Get Started with GIS Mapping

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Get Started with GIS Mapping

• Part 1of 2, December 2009
• Madhu Lakshmanan

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Agenda for this section

• Brief introduction to GIS/mapping jargon
• Exploring Google Earth (GE)
• Point Maps versus thematic maps on GE
• Base Maps and where to find them
• The Census website
• AFF Mapper Part 1
• The Census KMZ Mapper Application
• Data Preparation geocoding
• Mapping point data
• Resources/Homework

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What is GIS

• Mapping
• Wide spectrum of complexity
• Combination of hardware, software data
• Can be one single large system or a suite of
  tools or one small tool depending on your
  requirement
• Data is key, design and color makes it more
  informative and appealing.

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Terms that we will come across

• Layer A slice of the geography of a particular
  area. On a paper map, one layer could be the
  roads, another could be parks, another could be
  places of interest.
• Base Map A layer that lends context to your
  data
• Geocoding Converting street addresses into
  spatial data that can be displayed on a map
  (usually a latitude and longitude pair)
• Shapefiles A data format that stores a
  particular geographic feature of a certain area.
  (it is usually a set of files) and is almost the
  de-facto standard. It is an ESRI-created format.
• KML/KMZ an XML based language schema for
  expressing geographic visualization. It is an
  official open standard for all geobrowsers.
• Projection transformation of a map from a
  spherical object (Earth) to a flat sheet of paper.

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Google Earth
Transparency Control
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Exploring Google Earth

• Copy Image/ Print Scr
• View Menu
• Tools Options
• Navigation
• Fly to
• Layers
• Adding your own placemarks to a folder and saving
  a KML file

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Google Earth some best practices

• Play, Practice, Patience
• Save as and keep your KML files organized in a
  separate folder on your drive.
• Clear cache regularly after saving required data
• Save without too many standard layers to keep kmz
  size down for emailing etc.
• Use transparency slider
• Actual screenshots are better than using the
  inbuilt GE copy tool only copies the GE map and
  not any of your custom overlays
• Look at KML in free time very much like XML.

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Point Maps versus Thematic Maps

• Point Maps usually give you information about a
  particular location on a map. They can be used
  for directions, descriptions and distance
  information among others.
• Thematic Maps reflect a particular theme (social,
  physical, political etc.) about a geographical
  area. It shows distributions in the form of
  shading or graphs rather than actual locations
  where people live.
• Point and thematic maps can be layered atop one
  another to provide a wealth of information.

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Example of a simple point map
Location of major grocery stores in the Ann Arbor
vicinity
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Example of a simple thematic map from the US
Census
Percent Population below poverty by county in
North Carolina.
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Data Preparation - Planning

• Having some idea of what you want to achieve with
  your map
• What data do you have already?
• What data do you need to acquire?
• If you have to convert your data, what conversion
  tools do you need?
• What maps can you reuse?
• Data origin, metadata, processing
• Discuss with other users, colleagues, peers

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Base Maps

• Base maps or boundary maps help provide context
  to your data map. They do not contain any
  attribute information, they are just geography.
  They can be layered with the maps you create to
  give information that is not available or visible
  on the virtual globe (GE), such as county
  names/zipcodes etc.
• If your mapping concentrates on a certain region
  (state/county etc), you need to create your base
  maps just once and save them, and these can be
  reused as many times as you need.

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Example of a base map

• Zip code boundary map of New Mexico.

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Example of a base map

• County boundary map of New Mexico.

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Exploring the Census website
http//www.census.gov/
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TIGER/Line Shapefiles from census.gov

• Note that these are shapefiles and need
  conversion to kml/kmz to be used on GE. (AFF
  Mapper)
• Advantage is that they are the ones that most
  datasets are based on, so compatibility is great
• Download the shapefiles at the level you need, by
  drilling down to your state county, MSA,
  zipcode etc. (Multiple files downloaded at the
  same time have an unzip problem, hence you need
  to do it one by one)
• Make sure you name your unzip folder meaningfully
  since things will get confusing after downloading
  multiple maps!

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AFF Mapper Basic

• Created to make maps using census boundary files
  and American Fact Finder data
• Rule-based, but simple to follow
• Find a shapefile from http//www2.census.gov/cgi-b
  in/shapefiles/national-files This is a one time
  task for a particular geography, so make sure to
  extract, rename and save the file safely.
• Extract to a folder on your computer that you can
  find. There will be multiple files in the folder
  and they are all important.

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AFF Mapper - 1

• Can be used for 2 purposes
• To convert shapefiles to KML for viewing on GE
• To combine shapefiles with data and converting to
  KML for viewing on GE.

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AFF Mapper - 2

• Click on Input Shape a browse window will open.
  
• Navigate to the base map folder that you
  downloaded and unzipped earlier and point to the
  shp file in that folder.
• Once that file is loaded, you will be able to see
  all the information in a tabular form these are
  just geographical information and codes and
  identifiers.
• Ignore the Join Tables Settings panel for this
  exercise.
• In the Label Field column at the bottom, choose a
  field that will appear on the map, choose Name
  if there is such a field. Click Render. You can
  change the color at this point, but remember that
  you can also do it in Google Earth depending on
  other layers you are using, so just say OK with
  the default color.
• Click on Output KML and give it a name and
  location very descriptive. I prefer to put it
  in the same folder as the shp file that was used
  to begin with.
• Hit Go and wait for the Finished message. You
  will now have your KML file available to open in
  Google Earth.

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The Census KMZ Mapper
http//ctasgis02.psur.utk.edu/tokml/Default.aspx
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The Census KMZ Mapper
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Downloaded KML visualized in Google Earth
Percent Population Without Access to Private Auto
in Whole State
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Data Preparation - Geocoding

• Can geocode at different address levels like
  state, county, zipcode, complete address, etc.
• Multiple ways, differences in accuracy, daily
  limits, one time activity
• Using BatchGeocoder.com
• Using KMLGeocoder on desktop
• Zip data with lat/long for each state

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Mapping your case data - points

• Directly enter addresses into GE one by one. (can
  import bulk if using Pro version)
• Use a tool like KMLGeocode or batchgeocode.com
  to take your Excel address data and convert to
  KML directly no identifying info needed other
  than address data and this can even be reduced to
  street level if you wanted to preserve some more
  anonymity. Limit is 5000 a day.
• GE shows a map with a scatter plot of your case
  data. A screenshot of this will not reveal any
  specific address information to a viewer but
  sharing kml will do that.

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Batchgeocode.com
Run the geocoder and then Click on the
Download to KML file button at the very bottom
and you can have a saved file with the latitude
and longitude information for your addresses.
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To-Do

• Assemble a set of tools for mapping
• Begin a library of base files and data files for
  mapping on your computer/server
• Find sources of data for your region many local
  governmental entities and health related
  organizations are good sources.
• Think about what sort of maps and visualizations
  work best for each purpose
• Discuss maps and mapping practices with peers.

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Resources and Interesting Mapping Applications - 1

• Census website
• http//census.gov
• American Factfinder
• http//factfinder.census.gov
• Google Earth User Guide
• http//earth.google.com/userguide/v5/
• Rural Assistance Center Maps
• http//raconline/org/maps
• Show_at_/USA
• http//show.mappingworlds.com/usa

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Resources and Interesting Mapping Applications - 2

• Download applications here
• http//lsntap.org/GIS_Resources_for_Google_Earth
• KMLGeocoder
• EarthPlot
• AFFMapper
• Shp2KML
• Statewise Geocoded Zip codes
• Regional Legal Aid boundary files

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Homework

• Familiarize yourself with Google Earth and also
  with the American Fact Finder part of the Census
  website
• Go to http//www.justice.gov/eoir/sibpages/ICadr.h
  tm
• Pick any two states (try to pick atleast one
  with more than 1 entry!) and use Excel and
  batchgeocoder.com to plot those addresses on GE
  and save as a KML file. Send me a screenshot of
  your GE file when you are done (to
  madhu_at_lsntap.org)
• Download County level and 5 digit zipcode level
  base maps of your state from the TIGER site and
  try to convert them to KML using AFF Mapper.

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LSNTAP GIS Resources

• More roundtables and trainings and QA sessions
  in the new year.
• GIS mailing list being resurrected do sign up
  and participate https//lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin
  /mailman/listinfo/gis
• GIS Resources section on LSNTAP.org updated
• Set up a meeting with Madhu if you need support.
  Email madhu_at_lsntap.org
• Send links to any interesting mapping resources
  or data resources you find to madhu_at_lsntap.org