About

The interactive maps of the United States on this blog display the progression of poverty by county throughout the recession. 

How to use the blog:

1.  Click on each page link labeled by year (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) to access the interactive maps. 
2.  Use the provided features to explore the maps and analyze economic downfalls from 2008 to 2012. Such features include: 
• A search engine located on the top right-hand side of every map that allows you to search for states, cities, and counties.   
• The color spectrum on the map key will tell you what each county's color category represents. The color of each county is related to it's poverty percentage.
• Zoom-in or zoom-out of each interactive map to get a more detailed perspective.
• Hover over counties or click on them to find data specific to each county. This may help you compare county data for quantitative analysis.  
• Share our maps by clicking on the icon to the right of the search engine. The icon will provide direct links and embedding codes. 
3. Go to the "comparisons" tab to view our observations that show changes in poverty. These are great analytic lenses. We encourage you to view these observations and to make your own!

 In order to create our first map of poverty in 2012, we learned the nuances of data mapping with the GIS tool CartoDB together. We did this by collecting 2012 poverty data and county boundary files from the United States Census Bureau and by then working collaboratively on our visualization. After getting comfortable with the mapping process, we assigned each group member one of the remaining years’ maps to complete outside of class. Simeon worked on the 2008 map, Mary 2009, Nadia 2010, and Rosalba the 2011 map. The blog design application we used, Blogger, was introduced by Rosalba, who familiarized it with the rest of our group so we could collaborate. After we finished producing the maps, Simeon pointed out the four primary areas of the maps: East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Southwest. He noted that if we isolated these four areas of the maps, then it would be easier for our audiences to identify changes in poverty during the recession. So, Mary took screenshots of each area on all of the maps and uploaded them onto our blog with added captions. As Simeon had predicted, this did in fact highlight the significant changes poverty. Throughout the entire process of creating the blog, Nadia made sure that the blog layout complemented our maps and screenshots. Thanks to Rosalba showing us how to use Blogger, Nadia was able to make any changes necessary in making our blog visually appealing.

Works Cited:

"Create Amazing Maps with Your Data - CartoDB." Create Amazing Maps with Your Data -

     CartoDB. CartoDB, 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.

  

"Cartographic Boundary Shapefiles - Counties." United States Census Bureau. United States
     Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2014. 

"Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates." United States Census Bureau. United States
     Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.