Introduction
Davis Library Research and Instructional Services has a number of Census CD-ROM Products published by GeoLytics. These products allow users to create custom generated tables and shapefiles of census variables. The steps used to create output files are similar for all of the Census CD products. This brief guide outlines each step. For more complete documentation, see Additional Information below.
Location
The GeoLytics Census CD-ROMs are located in the Data Services section of Davis Library Research and Instructional Services. They are organized alphabetically by title in the "By Title" cabinet. The Census CD products are installed on the E-docs machine, located in the Data Services area of Davis Library Research and Instructional Services.
Getting Started
Select the appropriate product from the CD Cabinet. Keep the CD-ROM inside the caddy, and insert it in the computer's external CD-ROM drive. Open the folder on the computer's desktop entitled "Census of Population Housing CD-ROMS" Inside that folder, choose the year of the product that matches the disc. Select the icon for the program and double-click it to begin. It is important that the icon chosen from the desktop matches the title of the CD-ROM. The programs have been installed on the machines, but they pull the data from the CD-ROM.
Producing Files and Maps
STEP 1: Select a Geographic Area
Define the overall geographic area of interest. The geographic area is
then broken into subareas, or geographic units for which census data is provided. To select a geographic area, go to
the Area menu. Chose Geographic Area,
such as Nation, Region, Division, State, County or Tract.
STEP 2: Select a Subarea
Under the Subarea menu, select the preferred census geography.
Example:
To get census information for Orange County, NC by Blockgroup:
STEP 3: Select Counts
Select the variables to be included in the output.
First, go to the Counts menu. Choose the Display option brings up a screen that links to variable groups, depicted with icons on the left. Use the icons and variable groupings to select items or search for variables using the Search menu and entering text that appears in a variable's name.
Select the variables to be included in the output. All of the variables chosen should be listed in the "Selected Counts" box. Click DONE in the upper right corner. Note that the variable names will appear in the final product the same way that they appear in the "Selected Counts" box. Some CensusCD products use table numbers or other codes rather than the (often long) variable name. A data dictionary document file (*.doc) is created with each request. The document file lists the codes and the associated variables. For example, the variable code "Hi4999" stands for "Households income $0-$4,999".
STEP 4: Save the File
Each file is produced using a request file (*.req). All files generated from
the same request will have the same name.
To save the request, select Save As from the File menu, and provide a short, simple file name with no spaces or special characters.
If this step is skipped, the generated files will be named
"Noname", and will be saved to the machine's hard disk. The
location of these files is provided on the blue bar at the top of the program
window.
STEP 5: Run the File
Choose an output option from the Run menu. Output options include: ASCII
file, DBF file, or map. In order to create a shapefile, first create a map.
Once the map is generated, select File, Export, to Arcview's Shape from the map
window.
Additional Information
Additional information on these products can be found on the company's website http://censuscd.com.
