) Click on POP1, for example, and a list of data files appears.
3c) Under Tables, click on the P006 Race and P007 Hispanic by Race variables and more information appears below under Counts.
3d) Now, click on the top variable, e.g., P006001 Total Population, and scroll down to the last one, e.g., P007017 2+ races, and click on it. And finally click on and then on .

4) Under Run, select Map to create a map for the place and data you selected.
Once the map is drawn, make the page as large as possible by clicking on the square in the top right-hand corner of this new page -- on the same line where it says Map of C:\TEMP\.... Because the map will show the county or counties for a particular metro area, you will want to use the +magnification glass in the top menu to zoom-in on the heart of the city, as appropriate, to see the regional patterns you are mapping.

Calculate New Variables
In the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program, calculate the percent for each racial category of the total population
click on the Calculator in the top right-hand corner at the top of the menu:
create a Formula:
e.g., Black alone/Total: population*100 (where / = divide; * = multiple; and 100 results in %) results in percent Black population
e.g., Hispanic/Total: population*100 results in percent Hispanic population
[If you want to add several numbers together and calculate a percentage, use this formula format: ((2+3)/(2+3+5+6))*100.
Where (2+3) are two variables added together, e.g., Asians and Native Americans, and (2+3+5+6) is the total of all the same variables, e.g., Asians, Native Americans, Blacks, and Whites.]
replace the default label Formula1 with a new label, such as % Black -- this will appear in the printed legend!

Map Class Intervals and Shading
In the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program, the extreme right-hand menu consists of
Area: tract#
Record: variable names, short and long
Legend: class intervals for map
Select Equal Ranges and only four class intervals. Think about the range of values: type different percentages and hit Enter for each of the class intervals you want: such as 3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 75, etc. Notice that Equal Ranges becomes Custom. You must select Equal Ranges whenever you select a new variable to map.
You want to create maps with the highest class interval showing geographically concentrated areas. The highest class interval will vary a great deal (from 100 or 85% to 6 or 4%) between the racial groups that you are mapping.

Be sure that the class intervals result in grouping areas together with the largest numbers to the lowest numbers. In other words, the bars should have a step-like pattern for all or at least for most of the variable mapped.
Here are two examples:
1) In Graph 1, the blue bar (891) has fewer tracts than the red bar (1220) but more than the green bar (665) and so on.
2) In Graph 2, the blue bar (211) has fewer tracts than the red bar(169) but more than the green bar (658); but since the green (lowest class interval) areas (3923) contain almost none (to < 1) of the variable mapped, this green bar is the largest (3023).

Graph 1 Graph 2
For large groups, such as Whites and Blacks, all tracts have some percent of the variable mapped. For small groups, such as Asians, Indians, and Blacks in some cities, many, if not most of the tracts contain very little of the variable mapped.

If you print in black and white, be sure that you click on each of the colors and select the ones YOU want. The highest values should be black and the lowest values should be white; all the values in-between should be appropriate greys!
Log: information for specific areas. Click on , in the top menu, and click on an area on the map and the value mapped appears under Log. This is a great way to check on the patterns you are mapping.
In the CensusCD + Maps program, the highest values should be set to black; then dark grey, light grey, and the lowest values to white.
Information on a Particular Census Tract
In the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program, information on a particular census tract can be acquired by
click on at the top of the map menu and then click on a particular area on the map and on
Record: you see all the data for the clicked on area
Log: you see only the value of the variable mapped for the area clicked. This is a great way to see the different values between areas and what numbers you might want to use for class intervals.
Clicking twice on the same area on the map undoes this function and the cross lines on the map.

Print Map

1) Before you print, make sure that each map is as large as possible without excluding important areas for a particular racial group. In other words, the maps of the racial minorities will be zoomed in far more than the white racial group map, which will be zoomed out.

2) Under View, select Grey Scale and undo Water.

3) In the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program, under File, select Print or click on the Print icon in the top menu . The fill in the Title and Subtitle boxes, both will appear on the printed map; under Orientation, select Landscape; under Legend, select Include; and select where the legend will appear, on the Left or Right side of the map page.

[If you can NOT print directly from the CensusCD 2000 Long Form, copy the map by using the Print Screen key (top row, on the right-hand end of the keyboard) and then paste it into WORD. Be sure that you select Landscape Mode in the print mode. Add a title and you are done! If you know how to use a PAINT program, paste the screen dump into this program and then select only the map and paste into a WORD file and repeat for the legend.]

4) Be sure to make well-designed maps, which include
I. a comprehensive title which includes usually three elements:
* the scale of the map, such as particular metro area: e.g., ". . . Chicago";
* variable mapped: e.g., "Percent of Blacks;"
* mapping unit of the data, in this case, "by tract."
A complete map title would, therefore, be " Percent of Blacks in Chicago, by Tract."
II. the legend must indicate what the numbers are, e.g., percent in this case, and
III. the source for all these data are the 1990 U.S. Census, which you must add by hand, or in a WORD or PAINT program, at the bottom of the map, if you print directly from the mapping software!

5) Optional but . . . . You might also make an outline map without data to show the whole metropolitan area with an appropriate title. In WORD or in PAINT, you could add the names of the cities that make-up the metropolitan area and where the main CBD (central business district) is located and any other physical and cultural features that you think would help the map reader locate the various concentrations.

Final Project
Create one more map that YOU think correlates (spatially matches but is not a racial variable) with the dominant racial groups in the city you mapped. As a bare minimum, submit a hard copy of each of the six maps (5 racial groups & 1 other relevant map) for your metropolitan area, include a map title, legend, and source.

If you like, use the subtitle box to add your name. Otherwise, place your name in the top right-hand corner of the first map. Order the maps to reflect the rank (largest group, first) of the racial groups in the city you mapped! Staple your project in the upper left-hand corner.

City Street Map
You might want to look at a street map of the city you selected either or both of these two sources:
A) Go to the MapQuest web site and click on Maps, and on the menu that appears
1) select the city from the list provided (under Quick Maps, in the right-hand menu) or type the name of the city yourself (under Map Search, in the left-hand menu);
2) when the city map appears, click on large map (in the right-hand menu);
3) when the city map appears, zoom in and use the compass (in the left-hand menu) to go where you want in the city.
B) Go to the Trails web site to see a topographic map of your city.
Now that you know how to create detailed census-based maps, use your new skill whenever you go on a trip. Create maps at different scales, i.e., county, census tract, and block group, for various characteristics, such as income, family structure, housing, ethnicity and race, etc. With these maps you will know the places which you will want to visit before you get there and then you will be able to know where to go to see what you are interested in.
Geography is about knowing and enjoying the people and their cultures in particular places!

Print Map
1) Before you print, make sure that each map is as large as possible without excluding important areas for a particular racial group. In other words, the maps of the racial minorities will be zoomed in far more than the white racial group map, which will be zoomed out.
2) Under View, select Grey Scale and undo Water.
3) In the CensusCD 2000 Long Form program, under File, select Print or click on the Print icon in the top menu . The fill in the Title and Subtitle boxes, both will appear on the printed map; under Orientation, select Landscape; under Legend, select Include; and select where the legend will appear, on the Left or Right side of the map page. [If you can NOT print directly from the CensusCD 2000 Long Form, copy the map by using the Print Screen key (top row, on the right-hand end of the keyboard) and then paste it into WORD. Be sure that you select Landscape Mode in the print mode. Add a title and you are done! If you know how to use a PAINT program, paste the screen dump into this program and then select only the map and paste into a WORD file and repeat for the legend.]
4) Be sure to make well-designed maps, which include I. a comprehensive title which includes usually three elements: * the scale of the map, such as particular metro area: e.g., ". . . Chicago"; * variable mapped: e.g., "Percent of Blacks;" * mapping unit of the data, in this case, "by tract." A complete map title would, therefore, be " Percent of Blacks in Chicago, by Tract." II. the legend must indicate what the numbers are, e.g., percent in this case, and III. the source for all these data are the 1990 U.S. Census, which you must add by hand, or in a WORD or PAINT program, at the bottom of the map, if you print directly from the mapping software!
5) Optional but . . . . You might also make an outline map without data to show the whole metropolitan area with an appropriate title. In WORD or in PAINT, you could add the names of the cities that make-up the metropolitan area and where the main CBD (central business district) is located and any other physical and cultural features that you think would help the map reader locate the various concentrations.
Final Project Create one more map that YOU think correlates (spatially matches but is not a racial variable) with the dominant racial groups in the city you mapped. As a bare minimum, submit a hard copy of each of the six maps (5 racial groups & 1 other relevant map) for your metropolitan area, include a map title, legend, and source. If you like, use the subtitle box to add your name. Otherwise, place your name in the top right-hand corner of the first map. Order the maps to reflect the rank (largest group, first) of the racial groups in the city you mapped! Staple your project in the upper left-hand corner. City Street Map You might want to look at a street map of the city you selected either or both of these two sources: A) Go to the MapQuest web site and click on Maps, and on the menu that appears 1) select the city from the list provided (under Quick Maps, in the right-hand menu) or type the name of the city yourself (under Map Search, in the left-hand menu); 2) when the city map appears, click on large map (in the right-hand menu); 3) when the city map appears, zoom in and use the compass (in the left-hand menu) to go where you want in the city. B) Go to the Trails web site to see a topographic map of your city. Now that you know how to create detailed census-based maps, use your new skill whenever you go on a trip. Create maps at different scales, i.e., county, census tract, and block group, for various characteristics, such as income, family structure, housing, ethnicity and race, etc. With these maps you will know the places which you will want to visit before you get there and then you will be able to know where to go to see what you are interested in. Geography is about knowing and enjoying the people and their cultures in particular places!