GEOG 108
Introduction to Human Geography
Web Exercise Number 1 - Due Tuesday, January 10
You are to construct a choropleth map of Washington showing rate of recent population change among the state's counties.
All the information you will need may be found on the Internet at these sites:
For mapping the rate of population growth that has occured among Washington's counties between 1990 - 2000, you will need to find the percentage population change column in the table at Census 2000 Results for Washington State. As you can see, the rate of growth for the entire state of Washington overall for this decade was 21.1%. But not every county grew this fast, while some grew faster, so there are regional differences within the state. And as geographers, you want to be able to map and illustrate these differences.
Once you have listed the growth rate for each county, you will make four classes or categories of change, and color each county with an appropriate shade of your choice. Remember to construct a legend somewhere on your map to indicate the range of values in each class or category of population change. You may choose patterns, monochrome scale, or color, but remember the more intensity of shading should indicate the greater value. Don't forget to title your map, and put your name on it as cartographer. One of the more interesting parts of this exercise is determining how many counties are to be in each of your four classes, and where you set your data parameters for each class.
You can find several blank outline maps of Washington's counties suitable
for printing (and framing) here:
Washington
counties outline map (large)
Washington
counties outline map (small)
For a wealth of information on choropleth map design and execution, click on the sidebar Chapter 6, Issues of Statistical Generalization, inthe web site The Geographer's Craft - Cartographic Communication module.
Please hand in your one page printed map on Tuesday, January 10.
