DataPacks and thematic maps
Tutorial transcript 3Welcome to 2011 Census DataPacks.This tutorial will provide you with an introduction on how DataPacks and mapping software can be used together. To get started, lets login to the DataPacks download page. In this example, I’m going to download Basic Community profile data for South Australia defined with Local Government Area (LGA) geographical boundaries. DataPacks with Short headers have been specifically developed for use with mapping software, so these are the types that I’ll be downloading. I’m also going to grab the LGA ESRI Shape file which I’ll then be able to utilise in a mapping program called MapInfo. To demonstrate the creation of a thematic map, lets refer a copy of the metadata descriptor file so that we can go about choosing a variable of interest. You’ll be able to find these files in the metadata folder of any of the DataPack zip file downloads. To keep things simple, I’m going to choose Total Persons, which corresponds to the third cell of data in the BCP template and can be found in the DataPack file B01. Now that we’re clear on what we’d like to map, lets extract our DataPack and Boundary zip files so that we can use them in MapInfo. Once you’ve got all the files you require, fire up MapInfo. To generate a thematic map of total persons we first need to open the South Australian LGA B01 DataPack file. Select comma delimited to view the files. As with all DataPacks, the first line contains the descriptors (or headers). The table that we can now see contains South Australian LGA codes with data for table B01 in the BCP template. You’ll note that the fourth column contains the Total Person data that we’re seeking to map, as indicated by the short descriptor at the top of the column. We now want to open our LGA Boundary file. Select ESRI from the file type drop down. You’ll need to save it as a .TAB file. Click OK. We now have a map of Australia with Local Government Area boundaries. To join this LGA map to the B01 table of data, select Query from the top menu and then SQL Select. Select the LGA boundary table (or file) as well as the B01 DataPack table, and then proceed to match the LGA code column with the region ID column using the equals sign. Click OK. We now end up with a DataPack file that has been merged with mappable boundaries. In this case, LGA boundaries. Proceed by saving the query. Now close all of the open tables, and then reopen the saved query on its own. As you can see, we’re presented with a map of regions specific to our query (in this case South Australia). We can now generate a thematic map of total persons in the various LGA’s, by clicking on Map and then Create Thematic Map. This first section allows you to choose type, and colour schemes. Click next. We can now select exactly which data we’re after by way of the relevant descriptors that we chose earlier. In this case, Total Persons. Click next. Customisable ranges are last, which you can tweak at will. By clicking Ok, you’ll be presented with a DataPack thematic map of Total Persons in South Australian LGA’s. This is only a small taste of what a program such as MapInfo is capable of. For further information, consult your user manual. Tutorial 3 is now complete. |
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