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Track: Local/State Government, Cadastral, Land Records
Earl Bossard
California State University, San Jose
San Jose State University
San Jose, CA 95192-0185
Telephone: 408-924-5860
Fax: 408-924-5872
E-mail: ebossard@pacbell.net
Priya Tallam
Envisioning Neighborhoods: Understanding Areas Using Multiple Replicates of Maps, Graphs, and Photos
The digital information revolution is increasing the potential for gathering data about local urban conditions without a concomitant increase in the capability of processing these data into information useful for making informed decisions. This presentation introduces a procedure that can technologically empower urban analysts by using the evolving tools of the digital revolution to synthesize data about neighborhood conditions into concise formats that facilitate greater understanding of local areas. Envisioning Neighborhoods (EN), inspired by Yale Professor Edward Tufte's 1990 text, Envisioning Information, enables urban analysts to analyze and understand small areas by constructing small multiple replicates of maps and graphs based on census data and boundaries, supplemented by street and highway maps, photographs, and noncensus data. Comparisons over space, scale, and time are used. The system running as of December 1996 uses a PC running Atlas GIS. (Arc View capability is planned for 1997.)
Microsoft PowerPoint is used to display a set of slide shows with notes that can be used either for lectures, lecture-demonstrations, or as a self-study tutorial aid to understand the EN process. Microsoft Excel is used for spreadsheet templates to process data such as ranking four chosen variables for small areas and coding their ranks and relative frequencies for 4x4x6x4 page views. These page views display four maps, four variables, six frequency classifications, and four relative ranking classifications in a standardized way. Excel is also used to produce standardized multiple stacked bar charts that facilitate comparisons between areas. While Envisioning Neighborhoods views can be developed for many purposes, the Esri 97 PowerPoint presentation will demonstrate how the EN technique can be used to evaluate the residential desirability of ten San Francisco Bay Area concentrations of Asian Indian persons self-identified in the U.S. Census. A case study example follows an introduction of the EN
concepts. The case study evaluates the residential location alternatives of an engineer immigrating from India with his family to work in the San Francisco Bay area. EN techniques are used to screen the region for concentrations of Asian Indians. Z-score-based quality of life score indices for all 303 census tracts in Alameda County are used with analysis focusing on areas with concentrations of Asian Indians. A database developed for San Francisco Bay area counties with over 200 block group and census tract measures and twenty census block measures is used. A procedure has been developed to enable students to produce on a single page four maps of these measures for any area. As of December 1996 over 250 MB of data, map files, documentation, and help and task guides have been prepared for a CD ROM-based collection that also includes PowerPoint demonstrations and help guides. The Envisioning Neighborhoods project has been supported by a released time grant from the Institute of Teaching and Learning at
San Jose State University.
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