Track: State/Local Government, Cadastral, Land Records
Neighborhood Policy Research: Controlling Scale and Detail Using GIS
Michael BarndtPublic policy researchers look for a correlation between outcomes, such as violent crime, and attributes of neighborhoods, such as income. With GIS, researchers have the opportunity to design the detail that is appropriate for their research. When is it appropriate to establish the "unit of analysis" at the block group, census tract, or other levels? What are the advantages of more deliberately designed areas that represent explicitly homogeneous neighborhoods? What are the opportunities and risks of skipping any boundary set and representing data on surface maps? What scale best represents environmental effects? What is the appropriate granularity of such maps?
Michael Barndt
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Box 413
Milwaukee, WI 53201
USA
Telephone: 414 229 4751
Fax:
E-mail: mbarndt@csd.uwm.edu