Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Geographical determinism also influences the 48 conterminous states. It is easier
to understand the geography of the population through a map of counties
2
as
opposed to a map of states, but not without first adjusting values to smooth the
effects of variability, improve the map's general readability, and compensate for the
fact that the very large counties of the West are much more visible than those of the
East.
As with most maps that show detailed socioeconomic data, the following map
was realized using this smoothing process [ZAN 05].
Population Density (2005)
per sq. km.
0
50
0 km
0.3 - 2.6
2.6 - 10.0
10.0 - 38.4
38.4 - 75.0
75.0 - 118.0
118.0 - 990.8
Metropolitan Areas
Method: Quartic Kernel density
smoothing in a flexible bandwidth
of the 30 nearest counties
22,000,000
MSA-CMSA
estimation 2005
11,000,000
2,200,000
Source: US Census bureau
Designed and made by JM Zaninetti, University of Orleans, CEDETE Institute
Figure 1.1.
Population density 2005
2
. The county is the basic territorial division of the American territory. There were
3,141 counties in 2005 (see Chapter 8).
