This part of the first Desktop Mapping series will cover Social Explorer and ArcGIS as tools to process and generate digital maps.

Social Explorer:

http://www.socialexplorer.com

Social Explorer is an online GIS tool that allows you to interrogate data from the U.S. Census from the very first census to the most recent. While this portion of the workshop will assume some interest in using Social Explorer, like all other platforms, there are benefits and drawbacks for selecting this particular application.

Is Social Explorer right for me?

Do use Social Explorer if you…

Have access to the internet
Plan to use only U.S. census data
Focus on the “story” of a map rather than a fully customized map
Would like to use graphs from other data sources
Want to share online maps

Do NOT use Social Explorer if you…

Intend to use geographic data not a part of the U.S. census database
Want to show data beyond:

State
County
Census Tract
Census Block Group

Want to customize your own data symbolization
Want your maps put into GoogleEarth, ArcGIS, or other desktop-based GIS solutions

Percentage below U.S. Poverty Line mapping: Data Layers

Making Visually Appealing Maps: Symbology

Exporting data out of Social Explorer: Using Reports

Fancy use of Social Explorer: Comparing, swiping, and stories

An EASY way to GIS? More like an way to GIS: ArcGIS

The first step is to understand that we are covering the basics of desktop GIS analysis using ESRI’s ArcGIS software suite. This is by no means an all encompassing “this is GIS” demo, but rather a view on how GIS is used to build maps from ESRI’s perspective, limited by the functionalities of the software provided.

Generally speaking, the ESRI ArcGIS suite consists of 3 parts:

ArcCatalog
ArcMap
3D GIS (ArcGlobe/ArcScene)

For the workshop, we will use only ArcCatalog and the ArcMap to demo the top 10 most used functions of GIS. Strap yourselves in and pay attention because there’s bound to be some confusion when we are visiting the wondrous land of ESRI.

[TBS_ALERT color=”info” heading=”A note about OpenSource Alternatives”]

QGIS is as an alternative to ArcGIS that is free and openly available to the public on all computing platforms. Despite the accessibility of QGIS, there is a steeper learning curve for those learning GIS for the first time. However, those seeking a free low-cost alternative to ArcGIS can apply the concepts learned in this workshop with that program.

For those interested in seeing the comparison between QGIS and ArcGIS you can check out this external article here: http://www.xyht.com/spatial-itgis/qgis-v-arcgis/

[/TBS_ALERT]

1. Attribute data

ArcGIS_data_Table