Final Project Task 1

For this assignment you are required to demonstrate (within an R Markdown document) that you can extract census data using the tigris and tidycensus packages,and display/manipulate each data layer.

Download the Help Document Here

Set Up

On your computer, set up a folder structure for your final project if you have not done so. I would suggest having a top-level folder called “Final_project” that is located within the folder you’re storing the information for Geography 215. Within that folder, you should have a “Data” and a “Code” subfolder. Take a screenshot of your folder structure and submit it with the assignment.

Extract and Work with Data

As discussed in class, the data for the final project must come from the Census Bureau. You will be using the tidycensus and tigris packages to extract a tabular and spatial dataset. Follow instructions in Extracting-FinalProject-Data.Rmd.

Create a new .Rmd document and save it as Lastname_GEOG215_Project_DataPreparation.Rmd (using your last name) and save it (I would suggest saving it to a location such as Final_project/Code << hint hint).

Detailed requirements for the .Rmd document:

  • Include a separate R code chunk (with a third level heading) that loads libraries

  • Include a separate R code chunk (with a third level heading) that extracts data from the American Community Survey and a spatial dataset to match your social data. Follow instructions in Extracting-FinalProject-Data.Rmd. Within that same code chunk, make one minor calculation or modification of one of the layers, such as “sum a column”, “subset/filter the observations”, or “change the name of a column”. For most people, they will create a percent or ratio from an estimate and total (shown in the Extracting-FinalProject-Data.Rmd). If you do not need to create a percent, you may chose to filter out geographies with NULL values, or change a column name.

  • Using regular text below the previous code chunk, explain the minor calculation or modification of the layer that you performed in the code chunk above. How do you know the command worked? (2-3 sentences)

  • Include a separate R code chunk (with third level heading) that makes a simple map using the spatial data layer.

Other requirements:

  • Use headings in the .Rmd document to separate R code chunks
  • Make sure to comment your R commands
  • Spellcheck and then knit your document when complete
  • Review the knitted output to make sure that everything worked correctly!

Deliverables

Lastname_GEOG215_Project_DataPreparation.Rmd
Lastname_GEOG215_Project_DataPreparation.html
Lastname_project_folders.xxx