data for decision maker

Spatial Information Visualization

16 September 2010

IRNet

Brian DealUrban and Regional PlanningUniversity of Illinois

• Where are we now?▫ Understanding the current state of the region provides a baseline

to evaluate policy options and future impacts

• Where do we want to be?▫ Answering this question requires a vision and communal

consensus about the future of the region

• How do we get there?▫ Planners and stakeholders need to be able to envision future

alternatives and evaluate their potential consequences

Fundamental Questions for Planning

Requires planning tools!

Garden CitiesEbenezer Howard (early 20th century)

New Urbanism Duany, Plater-Zyberk, Calthorpe (1980s-present)

Urban Spatial Visions …

Towers in the SkyLe Corbusier (early 20th century modernism)

Broad AcreFrank Lloyd Wright (1930s)

Where are we now?

Do our plans consider…• Resident age?• Race?• Employment?• Income?• Family composition?• Resident health?

“Our Neighborhood” Census Tract 2City of ChampaignChampaign Township Champaign CountyState of Illinois

How does the per capita income of our neighborhood compare to the rest of the city, the region, state, and nation?

Racial composition?

Home ownership (Tenure)?

Education level? Gee whiz Brian, How do we find

this data?

Geography TRACTMedian HH income 1999

Median FAM inc 1999 % Drove to Work Alone % NON-WHITE %_HU_OwnOcc %HU_NO_VEHC

Census Tract 2, Champaign County, Illinois 2 21728 24,107 95.33799534 91.53506001 53.05410122 27.05061082

Census Tract 9.01, Champaign County, Illinois 9.01 26669 34,130 94.95450786 49.01840491 46.9808542 9.818360334





Census Tract 12.06, Champaign County, Illinois 12.06 95027 113,335 87.73800457 11.12745098 87.29216152 0




Census Tract 57, Champaign County, Illinois 57 45485 65,285 64 22.45096675 55.98919243 13.41939358

Census Tract 58, Champaign County, Illinois 58 35714 84,540 60 14.87016169 47.51570531 9.594517419




Collect the data from the Census!

MidwestWest

South

Northeast

CENSUS REGION

The US Census Bureau divides the entire USA into four “Regions”…

CENSUS DIVISIONS (9)

PacificMountain

West North Central

West South Central

East North Central

East SouthCentral South

Atlantic

Middle Atlantic

New England

… and nine “Divisions”

COUNTIES (3,140)

….3,140 US Counties

Illinois (102 Counties)

The State of Illinois has 102 Counties.

Illinois (2966 Census Tracts)

Champaign County

….2966 Census Tracts

Census tracts•small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county•most metropolitan areas (MA's) •usually have between 2,500 and 8,000 persons •designed to be homogeneous with respect to population, economic status, and living conditions•census tracts do not cross county boundaries•spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on density •physical changes may require occasional revisions

Champaign County (41 Census Tracts)

There tend to be more census tracts where

there are more people.

When they cluster in cities, they are about the size of what we’d

consider a neighborhood.

Urbanized areas

Champaign-Urbana

ooo2

Census Tracts in the Champaign Urbana Area

1 mile

ooo2

1 mile

Census Tracts and Block Groups in the Champaign Urbana Area

Census Tracts are further divided into

several “Block Groups” and then into very small “Blocks” (not

pictured)

For the purpose of this presentation, we are

advocates for a neighborhood in Census Tract 2 in

Champaign County

Census Fact Finder

Decennial Census

Choose your survey instrument. The Decennial census, implemented every ten years, contains information at census tract level.

• http://factfinder.census.gov

American Community Survey

http://factfinder.census.gov/


Census Fact Finder

• http://factfinder.census.gov

“Get Data”


Census 2000 Summary File 3 (SF 3) Sample Data. Also known as the census “long form”

Choose your data set. Make sure you’re choosing from the 2000 Census. Summary File 3 contains more detailed data on community characteristics.

“Detailed Tables”

“Next”

Select your geographies. We’re going to choose the entire nation, the State of Illinois, Champaign County, the City of Champaign, and Census Tract 2 (our “neighborhood”)

Select the individual variables you want to know about. Here we have selected “Total Population,”

“Race,” etc.

Show result!

When you request data for many census tracts, it’s often difficult to read all of them at once. It’s easiest to download

the census data as an MS Excel file.

Download the data as an excel file.

“Thematic Maps”

Generating Thematic Maps

with Census Data

MAP IT!

Choose your geography. Thematic maps will break down this geography into smaller levels. Here, we’ve chosen Champaign County, Illinois.

Now choose the “theme” or specific census datum that you want to see mapped. Here we’ve chosen “Per Capita Income in 1999.” All mapped themes are per capita or percent variables– they are not “raw” data.

Full County View.

Zoom in to see Census Tract 2, our neighborhood.

Pan, Identify, Get Data

Sub-geographies: Tracts, County Subdivision, Blog Groups, etc.

“Per capita income (1999) of Census Tract 2 is in the lowest income quintile of all census tracts in Champaign County with per capita income $11, 064.”

Per Capita Income by census tract

“While some census tracts in the Champaign-Urbana metro area display income variation, per capita income (1999) of ALL census block groups in Census Tract 2 are in the lowest income quintile of census tracts in Champaign County with per capita income $11, 064.”

University of Illinois

Per Capita Income by census block group

Percent of Persons 25 Years and Over with Bachelor's Degree or Higher: 2000

“Educational attainment in Census Tract 2 is relatively low compared to other tracts in Champaign-Urbana. Although one block group has relatively high rate of post-secondary education, most block groups are in the lowest quintile of post-secondary educational

How does the per capita income of our neighborhood compare to the rest of the city, the region, state, and nation? Per capita income in our neighborhood is lower than national, state, regional, and local income levels.

Racial composition? The racial composition of our neighborhood is overwhelmingly African American (85.54%), exceeding national, state, regional, and local levels.

Home ownership (Tenure)? Our neighborhood has nearly equal levels of home owners (53%) and renters (47%), but has relatively more renters than the nation, state, and region. The City of Champaign has a larger portion of renters, most like due to a large student population.

Education level? Our neighborhood has relatively low levels of post-secondary education, but only ten percentage points lower than the national average.

• Where are we now?▫ Understanding the current state of the region provides a baseline

to evaluate policy options and future impacts

• Where do we want to be?▫ Answering this question requires a vision and communal

consensus about the future of the region

• How do we get there?▫ Planners and stakeholders need to be able to envision future

alternatives and evaluate their potential consequences

Fundamental Questions for Planning

Requires planning tools!

•Census data reveals a snapshot of the way we are now▫Avoid data collection for collections sake▫Looking for correlations

•How do we target specific questions?▫modeling

•What about the future?

What if you were able to …•Visualize the likely land use consequences of

policy and investments

•Assess the impacts of those investments

•Determine sustainable outcomes

•Assist communities vision their future using real data

•Have a common platform for multiple models

What if you were able to …•Provide decision-makers with clear policy

choices based on a defensible knowledge base

•Show decision-makers the impacts of policy options on multiple resources (land/water/air/utilities/transportation/education)

•Tie regional planning in with economic forecasts

•Model alternative strategies in real time and not wait for traditional plans that take months - years

LEAMplan

Informed Decision-MakingBy better realization of the implications, this system has

assisted policymakers in:

• deciding whether to require 40-acre minimum zoning in a rural county

• generating transportation analysis zones

• prioritizing transportation improvement program projects

• designating and outlining areas for protection from development

• how to allocate Community Development Block Grant funds

How has it been used?

Mapping Development•Growth over space

Mapping Development•Growth over time

Growth by …

Watershed School District

Census Block Group

Transportation Projects-Comparison Map•Showing development shifts

Transportation Projects-Comparison Map•Same analysis – satellite view

Transit-Oriented Development•Growth Nodes

Champaign-Urbana Mobility-Enhanced Development-Zones•Growing up … not out

Champaign-Urbana Mobility-Enhanced Development-Redevelopment

University Policy ??

Groundwater Protection Mask

Groundwater Protection Change Map

Green Infrastructure Stress

Green Infrastructure Change•Policy context – where to focus attention

Measuring Impacts•SCALDS Modeling

Water Demand

Getting More Out of the Process• A single platform for visioning, modeling, plan

creation / coordination, and decision-making• Wider/broader leveraging of expertise• Results and analysis are

available and accessible• Decision-makers able to readily analyze alternatives & consequences

An opportunity

Making Plans More Usable – • Bring together plans from diverse agencies and

jurisdictions to a single location

• Standardize formats, streamline temporal and spatial parameters

• Build a digital and easily accessible repository

• Create intelligent retrieval systems

An opportunity

LEAM Components•Base land use change model•Economic Forecast• Impact modeling •GeoPortal – Customized Access & Display of

Information•Desktop – Utilizing the model thru cloud

computing

LEAM Planning Portal• Based on open source content

management system (CMS) known as Plone

• Rich content – documents, maps, graphs

• Live, full-text search• Flexible navigation capability• Integrated comment system• Security, workflow, and revision

history• User Administration• Intranet-Internet

www.leam.illinois.edu/cu

LEAM Desktop• User runs LEAM and

custom models through web services

• Model inputs are automatically organized, documented, and reviewable

• Long running models executed “in the cloud”

• Rich set of results available in GeoPortal to allow model review

LEAM Plan Features …An online content management system that:

• Brings key players into communication

• Packages maps, text, and analysis for ease of use

• Provides User developed scenario modeling

• Facilitates identification of long-term implications of nearby decisions and policy

• Allows for review and open discussion of new analysis done from within the system

• Presents information in a digitally standardized, interactive format

• Employs intelligent indexing and live search

Key benefits

Conclusions• Census data is useful for planning

▫ Where are now• New tools for assessing the future

▫ Planning Support Tools (LEAM)• These tools provide:

▫ Coordinated communication between agencies▫ Potential multiple agency labor and technology cost savings▫ Central repository for supporting documentation▫ Improved plan efficiency and performance▫ Reduce/control risk of conflicting action plans▫ Immediate feedback generation▫ Complete electronic history/automatic archiving▫ Benchmarking and shared best practices across agencies▫ Increased visibility to the public and stakeholders

Key benefits