Lab 3 - Land Usage of Union County Good

Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County 1

Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County

Lauren Seitz, Ryan Szelc

Stockton University
ENVL 4300
Dr. Tait Chirenje

Abstract

In Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County, data was downloaded from government
databases and transformed into visual, comprehensive maps using ArcMap. The maps
created showed the land usage in Union County during the years 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007
and 2012. Land use maps of Elizabeth City (in Union County) were also created for the
same years. Both, Union County and Elizabeth City show the same trends in land usage
with the highest amount of land being used for urban purposes and the lowest amount of
land being used for agricultural purposes. Urban lands account for over half the total
acreage of Union County and Elizabeth City. The high amount of urban land corresponds
with the high population density.
Table of Contents

List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………. 4
List of Figures … ……………………………………………………………….………5
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………..... 6
Objective…………………………………………………………………………...…… 6
Methods ………………………………………………………………………..……...7-8
Results …………………………………………………………………………….....9-18
Discussion ………………………………………………………………..…………….18
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………19
References ……………………………………………………………………………... 20

List of Tables

Table 1.
1986 Union County Total Acres per Land Use ……………………………………….9

Table 2.
1995 Union County Total Acres per Land Use ………………………………………10

Table 3.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Table 6.
Union County Net Change in Land Use per Acre by Year …………………………..14

Table 7.
Elizabeth City Net Change in Land Use per Acre by Year ………………………….18

List of Figures

Figure 1.
1986 Land Use Map of Union County, NJ ………………………………………………….....9

Figure 2.
1995 Land Use Map of Union County, NJ …………………………………………………....10

Figure 3.
2002 Land Use Map of Union County, NJ ……………………………………………………11

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.
Union County Land Use per Acre by Year ……………………………………………………14

Figure 7.
1986 Union County Land Use Overview ……………………………………………………..15

Figure 8.

Figure 9.

Figure 10.

Figure 11.

Figure 12.
Land Use Areas Within Elizabeth City, Union County from 1986-2012 …………………….16

Figure 13.
Elizabeth City shown in relevance to Union County …………………………………………17
Figure 14.
Elizabeth City Land Use per Acre by Year…………………………………………………....18

Introduction

Union County consists of 21 municipalities and is located in northeast New
Jersey. (Union County Municipalities, 2017) The 2016 census reported that Union
County inhabits 555,630 of New Jersey’s 8,944,469 people population. Though the state
itself has a high population density--the highest in the country, (List of States by
Population Density) the census reports that Union County has 5,216 people per square
mile--much higher than the general New Jersey population density which is reported as
1,196 people per square mile.
Over the twenty-six year timeframe examined in this report, land usage in Union
County, NJ varies based on human needs and geographical changes. With a high
population density, Union County inhabits 555,630 people, is the home to over 26,000
businesses and employs 238,000 people. (Union County Transportation Master Plan,
2016) Being the hub of so many homes, businesses, schools, parks and medical facilities,
a strong transportation system is necessary. (Union County Transportation Master Plan,
2016)
Increased and improved transportation systems have played a large part in the
urbanization of Union County and will continue to do so. (Union County Transportation
Master Plan, 2016) The Draft Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan prepared by
Harbor Consultants, Inc. for the City of Elizabeth acknowledges the desire to live in
Union County, especially those that make their daily commute to New York City. (Draft
Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan, 2016) The Draft Land Use Plan Element of
the Master Plan lists the desire to use well suited areas for residential, commercial and
industrial development, yet keep and create as much open space as possible while
incorporating “green” thinking into their projects. (Draft Land Use Plan Element of the
Master Plan, 2016)
As population density increases, urbanization will increase--this being the trend
that has been seen in Union County over the past 26 years.

Objective
The objective of Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County was to transform data into
comprehensive, visual maps showing the land usage in Union County and to identify land
use changes that occurred over a twenty-six year time frame (1986-2012).

Methods

Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County required downloaded shapefiles to be used to
create maps of Union County for the years 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007 and 2012. These maps
showed the land use of Union County and were used to observe and analyze the changes
over the 26 year period. We did the following:
To download data:
● Create a folder named, “Lab 3” to save downloads and map progress
● Obtain names of all Union County’s Watershed Management Areas (WMA) from
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/seeds/docs/watersheds.pdf
● (06) Upper Passaic, Whippany and Rockaway
● (07) Arthur Kill
● (09) Lower Raritan, South River and Lawrence
● Download shapefiles for each WMA for the years 1986, 1995, 2002, 2007 and
2012 from http://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/listall.html and save them in the
corresponding folders
● Unzip the downloaded files and save them into the same folder

To create map:
● Open ArcMap
● Click “add data” (you may need to “connect to folder” to access data) to upload
one year’s worth of shapefiles (06, 07 and 09)
● Merge features into one feature class
● “Add data” to upload the NJ County Map
● Open NJ County Map attributes table
● Highlight Union County and exit out
● Union County should be highlighted in blue; click “Data”, “Export Data”, and
“Save as new layer”
● Clip the WMUs to Union County
● Uncheck previous layers so only clipped layer exists
● Right click layer and select “Properties” then proceed to “Symbology” tab
● Click “Category” and then select “Type (year)”; click “apply” and “ok”
● Save you work
● Go to “View” and select “Layout View”
● Insert a North arrow, scale bar and legend
● Save your work (Remember to change file type to jpg)
● Repeat for each year
● Repeat all steps above for mapping the land use of Elizabeth City after adding the
NJ Townships layer.

To create pivot table:

● Open desired map
● Open attributes table
● Click “Export”; rename and save as a text file
● Open “ArcToolBox”; click “Conversion tools”, then “Excel”, and “Table to
Excel”
● Open the Excel file
● Insert a pivot table
● Select features (acres and type (year))
● Save
● Repeat for each year for the maps of Union County and Elizabeth City

To create satellite image map:
● Search on a satellite image map for Union County

● Screenshot the area of the county
● Zoom in to the area of Elizabeth City
● Screenshot the area
● Arrange pictures to create one image

Results:

Figure 1. 1986 Land Use Map of Union County, NJ

Table 1. 1986 Union County Total Acres per Land Use
Total
Land Use Acres
AGRICULTUR
E 263
BARREN
LAND 335
FOREST 5606
URBAN 56084
WATER 729
WETLANDS 3342
Grand Total 66358



Total
Land Use Acres
AGRICULTUR
E 136
BARREN
LAND 3631
FOREST 7430
URBAN 62900
WATER 10274
WETLANDS 3344
Grand Total 84447



Total
Land Use Acres
AGRICULTUR
E 139
BARREN
LAND 553
FOREST 6860
URBAN 61255
WATER 5361
WETLANDS 3072
Grand Total 77240


Figure 4. 2007 Land use map of Union County, NJ

Table 4. 2007 Union County total acreage per land use

Total
Land Use Acres
AGRICULTUR
E 126
BARREN
LAND 488
FOREST 6580
URBAN 62894
WATER 3513
WETLANDS 3031
Grand Total 76633


Figure 5. 2012 Land use map of Union County, NJ

Table 5. 2012 Union County total acreage per land use

Total
Land Use Acres
AGRICULTUR
E 90
BARREN
LAND 645
FOREST 6880
URBAN 62915
WATER 7556
WETLANDS 2999
Grand Total 81085

Table 6. Union County Net Change in Land Use per Acre by Year

Year 1986 1995 2002 2007 2012 Net Change
Land Use
AGRICULTURE 263 136 139 126 90 -173
BARREN LAND 335 3631 553 488 645 310
FOREST 5606 7430 6860 6580 6880 1274
URBAN 56084 62900 61255 62894 62915 6831
WATER 729 10274 5361 3513 7556 6827
WETLANDS 3342 3344 3072 3031 2999 -343
Total Acres 66358 84447 77240 76633 81085

Figure 6. Union County Land Use per Acre by Yea


Figure 7. 1986 Union County Land Use Overview Figure 8. 1995 Union County Land Use Overview

Figure 9. 2002 Union County Land Use Overview Figure 10. 2007 Union County Land Use Overview

Figure 11. 2012 Union County Land Use Overview


Figure 12. Land Use Areas Within Elizabeth City, Union County from 1986-2012

Figure 13. Elizabeth City shown in relevance to Union County

Table 7. Elizabeth City Net Change in Land Use per Acre by Year

Year 1986 1995 2002 2007 2012 Net Change
Land Use
AGRICULTURE 0 0 0 0 0 0
BARREN LAND 7 60 133 56 158 151
FOREST 40 409 256 221 206 166
URBAN 14011 10702 10062 10668 10618 -3393
WATER 90 9547 76 1895 6648 6558
WETLANDS 195 167 136 127 124 -72
Total Acres 14344 20885 10663 12968 17754

Figure 14: Elizabeth City Land Use per Acre by Year


Discussion:

Over 80,000 acres of Union County were mapped to observe and analyze land use
changes over a twenty-six year timeframe (1986-2012). Land use was broken down into
six categories: agriculture, barren land, forest, urban, water, and wetlands.
Due to the high population density in Union County, urban lands account for the
majority of the county’s land usage. By far, urban lands use the most acreage of Union
County, the smallest being 56,084 of the county’s 66,358 acres in 1986 and the largest
being 62,915 of the county’s 81,085 acres in 2012 (See Table 6). The amount of water in
Union County also changed drastically over the twenty-six years examined--mostly
between 1986 and 1995. In 1986, water accounted for 729 acres, and in 1995 that number
grew to 10,274 acres (See table 6). The change in water can be seen dramatically on the
east side of the Union County maps (See Fig. 1-5). Agriculture has always occupied the
least amount of land in Union County. As of 2012, agriculture only accounted for 90 of
Union County’s 81,085 acres (See Table 6).
Narrowing in on Elizabeth City in Union County, similar trends exist. The
majority of the land is urban--accounting for over 10,000 acres--over half the city’s acres
throughout the entire twenty-six year period (See Table 7). No agricultural land exists in
the city, though this is not a surprise being that agricultural lands have always occupied
the least amount of space in Union County (See Table 7). Water and barren lands are at
their highest point during 2012 (See Table 7). Elizabeth City in Union County has a
population of 128,640 people (US Census Bureau, 2017). This can account for the
amount of Urban land use and lack of agricultural land use within the city. Water and
Urban land use cover the greatest amount of acres within Elizabeth City (See Figure 14).
Analyzing digital satellite images of Union County shows that the area is very
urbanized. It is difficult to see much of any natural, or agricultural land unless the image
is zoomed in (Figure 13). The color of these maps appear mostly gray with little green,
due to the large amount of buildings constructed. At a closer look into Elizabeth City it
appears to be almost completely developed (Figure 13). It appears that the “Urban
Sprawl” has spread the population of people from NYC to its neighboring areas.
Conclusion

Union County is a highly dense area (by population) and its observed land use
changes over the twenty-six year period examined (1986-2012) show that urban lands
account for the majority of the area. With a high amount of people, a high amount of
living areas and working areas are necessary. Though changes in land use type have been
observed, urban areas hold the highest accountability of acreage and agricultural lands
hold the lowest. ArcMap efficiently transformed data into a comprehensive map that
easily shows the land use changes in Union County.

References

Draft Land Use Plan Element of the Master Plan. (2016, January 08) Retrieved February
10, 2018 from
http://elizabethnj.org/sites/default/files/pdf/LandUsePlanElement_January8%2C2016.pdf

List of States by Population Density. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from
https://state.1keydata.com/state-population-density.php

Union County Municipalities, New Jersey Counties and New Jersey State Resources.
(2017, July 19). Retrieved February 09, 2018, from http://ucnj.org/municipalities/

Union County Transportation Master Plan. (2016, June) Retrieved February 09, 2018,
from
http://ucnj.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/UNION-COUNTY-TRANSPORTATION-M
ASTER-PLAN-2016.pdf

US Census Bureau (2017) Quick Facts Union County, New Jersey; New Jersey; UNITED
STATES. Retrieved February 09, 2018, from
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/unioncountynewjersey,NJ,US/PST045217

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Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County 1

Lab 3: Land Usage of Union County

To create pivot table:

To create satellite image map:

● Search on a satellite image map for Union County

Grand Total 66358

Grand Total 84447

Grand Total 77240

Grand Total 76633

Table 5. ​2012 Union County total acreage per land use

Grand Total 81085

AGRICULTURE 263 136 139 126 90 -173

BARREN LAND 335 3631 553 488 645 310

FOREST 5606 7430 6860 6580 6880 1274

URBAN 56084 62900 61255 62894 62915 6831

WATER 729 10274 5361 3513 7556 6827

WETLANDS 3342 3344 3072 3031 2999 -343

Total Acres 66358 84447 77240 76633 81085

BARREN LAND 7 60 133 56 158 151

FOREST 40 409 256 221 206 166

URBAN 14011 10702 10062 10668 10618 -3393

WATER 90 9547 76 1895 6648 6558

WETLANDS 195 167 136 127 124 -72

Total Acres 14344 20885 10663 12968 17754

Figure 14: ​Elizabeth City Land Use per Acre by Year

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Table 5. 2012 Union County total acreage per land use

Figure 14: Elizabeth City Land Use per Acre by Year