Data Classification
Defining Rural & Urban Areas
Until 2010, Statistics Canada used a Rural/Urban classification scheme to describe Census unit smaller than a Province/Territory:
Rural: a population density less than 400 people per square kilometer or a total population of less than 1,000 people.
Urban: a unit with a population density at least 400 people per square kilometer and a total population of at least 1,000 people.
A Revised Classification
Statistics Canada Now uses the Population Center and Rural Area Classification. You can skim the Documentation explaining the classification scheme to get a feel for the reasoning behind updating from the old Rural/Urban method? The new classification scheme was updated to split the old Urban class into three different kinds of Population Centers:
| Rural | Small population centers | Medium population centers | Large urban population centers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same as old method | Not Rural and Population < 30,000 | Not Rural and Population >= 30,000 and Population < 100,000 | Not Rural and Population >= 100,000 |
Applying the Classification
Your task is to apply the Population Center and Rural Area Classification scheme (see table above). You can watch the video below for reference, which shows you how to apply the old Urban/Rural scheme. Note: You do not need to apply the old classification scheme, I use this example as a reference. All your answers and your for the lab should be drawn from the New classification scheme. The general steps for classifying the data are:
1 Calculate population density.
- You can refer to the exercise we did as part of Module 1 for help.
2 Create a field and populate it using select by attribute, following the Population Center and Rural Area Classification scheme.
- You can reference the table above for pointers on how to formulate your SQL statements.