GIS 6005 Module 5 - Analytical Data

Module 5, Analytical Data was an excellent assignment; it was an opportunity to explore alternative visual elements that worked in conjunction with maps to tell a story; the goal was to create an infographic map, compiled in a manner that was clean, organized, and effectively conveyed a health related issue. For this assignment, we downloaded the 2018 county statistics from the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps website; this is a .CSV [comma separated value] file that contains health related statistics for every county in America. After exploring the dataset, we were tasked with choosing two variables and exploring any relationship between the two. The final deliverable was an infographic map, and mine is displayed below.

 As shown in the map above, the two variables I chose were smoking and fair / poor health; I began by creating two maps, one for each variable; while they are not in perfect conjunction, there are many places between the two maps that show a direct correlation. The scatterplot [top chart] emphasizes this relationship, by plotting each county as a point, using the variables as x-, y- coordinates. A brief study of this scatterplot shows us that as the percentage of smokers rises, the percentage of the population in fair to poor health also rises. The two graphs below the scatterplot are simple bar and pie charts, illustrating how the percentages of the two variables are very closely related. While other factors are definitely in play, it is hard to dispute that smoking is very detrimental to an individual's health. As an ex-smoker and ex-vaper, this information is very interesting to me; it will also be interesting to see what kind of information is available after the long-term effects of vaping are discovered. 

After the data analysis was complete, all elements were compiled onto a layout and adjusted to maintain legibility, organization, and a strong visual hierarchy. I began this assignment feeling unsure and a little underconfident, but I am definitely pleased with the outcome of this final deliverable.