DATATricks, tips, tools, and testimonials that every Land Bank should hear

Isaac Robb Michael SchrammJessie MastersJames McGuire

OVERVIEWGetting Data

Preparing data

Using Data

Presenting Data

GETTING DATA Mike Schramm

PLACES TO GET DATA

County Government – Auditor, Treasurer, Sheriff, Court, Planning

Municipal Government – Planning, Building/Housing Dept., Community Development Dept., Police Dept.

Regional Planning offices

County Land Reutilization Corp

Census Bureau/Fact Finder

NST WEB APP

Data system of parcel-level data for all parcels in Cuyahoga County, OH that is operated by the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development at Case Western Reserve University

Much of the data is updated weekly

Data is searchable, filterable, sortable, downloadable

All data are georeferenced into local geographies and target areas

Quick mapping functions

User-added data allowed

NST WEB APPHouses data relevant for neighborhood

stabilization activities by city, county, and community development entities:

Property transfersTax recordsForeclosure filingsSheriff’s salesCuyahoga Land Bank recordsCleveland Land Bank records

Cleveland Building and Housing administrative data

Cleveland Housing Court administrative data

Geographic informationOthers

WAYS DATA ARE ACQUIRED•Email•FTP•DVD/CD•XML Stream•Dropbox•Google Drive•Screen Scraping•API endpoints

These all occur at various intervals, but most data are updated weekly

NST WEB APP – CREATE DATA FROM DATAVacant lot proxy County bldg value Cleveland demo Private demo permit Cuyahoga Land Bank demo Cuyahoga County Demo Program Demo

TO USE DATA, IT MUST BE “MACHINE READABLE”

Machine Readable – data is stored in a predictable manner Excel with distinct data in rows columns .csv JSON/XML

Non Machine Readable A scanned excel document A word document Report extracts with header and footers saved as excel file will not work If data for the same parcel continues to the next line, it will not work PDFs Color coded rows/columns in Excel

PREPARING DATA Jessie Masters

THE TASKIdentify tax foreclosure eligible properties within a specified geography What is already in the system

(“trajectory”) What could potentially be

recommended

STEP ONEIdentify what parcels are in specified geography, and gather property characteristics

County GIS department

http://myplace.cuyahogacounty.us/

Internal GIS software – ArcGIS

STEP TWOIdentify what parcels may be tax delinquent (certified/advertised)

County Treasurer’s Office or fiscal office will likely be able to supply this information

STEP THREEIdentify what might already be in tax foreclosure (“trajectory”)

County Prosecutor’s Office

STEP FOURWhat parcels are already on your land bank’s radar?

Filed a land affidavit? Maybe you’ve already demolished it? Etc.

Pull from your internal work-flow or database.

(We use PPS)

http://pps.land/

STEP FIVEIdentify what properties might be vacant, vacant lots, or active condemnations

Postal Data

Building and Housing Department

Occupancy Surveys (Thanks, TCI!)

STEP SIXStart combining your data into one clean spreadsheet or dataset!

Creating a table and filtering

Adding columns

Useful formulas: VLOOKUP – Joining tables together CONCATENATE – combining text from two columns into one! SUBSTITUTE – removing dashes or other delimiters from parcel numbers TEXT – adding dashes or other delimiters from parcel numbers

USING DATA James McGuire

CREATING A MAPUSING GOOGLESort through data and clean up

CREATING A MAP USING GOOGLEIdentify variable that will be sorted.

Disposition status was chosen. Acquired, Affidavit to CCLRC, and Foreclosure Requested.

Each Variable must be saved as its own spreadsheet.

This will create separate layers.

CREATING A MAP USING GOOGLEgoogle.com/mymaps

Create new map

Import layers

CREATING A MAPUSING GOOGLE

Addresses automatically geocoded (thanks, clean data!)

Change color and style layers

Add labels (consider your audience)

Continue adding layers if needed

CREATING A MAP USING GOOGLE

Add finishing touches

Make sure you have contrast

Use appropriate background

CREATING A MAP USING GOOGLE

Check the pop-ups

Make sure data is consistent

Add images

Share your map! First, choose who can view it

OTHER MAPPING APPLICATIONS

ESRI ArcMap Significantly more

data-driven and customizable Paid subscription

OTHER MAPPING APPLICATIONS

ArcGIS Online Data from ArcGIS

Desktop easily transposed into interactive webmap

OTHER MAPPINGAPPLICATIONSQGIS

OTHER MAPPINGAPPLICATIONSGrass GIS

PRESENTING DATA ISAAC ROBB

Source: Cleveland Neighborhoods by the Numbers , Western Reserve Land Conservancy, CUDC

Source: Cleveland Neighborhoods by the Numbers , Western Reserve Land Conservancy, CUDC

Courtesy of Frank Ford

Balancing charts

Available Templates

Clear, concise, & aligned text

General page formats

Canva

ADDITIONAL RESOURCESDiscounted software for nonprofits (ex: ArcGIS, Adobe Suite, MS Office)

Thousands of video courses in software, creative, and business skills. Available through public libraries and educational institutions.

Google can answer your questions as long as you ask it correctly! (Somebody else has already had the same problem!)

DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE POWER OF YOUTUBE!

THANK YOU! Questions?

Isaac Robb – irobb@wrlandconservancy.orgMike Schramm – schramm@cuyahogalandbank.orgJessie Masters – jmasters@cuyahogalandbank.orgJames McGuire – jmcguire@cuyahogalandbank.org