The demise of the census long form is common knowledge amongst Bureau fanboys and girls. However, we all could use a little more information about the big switch. For instance, did you know that the sample rate will change from 1 in 6 to 1 in 40? The current issue of ArcUser has a niffty article comparing the long form and the new ACS.

I also liked the article “Data Evaluation Tips: Buliding more accurate demographic databases.” Who isn’t interested in the pycnophulactic and dasymetric methods for converting data between different geographic levels? These methods’ scary names belie their practical applications in mapping poverty, race and opportunity.