Goal

Viewing data in a spatial representation often provides insights into patterns that are not apparent in non-spatial databases. In this lab, you will analyze the spatial patterns of general election voter turnout across Indiana for 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 by managing the county-level demographic vector layer and text format voting turnout statistics. In other words, you will process and reformat non-spatial data to be imported into the GIS layer by the “Join” process. Then, create multiple choropleth maps with a consistent legend to facilitate efficient comparison. In this lab, we examine time series similarity and variation in voter turnout percentages across Indiana counties.

Skill

The purpose of this lab is to help you practice the following skills that are essential to your success in this course, as well as in your professional life beyond school.

• Link the text format database to the GIS layer by the JOIN process.
• Create a new GIS layer with the Exporting Features tool.
• Generate a visually easy-to-compare map with multiple map frames and a consistent legend by using the Apply Symbology from Layer tool.

Data Sources for this Lab

• IN_counties_UTM.shp: The county shapefile is from the US 2020 Census Track shapefile, TIGER/Line Geodatabases (https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-geodatabase-file.html) and projected using NAD 1983 (2011) UTM Zone 16N. Census data were downloaded from the US Census Bureau (https://data.census.gov/cedsci/) and joined to the county shapefile, edited by Yuri Kim.
• 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 Indiana general election voter turnout: PDF files are downloaded from the Indiana State Government (https://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voter-information/register-to-vote/voter-registration-and-turnout-statistics/) and transformed to a CSV file by Yuri Kim.