Lab 1
Connor Matthews
Q1) The source tab shows the extent of the map, as well as the data source which includes two important features like the Geographic Coordinate System and Datum.
Q2) The coordinate system in this layer is a Geographic coordinate system, GCS_North_American_1983. GCS is based on a sphere whereas a PCS is defined on a two dimensional surface that has constant lengths, areas and angles across the two dimensional surface.
Q3) The Albers equal area conic projection curves the map like it is wrapping around a sphere. The Mercator, Plate Carree, and Robinson projections are all on two dimensional planes the Mercator is skewed by being wider north to south because it’s a cylindrical representation. The Plate Carree projection is skewed east to west and stretches out the map and the Robinson is on a plane that is skewed from NE to SW, and NW to SE making these two points of the U.S. closer and the other points farther apart than the other projections.
Q4) The Albers equal area conic projection has Chicago and Philadelphia closer together than the Mercator or Plate Carree projections because its projection is modeling the actual representation of how the world is shaped. Unlike the other projections that don’t represent the spherical qualities of the world. The Robinson projection puts Chicago and Philadelphia similarly close to the Albers projection as well as most angles you look at the Robinson projection isn’t off by more meters than the other two projections because it is slanted bringing the cities that are closer together by the spherical quality of the earth, closer together by being at a slanted orientation.
Q5) The Albers equal area conic projection puts a slight curvature over the whole area of the map, curving slightly upward. The Mercator projection is stretched north to south, where the Plate Carree projection is being stretched east to west elongating the map horizontally. The Robinson projection is at a slight slant from top right slanting down towards the left making the entire area seem smaller because it is being looked at an angle instead of an overhead view.
Q6) L.A. to Chicago: Albers (2,811 Kilometers), Mercator (3,600 K), Plate Carree (3,538 K), Robinson (3,135 K) Houston to Chicago: Albers (1,510 K), Mercator (1,860 K), Plate Carree (1,589 K), Robinson (1,684 K)
The distances portray the spatial differences I outlined in Questions 4 and 5 showing that yes the Albers skews places closer together than other projections, and the Mercator stretches the map vertically and the Plate Carree stretches the map horizontally.
Q7) This data set contains a lot of different variable per each state however the one I will be using is state population data from 2010, showing the most populated to least populated states.
Q8) I used the Classifications, Quantile, Natural Breaks, and Equal Interval. The Quantile classification sets a bias by grouping 4 quartiles with the range of 25% for each interval break. The Natural breaks classification sets the bias of setting equal intervals per state, trying to get equal amount of states in each category to try and compare similar state population sizes. The Equal Interval does not pay attention to how many states it wants in each category, making it the least biased classification and shows outlying and extreme data compared to the other two classifications
Map of 4 different map projections
Map of 3 different category classifications
