Lab 03- Variables on chloropleth maps

[mtwelker]

Prof. @castower ,

In the instructions, it says:

Please create the following choropleth maps and report your main findings: Home Values

• Describe the distribution of home values in 1990 - where are high and low-value tracts located in the city/cities?
• Compare values in 2000 to changes in values from 1990-2000. Do the largest gains occur in tracts with above or below-average home prices in 2000?

Gentrification

• create a map that highlights tracts that are candidates for gentrification in 2000 and tracts that gentrify between 1990 and 2000.

I have questions about all three parts:

1. For the first question above, are we expected to describe where these tracts are located geographically (e.g., "along the I-15 corridor" or "in the foothills") or just in a general sense (e.g., "in the center of the city" or "on the outskirts")? It seems like we'd need to overlay the cartogram on a street map to answer geographically -- is that part of the assignment?
2. Could you help me understand what the second question is getting at? It seems to me that the more relevant question (as far as determining what leads to gentrification) would be, "Do the largest gains occur in tracts with above- or below-average home prices in 1990?" Which would mean comparing values in 1990 to changes in values from 1990-2000. Is there something I'm missing?
3. (Gentrification) Are you looking for a single chloropleth map that has three colors: one for candidates for gentrification, one for tracts that gentrify between 1990 & 2000, and one for everything else? Or two separate maps (one highlighting candidates for gentrification, one highlighting gentrified)? Or something else?

Thanks so much for your help!

[castower]

Hello @mtwelker ,

Great questions!

You will want to use your shapefile to create the choropleth maps.

Here is an example tutorial:

https://www.r-graph-gallery.com/choropleth-map-in-r.html

You can create a map of the home values in 1990 and visualize where the higher home values are located within your shapefile.

Then a second map of the home values in 2000 to visualize the distribution within the shapefile.

You can then create a third map of your changes variable to highlight the differences in 2000 from 1990 and identify what areas had relatively significant changes and may be candidates for gentrification.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

[mtwelker]

Thank you for that explanation @castower. It sounds like you're saying that if we produce those three maps you mention (1990, 2000, and change), that will meet the chloropleth map requirements for this lab. And then we just need to add some language explaining what we observe. Is that right?

[castower]

Hello @mtwelker , Yes, that's correct.