Reference at Newman Library

Tag: Census Data

New Tutorials for Census Data

My team in the GIS Lab has just finished writing two new tutorials to help students and faculty find neighborhood census data. The tutorials are in a PDF format and can be used either for hands-on exercises in class or as handouts for self-directed learning.

1. Anastasia has written a tutorial on using the City’s NYC Census Factfinder. She demonstrates how to look up current census profiles for neighborhood tabulation areas and census tracts, and how to combine census tracts to create profiles for user-generated neighborhoods.

2. Janine has written a tutorial for the Social Explorer database. She demonstrates how to navigate the interface, make good looking maps, and how to download data tables for census geographies or user-generated geographies (also built by using census tracts).

These tutorials as well as others previously mentioned (on finding NYC Census data and on using the American Factfinder) are hosted in two places. I’ve created individual boxes for each one on a new Tutorials tab in the NYC Data Guide here: http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/nyc_data/tutorials. Since each tutorial is in its own box, you can easily embed the ones you want in your own guides. The PDF files themselves are stored on the Baruch Geoportal’s server, and can also be accessed centrally from there.

UK Census and US Election Data in the Social Explorer

The Social Explorer has recently added some new datasets. US Demography is still their primary module, which includes historical and current US Census data from the decennial census and the American Community Survey. But if you were looking for UK Census data, you’re now in luck! The United Kingdom 2011 Census is available for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK module works the same way as the US one; you can make good-looking web maps using a variety of different geographies, and download census reports.

UK Census Data

Just in time for the upcoming 2016 election, they’ve added a US Election Data module. You can create maps of voter registration and actual election outcomes for presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections at the state and county level for the past decade or so. Unfortunately you can’t download any of the underlying data; they’ve partnered with Dave Leip’s and his Atlas of Presidential Elections, and he holds a virtual monopoly on this information. There are public and free alternatives for voter registration and federal election data at the state level, but they are from two different sources: the Census Current Population Survey for the former and the Federal Election Commission for the latter. A central, reliable, public source for county-level data is non-existent. Despite this large shortcoming, the Social Explorer module is still useful for exploring and visualizing election data.

US Election Data

The Social Explorer is available via our databases page, and you can access each of the modules under the Maps heading. Scroll down and pick the one you’d like.

Updates to the NYC Neighborhood Handout

For those of you who visit courses and do presentations on finding neighborhood data, I’ve just updated my handout “Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data“. It summarizes the types of geographies, datasets, and resources that are available for finding neighborhood-level census data. The primary change was that I added a new resource called the NYC Factfinder; this is a web-map application produced by the Dept of City Planning that lets users get basic census profiles for census tracts and neighborhood tabulation areas (NTAs). They’ve added a new feature where you can also build your own neighborhood profiles by selecting census tracts. For additional info about the NYC Factfinder you can read this post.

The handout is embedded in key places in the Lib Guides – in the NYC Data (on the Neighborhoods tab) and in the US Census guide. I also updated my American Factfinder tutorial last spring, and it’s also embedded in these guides. Each tutorial has its own box, so if you wanted to embed either one feel free (the boxes are named Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data and American Factfinder respectively). It’s better to link rather than copy, as I update the tutorials every year or so.

My team is currently working on two new tutorials that are in a similar vein to the American Factfinder tutorial: one for the new NYC Factfinder and another for the Social Explorer. We should have them ready in about a month. I’ll be updating the NYC neighborhood handout again in the spring, once the latest American Community Survey data for 2014 is released at the end of this year. The Census Bureau is dropping the 3-year ACS estimates with the 2014 release, so we’ll just have a choice between 1-year and 5-year estimates. At that point I’ll remove any reference to the 3-year numbers.

New Interface for the Statistical Abstract

Proquest has recently revised the interface to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, making it easier to use. The abstract is a good source for federal statistics that cover a wide range of subjects at the national, regional, and state levels. It’s also useful for determining which agency or department in the government is responsible for publishing a given statistic. Citations with links back to the original sources make it possible to uncover additional data (in particular, for smaller geographic areas like counties and places).

The interface gives you the ability to browse by subject and to drill down to individual topics, which mimic the chapters and tables that appear in the print edition. Alternatively you can search by keywords or phrases across the current or previous Proquest editions of the abstract. Even though the abstract is from 2015 and the first Proquest edition is from 2013, many of the tables contain historic data that stretch back several decades. After doing an initial browse or a search you have the ability to filter the results by date, source, and subject term. Tables can be downloaded in a presentation-friendly PDF format or a data-friendly Excel format.

stat_abstract_interface

The Statistical Abstract was an annual publication that was previously published by the Census Bureau. After over 130 years of continuous publication, the Census Bureau terminated the program for the sake of short-sighted budget cuts. The 2012 Abstract was the last public edition. Proquest acquired the rights to publish the abstract and it has been a proprietary, subscription-based product since 2013. Our subscription includes both the electronic (available via our Databases page) and print (Reference HA 202.A4) editions from Proquest. The Census Bureau still provides access to the older editions they published on their website at http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical_abstract.html.

Accessibility to Jobs for NYC Neighborhoods

The Rudin Center for Transportation at NYU recently released a report entitled Mobility, Economic Opportunity and New York City Neighborhoods. Included with the report are an interactive map and summary profiles by ZIP Code (together in one PDF) that illustrate how accessible each neighborhood is relative to employment opportunities. In addition to illustrating accessibility, the data also seeks to illustrate the balance or imbalance between available job opportunities (based on the type / sector of work) versus the education, skill, or income level of different neighborhoods.

Accessibility measures and transit routing were generated using the Google Apps API, and the other data comes from the Census: neighborhood demographics from the 2008-2012 American Community Survey, and job counts from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics. This would be a good resource for our students who are doing neighborhood research.

rudin_jobaccess_nyc

NYC Data Guide Neighborhood Maps using CartoDB

The city maps on the NYC Data neighborhood page allow users to view neighborhood areas and click on them to view data directly from the US Census Bureau. There is a map for PUMAs (census statistical areas that have 100k people and are similar in size and shape to community districts) and a map for ZCTAs (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which represent USPS ZIP Codes that have a geographic area). The PUMA maps point to the latest 3-year profiles from the American Community Survey (ACS), and the ZCTA maps point to profiles from the 2010 Census and the latest 5-year ACS dataset.

Both maps have just been updated to point to 2013 data that was recently released. They can be viewed within the guide, but can be navigated more easily if you hit the full screen button that’s embedded in the map.

Previously, the maps were overlaid on a Google Maps basemap. Unfortunately Google decided to deprecate the ability for people to overlay KML files stored on webservers over their maps. The alternatives they offer are completely unsatisfactory. So, we are now using a free service from CartoDB, a web-mapping service headquartered right here in the Flatiron district, as our new platform. Many thanks go to Data Services CA Rachel Weinberg for researching and experimenting with CartoDB so we could keep this service up and running!

puma_maps2013

New Census ACS Data and Maps

The Census Bureau finished its roll-out of the latest American Community Survey (ACS) estimates in December. I’ve updated the neighborhoods tab of the NYC Data guide to point to the latest summary profiles:

  • Google map of NYC ZCTAs (ZIP Code Tabulation Areas) points to the latest five-year estimates: 2008-2012
  • Google map of NYC PUMAs (statistical areas with 100k people that approximate groups of neighborhoods) points to the latest three-year estimates: 2010-2012
  • Links for the city as a whole and each individual borough / county point to the latest one-year estimates: 2012

The PUMA-level data for the 2012 ACS uses new PUMA boundaries that were redrawn for the 2010 Census; previous editions of the ACS (from 2011 back) used 2000 Census boundaries. While the boundaries are only slightly different, the biggest change is that the Census has assigned names to the PUMAs based on local government input; previously the PUMAs were numbered but not officially named. The Google Map has been updated to reflect this change, and Joe Paccione has created a series of static PDF maps (avaliable on the same page under the link “PUMA Maps”) that depict the PUMAs with their numbers and new names.

Federal Government Shutdown Cuts Access to Data

Thanks to the ineptitude of our federal government, many public datasets have ceased to be available until further notice. These are just a few that we use pretty heavily, but it’s likely that access to data from many agencies will be effected:

  • The Census – their website Census.gov and the American Factfinder are ENTIRELY UNAVAILABLE (see this notice)
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics – their website is still up but it (and their datasets) will not be updated
  • The SEC – EDGAR is still up and running, as the SEC funds many of its programs through license and user fees.

For alternatives to the Census you can steer students to the NYC Dept City Planning for local data and to our databases (Social Explorer, Infoshare, Statista) and the NHGIS for local or national data.

Trial for PolicyMap

We’ve just re-activated our trial to PolicyMap, a US web-mapping database with statistical data of interest to people in business, public policy, and the social sciences. The last trial ran during the final exams period in the spring, and thus didn’t get much attention. The trial is active again from now until Oct 31st and is accessible on campus via our list of trial databases.

Feel free to take a look and ask faculty who may be interested to do the same, and send feedback to Mike.

A description from PolicyMap’s literature:

“PolicyMap provides access to thousands of data indicators that can be analyzed as layers, as well as data points, on interactive maps. PolicyMap’s data indicators are related to demographics, neighborhood conditions, real estate markets, federal program-eligible areas, money and income, lending activity, jobs and economy, education, health, and more. Data can be viewed on a census block or census tract level in many cases, city, county, zip, state, US, as well as by congressional district, school district, state house and state senate districts. PolicyMap’s data collection includes but also extends far beyond US Census data.”

“PolicyMap data can be presented as maps, tables, charts and reports that can be incorporated into papers, presentations, blogs and websites. In addition, students and faculty can upload unlimited amounts of their own address-based data for use in PolicyMap, and can share these maps with others.”

NYC Geodatabase

The NYC Geodatabase (nyc_gdb) is a new resource I’ve created, designed for mapping and analyzing city-level features and data in GIS. The database comes in two formats: a Spatialite geodatabase built on SQLite that can be used in open source software like QGIS, and a personal geodatabase built on MS Access that can be used in ArcGIS.

The contents of the databases are identical and include geographic features and statistical areas from the US Census Bureau, transit and public facility point features from the City, and neighborhood-level census data. All features share a common coordinate system.

The databases will be updated bi-annually each winter and summer. While primarily designed for use with GIS and spatial database software, they can also be used to a limited extent with relational database software like MS Access and the SQLite Manager. I plan on creating a workshop around this resource in the near future.

The databases and associated documentation (including a tutorial and detailed metadata) are available through the Baruch Geoportal at http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/geoportal/nyc_gdb/. It is a public resource, licensed under Creative Commons, that anyone can access and download.