In this week's project, we use an example from American electoral politics to revisit the modifiable areal unit problem (introduced in the reading for Lesson 1) and also as a reintroduction to ArcGIS, in case you've gotten rusty. This lesson's project is based on a real dataset. You will begin using the Spatial Analyst extension and learn to convert data between different spatial types. The ease with which you can do this should convince you that many of the distinctions made between different spatial data types are less important than they may at first appear.
NOTE: The instructions in this (and other) projects using ArcGIS are given for ArcGIS Pro. You are welcome to use ArcMap if you do not have the ability to install ArcGIS Pro, but we highly encourage you to work with ArcGIS Pro as it is the platform of the future. Esri has now said that there will be no new updates to ArcMap.
As you complete certain tasks in Project 1, you will be asked to submit them to your instructor for grading.
The final page of the lesson's project instructions gives a description of the form the weekly project reports should take and content that we expect to see [2] in these reports. In this course you will not only practice conducting geographical analysis but also learn about how to communicate analytical results.
To give you an idea of the work that will be required for this project, here is a summary of the minimum items you will create for Project 1. You should also get involved in discussions on the course Discussion Forum about which approach of the three described in this lesson (polygon to point, KDE, or uniform distribution) is most appropriate, before choosing one.
NOTE: When you have completed the project, please submit your write-up to the Canvas assignment for this lesson.
NOTE: If the topic of this project interests you, there is a good and very readable book on the subject of US electoral geography by Mark Monmonier entitled Bushmanders and Bullwinkles: How Politicians Manipulate Electronic Maps and Census Data to Win Elections (University of Chicago Press: Chicago, IL), which I thoroughly recommend.
Please use the 'Week 1 lesson discussion' forum to ask for clarification on any of these concepts and ideas. Hopefully, some of your classmates will be able to help with answering your questions, and I will also provide further commentary there, where appropriate.