FIELD TRIP TO CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH GIS
• Thursday May 15th, 5:15 PM
• City Hall -- MAP


Revised City Project Plan:

Because we had so much difficulty getting our cities to cooperate (aka "kick a gift horse in the mouth"), we will take our last project (Hazards) and turn it into a slick poster -- which we can post around the department and send a copy to your city (if you want).

See below for tips, tricks and templates for Poster Presentations.

 
GIS and Urban Planning:
• GIS on YouTube!
• Spatial Technologies and Planning
• ESRI looks at Urban Planning Applications
• URISA Journal Back Issues On-line
• Take a course at M.I.T.
• National Land Parcel Data -- FREE On-line Book
• Planning in the Private Sector -- Example
• Tons of Case Studies ...

• Building Applications
• Introduction to Model Builder
• Good Explanation and Tutorial
• Interesting Tutorial
• Download Tutorial Data

• Writing Simple Scripts
• Introduction to Script Writing
• Geek Speak
• Getting Started with Scripting -- Free ESRI Training

• GEO-Demographics:  The Characterization of Neighborhoods

Urban demographic information (limited to Census so far) has only been used to show the pattern of a SINGLE characteristic over the entire urban space.  For example, "Family Income by Census Tract" or "Percentage Population Under 5 Years Old."  While much can be learned from studying such patterns -- identifying pockets of poverty or areas with high pre-school needs -- they do not 'typify' areas in any way.

Neighborhood 'typologies' are useful for many purposes -- some noble, some 'for profit.'  Planners, social scientists and policy makers often want to know 'What kind of neighborhood is it and is it similar to other parts of the city?' They would likely name the neighborhood types "Social Areas" or just neighborhoods.

Marketers, business location analysists and real estate developers would likely name it "geo-demographics" and the neighborhoods classified into "clusters."  See below:

• Theoretical Background
• History of Neighborhood Classification
• Classical Models of the City
• Residential Segregation
• A British Example
• Recent Prize-Winning Student Paper

• Applications:
• Introduction to Geodemographics
• "Birds of a Feather"
• Market Segmentation
• Commercially-Produced "Types"
• Claritas' PRISM
• Cohorts
• Modern Methodolgy

• CARTOGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
• Read This excellent summary of Good Map Making Strategies

• Census Geographies
• TIGER Line Data Files
• 2006 TIGER Lines Explained
• Technical Documentation (See Appendix A for FIPS Codes for States/Counties)
• Download YOUR City's County File

• Useful Links for Urban Data
• Geography @ About.com
• The Population Reference Bureau
• Geospatial One Stop
• USGS Geodata
• Local Government Examples:
• University of Idaho
• State of Ohio
• Southern California Association of Governments
• Sample:  Data Links

• GIS REVIEW -- with these ESRI Virtual Campus FREE Courses:
• What's New in ArcGIS9
• The 15-Minute Map (with ArcGIS)
• Working with Map Projections

POSTER RESOURCE LINKS:

• Advice on designing scientific posters
• Creating Posters in Powerpoint
• 10 Steps to a Good Poster
• CSULB CLA Student Poster Competition
• Template
• Scientific Poster Templates
• Simple Version

• Emergency Preparedness and Response

Planners are often involved in developing an Emergency Plan and assisting first-responders and policy makers in Disaster Response.  Naturally, it is assumed that GIS can play a major role in both activities .. so they come to YOU!

For YOUR CITY:

• Identify the most likely Hazards (earthquakes, obviously .. but wildfire (y/n)? chemical spills? ..and so forth)?
• Associate each potential hazard with the GIS Layer(s) that would need to be included in your GIS and/or with a specific GIS analysis technique to be used to assess risk.  (For example:  Earthquake Faults, soil types, population, hospitals, schools).
• For each potential hazard, suggest GIS operations that could be used to Assess Damage or target high-risk areas -- like Buffering around a toxic fire and overlaying the hospitals and schools within the 'danger zone.'
• Using READILY AVAILABLE LAYERS from Census, USGS, EPA or other public sources, BUILD a PROTOTYPE APPLICATION of 'GIS for Emergency Planning and Response' for at least ONE of the hazards identified above.
• Put a series of Map Steps in a Powerpoint that illustrates the logic and the process of your prototype.

•   Urban Planners -- Notification Exercise

• Neighborhood Types in Southern California Cities -- Individual Presentations 

• Describe the Three (3) Demographic Characterists you used to represent the Classic SES, Life-Cycle, and Ethnicity Factors typically found in North American cities.
• Show the Single-Factor Distributions of each component (ie a map of SES, L-C, Ethnicity) divided into Above/Below the Median Quantiles.
• Show the Final Classification of Tracts into "Neighborhood Types"
• Provide a "Thumbnail Sketch" of each neighborhood type.
• Be prepared to discuss how your city differs from 'expected patterns' or numbers of categories?

• CENSUS MAPPING PROJECT -- GRADED 20 % 
• 

• EXERCISE Number Four:   Map Time
This week we will review basic cartographic principles (see this week's readings above) and produce a series of maps of Your City.
THINK about the type of data (nominal, numeric?) and how best to depict the spatial relationships of the data on the map.

Art and Science:

• Use good map design to emphasize the important elements of the layout
• Choose a map-type appropriate to the data
• Generalizations of the data values (class intervals) should be rational and explainable
• Symbology should be appropriate to the data


Map EACH of the following:

• Freeways, Railroads, and Hydrological Features within the City
• Population Density by Tract
• Total Population by Tract

• EXERCISE Number Three:

Working with Census TIGER Files

Under Coverage Tools in the ArcGIS Toolbox, use the Basic Tiger Tool for Importing TIGER Files

[In Arc/Info:ArcGIS Workstation, Run ARC  ]
• use the command: TIGERARC TGR06nnn.xx[ aka "prefix"]cover_name to import the line features.
• use the command: BUILD cover_name LINES to build line topology for the coverage.

• What File format is created by this operation?  Coverage? Shapefile? Or??
• What 'Feature Class(es)' are created by the operation?
• Open the Table.  What type of attributes are contained?
• What "Demographic" attributes are found in the file?

• Project the layer into STATE PLANE Coordinates appropriate to the Zone in California that the county falls into -- May want to either search State Government documents or Google to confirm :-)

• ADD the TABLE named "layer_name.ACODE" to the project (Note: it may be an INFO file).
• Find the corresponding TIGER_Line_ID fields in the two tables and Join the "ACODE" file with the arc-attribute file.
• Now what attributes are included?  Any more Demographic Data?
• Look in the documentation for the meaning of any 'cryptic' field names.'  Find out what CFCC means.

• Use the Query Tools  to select all ROADS  [ road features have CFCC values between A01 and A99 inclusively]
• You may want to "CLIP" the roads to the extent of the other Layers -- such as your City Boundary. [TIGER lines come for an entire county!]
• Export Data_to_Shapefile option to save the selected records to an ArcView Shapefile format.
• Make a MAP of your City using the NEW TIGER Roads shapefile.

Creating Custom Layers with TIGER -- Primitive, but Powerful

The steps required --  in Workstation Arc/Info or ArcGIS to import TIGER Files and create a new polygon map (Tracts) for a portion of El Dorado County, CA include:
 

• Download the data.
• Import the lines into Arc/Info 'coverage' format.
• Select lines based on attributes to form the boundaries of polygons.
• Edit the coverage to add 'label points.'
• Build Polygons.
• And, use ArcMap to create a presentation-quality map.

TIGER EXAMPLE: CREATING CENSUS TRACT BOUNDARIES

 
 
• use the Tool  command: TIGERARC to import the line features.
• use the Tool command: BUILD to build line topology for the coverage.
• Workstation: BUILD  tigercover  LINES
• ADD the coverage to the map.
• From the Project Window, ADD the TABLE named "tigercover.ACODE" to the project
• It is an INFO file, remember?
• Find the corresponding TIGER_Line_ID fields in the two tables and Link the "ACODE" file with the attribute file.
• Use the Query Tools in ArcMap to select only Census Tract Boundaries (for whole county) and save to a new shapefile.
• CTBNAL <> CTBNAR
• Use the Query Tools in ArcView to select all boundary lines of  FIPS_PLACEs in the County
• FPLL <> FPLR
• Use the Query Tools in ArcMap to select all boundary lines for FIPS_PLACE number = 57540.
• (FPLL = 57540) OR (FPLR = 57540)
• SELECT FROM SET !!
• SAVE AS NEW SHAPEFILE for target CITY boundary

• InArcMap -- Select only Census Tract Boundaries which overlap the city and save to a new shapefile.

• Use ArcToolBox Editing Tools to add label points to the tracts which overlap with the City boundary:

 
• BUILD Tract polygons
• Workstation:   BUILD tractcover POLY
• Toolbox has a function to Build (and it may be necessary to use Clean)

• Make a Reference Map showing the Tract Number for each area as a Text Label. Print in Color.

• Exercise Number Two:  Mapping Urban Characteristics
START
• Use the SAME CITY as last week's internet mapping example
• See what Demographic Data is available from American Factfinder
• Using the Census 2000 MAPS option, can Thematic Maps be produced for your City?
• How would your rate the Ease of Use for this 'mapping engine?'
• How much cartographic control do you have over the final map?
• What GIS functionality does the map provide?


THEN

• Explore DOWNLOADING Map Boundaries and Data
• What "levels" of Geographic Detail are available?
• Which levels are appropriate to mapping information within your City?
• What File Format options are available for downloading?
• DOWNLOAD the 'boundary file' for Census Tracts for your City.
• Import into ArcGIS and produce a Base Map showing Tract Numbers.
• Produce a Thematic Map in ArcGIS
• What Urban Data come with the boundary file?
• Where can you get more detailed Population and Housing data?
• CENSUS?
• Google Search?
• ESRI?
• State/Local Governments?
• Download some Population Data and Link the data to your map..
• Map it!


How easy is it to obtain both geographic and attribute information for US urban areas?
What data formats are available -- Geographic Locations & Attributes?
How easily can Attribute data be attached to the corresponding Map Features?
Why use GIS?  Why not just make the maps using the Census map engine?

• Exercise Number One:  GIS on the INTERNET
START
• Choose a Small to Medium-sized City (LA or Orange County)
• Find the city's OFFICIAL Website
• IF your choice does NOT have a website, Make Note of that Fact and return to START
• Search for Links to the city's Mapping and/or Geographic Information System
• IF your choice does NOT have any maps or GIS links on the website, Make Note of that Fact and return to START
• Record the URL of what appears to be the Main Page for the Map/GIS Department for the City


THEN

• Where is mapping/GIS done within the City?  Its own department?  Within another city department?  Several departments? Is there a contact person?
• What kinds of Map/GIS products are available over the internet?  Static maps?  Interactive Maps? Custom Maps or Searches?
• What LAYERS can you identify as part of the City's GIS?
• Are there MetaData available?  Dates, projections, accuracy, sources .. etc.?
• Does the City have Aerial Photography?  Is it tied to a common coordinate system?  What is the spatial resolution?
• Does the website contain useful map information for the public?  Is it easy to access and use?


BE PREPARED

• To show the rest of the class the site and summarize your findings.
• To critique the site -- acknowledging what you learned and what you think could be better.