QGIS: Joining and Mapping U.S. Census Bureau Data Welcome to the Essential ArcGIS Task Sheet Series. This series supplements the Iowa State University GIS Geospatial Technology Training Program short course series, “Essential ArcGIS Tutorial Series.” The task sheets are designed to provide quick, easy instructions for performing specific tasks in GIS. The U.S. Census Bureau provides many different datasets on topics such as population, and demographics. The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau that measures and describes the social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population, including states, regions, counties, and local areas. This task sheet builds on the QGIS: Downloading and Preparing U.S. Census Bureau Data task sheet, and will take you through the steps of joining U.S. Census Bureau data to a shapefile for mapping and displaying data at the county level. 1. Getting Started a. Begin this tasksheet after you have completed the steps from QGIS: Downloading and Preparing U.S. Census Bureau Data (PM2082-16q). 2. Joining Census Data to a Shapefile a. Right-click on the counties layer in the Layers list and select Properties. b. Click on the Joins icon in the left menu of the Layer Properties window, and click on the green plus icon. c. In the Add vector join window, select ACS_14_5YR_ S1901_with_ann as the Join layer, GEOid2 as the Join field, and FIPS as Target field. Click OK. The join information will be listed in the Layer Properties window. This is especially nice if you have multiple joins. Click OK to close the Layer Properties window. d. Open the attribute table for the counties shapefile. You should notice that all the data from the ACS_14_5YR_ S1901_with_ann.csv table is now included in the counties shapefile. Note: Joins are not permanent until completing the next step. 3. Making a Join Permanent a. Right-click on counties in the Layers list, and select Save As. In the Save vector layer as window, make sure the Format is set to ESRI Shapefile, and browse to a good place to save the file. Name the file counties_ acs_s1901, and click OK. Note: unfortunately saving this file as a new layer changes the attribute field names and it is difficult to tell which fields are which after this step. QGIS 2.18.7
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QGIS: Joining and Mapping U.S. Census Bureau Data
Welcome to the Essential ArcGIS Task Sheet Series. This series supplements the Iowa State University GIS Geospatial Technology Training Program short course series, “Essential ArcGIS Tutorial Series.” The task sheets are designed to provide quick, easy instructions for performing specific tasks in GIS.
The U.S. Census Bureau provides many different datasets on topics such as population, and demographics. The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau that measures and describes the social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population, including states, regions, counties, and local areas. This task sheet builds on the QGIS: Downloading and Preparing U.S. Census Bureau Data task sheet, and will take you through the steps of joining U.S. Census Bureau data to a shapefile for mapping and displaying data at the county level.
1. Getting Started
a. Begin this tasksheet after you have completed the steps from QGIS: Downloading and Preparing U.S. Census Bureau Data (PM2082-16q).
2. Joining Census Data to a Shapefile
a. Right-click on the counties layer in the Layers list and select Properties.
b. Click on the Joins icon in the left menu of the Layer Properties window, and click on the green plus icon.
c. In the Add vector join window, select ACS_14_5YR_S1901_with_ann as the Join layer, GEOid2 as the Join field, and FIPS as Target field. Click OK. The join information will be listed in the Layer Properties window. This is especially nice if you have multiple joins. Click OK to close the Layer Properties window.
d. Open the attribute table for the counties shapefile. You should notice that all the data from the ACS_14_5YR_S1901_with_ann.csv table is now included in the counties shapefile. Note: Joins are not permanent until completing the next step.
3. Making a Join Permanent
a. Right-click on counties in the Layers list, and select Save As. In the Save vector layer as window, make sure the Format is set to ESRI Shapefile, and browse to a good place to save the file. Name the file counties_acs_s1901, and click OK. Note: unfortunately saving this file as a new layer changes the attribute field names and it is difficult to tell which fields are which after this step.
QGIS 2.18.7
Bailey Hanson [email protected], 515-520-1436 or Professor Christopher J. Seeger, ASLA, GISP [email protected], 515-509-0651 for more information about the Geospatial Technology Program. This task sheet and more are available at www.extension.iastate.edu/communities/gis
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, or status as a U.S. veteran. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to Ross Wilburn, Diversity Officer, 2150 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, 515-294-1482, [email protected].
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4. Symbolizing Data
a. Using the counties layer that is joined to ACS_14_5YR_S1901_with_ann, NOT the new counties_acs_s1901 layer. Right-click on counties and select Properties.
b. Click on the Style icon in the Layer Properties window, and select Graduated. Choose ACS_14_5YR_S1901_with_ann_HC01_EST_VC13 as the Column. Select the color light red to dark red color ramp from the Color ramp drop-down menu. Select Natural Breaks (Jenks) as the Mode, and Click OK.
c. From the menu at the top of the window, select Project and click New Print Composer. In the Composer title window, type in Median Household Income in Dollars, and click OK.
d. In the print composer window, click on the Add new map icon in the toolbar. Using your mouse, click and draw a square that covers the white space of the print composer, when you release the click, the map should appear in the print composer window.
e. Click on the Move item content icon to move and arrange the map within the map composer space.
f. Click on the Add new label icon, then click on the map to add a title. In the Label Item Properties window on the right, rename the default title to Median Household Income in Dollars. Click on Font and change the font for the title to Times New Roman, Bold, 18pt size, click OK. Resize the box so that the title fits within it.
g. Click on the Add new legend icon, then click on the map to add a legend.
h. Click on the Add new scale bar icon, then click on the map to add a scale bar. The scale bar properties can be found in the menu on the right. Use this area to change any styling or display features.
i. Click on the Export as PDF icon at the top of the print composer window to save the file as a PDF.
