Demographic Data – Reference at Newman Library

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

China Data Center GIS Datasets

We have purchased some GIS datasets from the University of Michigan’s China Data Center. The datasets include boundaries for provinces, counties, prefectures, and cities, as well as current and historic census data that can be joined to these boundaries for mapping and analysis. The datasets also include geographic features like roads, railroads, and rivers. In addition to the national series we have some detailed collections of data for the provinces of: Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shanghai.

The data is in shapefile format and can be used with any GIS software (ArcGIS, QGIS, etc.) In some cases some of the data tables are provided in Excel format, for patrons who are interested in working with the statistics without the mapping elements.

A list of the datasets is available on the Baruch Geoportal. Use is limited to current Baruch students, faculty, and staff for educational, non-commercial purposes. Since the data is copyrighted and I don’t have a secure method of distribution, anyone who is interested should contact me (using their Baruch email address) and I can send them the data, or make arrangements to give them copies.

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.”

Trial to East View LandScan Global

Mike has set up a trial to the LandScan database from East View.

LandScan is a mapping application that provides gridded population data for the world. They’ve used satellite data to calculate population for small grid cells for the entire planet. This gives population researchers the ability to work with areas of a uniform size with data that is collected using one methodology, as opposed to working with census data from hundreds of countries that is collected using various methods for different time frames for places of widely varying size.

The product provides researchers with the ability to access the maps directly in GIS via the company’s servers, and also locally from individual files the vendor would provide us. Researchers can use the maps in GIS to extract data and overlay the population grid with layers of their own.

East View also provides a user-friendly web browser application that anyone can use. You can view population data broken down by age and gender for individual cells, countries, and first level subdivisions (states and provinces). There are a number of base maps for streets and topography that you can overlay the population data on.

The trial works on campus (without a password) from now until Sept 14th. Once you’re in the interface there is a link to a short video that gives you an overview of how it works. Access the resource here:

http://wms.cartographic.com/LandScan2011/

American Factfinder Tutorial

The Census Bureau’s American Factfinder (AFF) is the primary source for census datasets that include the 2010 and 2000 Census, the American Community Survey, and the Population Estimates Program. The new version of the AFF was launched at the beginning of this year; it gives users more options for searching for data but can be a bit bewildering.

I’ve created a how-to handout with screenshots that demonstrates one method for retrieving data. I provide two examples: one is downloading a profile for a census tract from the American Community Survey, and the other is downloading a comparison table for ZIP Codes from the 2010 Census. Links to the handout are available throughout the New York City Data LibGuide on several pages, and on the US Census Data LibGuide. It’s embedded in a box labeled American Factfinder.

While the AFF is the ultimate source for census data there are some easier sources you can refer users to depending on what they’re looking for; these include the Social Explorer database, the Infoshare database, the NYC Department of City Planning, and the PUMA and ZCTA Google Maps embedded in the Neighborhoods tab of the NYC Data Guide. Embedded in the Neighborhoods tab is a separate guide with recommendations for finding NYC neighborhood census data that highlights these options.