Mapping Race | GIS Resources

A map, like a picture, is worth a thousand words. Mapping is a powerful tool for race-based advocacy and helps ground race and equity discussions in actual, often community specific, demographic patterns. The REP has compiled the best, most versatile, and user-friendly mapping resources for your use. Currently, our resources are slightly California-centric; that’s our service area after all. If you have region-specific resources please share them with us as we would love to broaden our scope. Any suggestions, additions, or comments? Have a great site or article that you want to share? We’d love to hear from you! Please use the “Contact the REP” button on the right.

General Mapping Resources

Geodata.gov: U.S. Maps and Data

  • Site Description: A “one stop for finding and using geographic data.”
  • Suggested Uses: Use this site to locate national, state and local geo-related data and maps.

Legal Services of Northern California

  • Site Summary: LSNC has compiled a great repository of mapping information and data sources. Although there is some overlap between the REP mapping and the lsnc.net GIS Mapping Resources page, the LSNC site has plenty of treats that we didn’t include here.
  • Suggested Uses: Do you want to learn more about how mapping can be used by legal services providers? Would you like a complete listing of California and national mapping resources? This is the place to go.

PolicyLink

  • Site Summary: “PolicyLink is a national research and action institute that works … to implement strategies to ensure that everyone—including those from low-income communities of color—can contribute to and benefit from economic growth and prosperity.” We love PolicyLink’s Community Mapping Toolkit. Its a “must read” on the potential of mapping in advocacy. More importantly, it manages to expertly walk the line between providing broad concepts and real-world applications and practical tips.
  • Suggested Uses: Whether you’re a first-time mapper or a seasoned veteran we recommend exploring PolicyLink’s Community Mapping Toolkit.

Stanford University, Websites for Digital GIS Data

  • Site Summary: A comprehensive listing of GIS resources available on the web.
  • Suggested Uses: Not sure where to find GIS data and other related resources? Need a listing of all resources available for your geographic region? Look no further. This site is appropriate for experienced GIS users, i.e. those who are familiar with ArcGIS desktop or programs such as IDRISI Kilamanjaro.

National Mapping Resources

DataPlace

  • Site Summary: Brought to you by the wonderful people at KnowledgePlex, DataPlace offers mapping capabilities for every area of the United States. The site is very user-friendly and the sites output combined with the its ease-of-use makes it a must visit.
  • Suggested Uses: DataPlace is best for producing general demographic maps and charts for anywhere in the United States.

ESRI Census 2000 TigerLine Data

  • Site Summary: Complete TigerLine data in shape file format. Various attributes are separated into easy-to-use layers. Limited SF1 data that can be joined or related to the shape files is also available.
  • Suggested Uses: If you need base elements for a desktop GIS project this is the place to come!

GISTools Freeware - Census 2000

  • Site Summary: This site provides several programs that allow you to work with Census Data and TigerLine files. In particular, the REP is a huge fan of the four programs that allow users to easily extract Census 2000 data from the SF1-SF4 files for any summary level (i.e. block, tract, city, county, state, etc.).
  • Suggested Uses: The REP suggests using these tools if you need Census 2000 data for presentations, research, or mapping. They are particularly helpful if you need data at the block group or block summary level. Using these programs is far more efficient than extracting data using American FactFinder or working with the ASCII files directly.
  • “How to”: These tools are super user-friendly. Step 1: Download the zip files containing the Census 2000 data from the Bureau’s ftp site. Step 2: Download the appropriate “geo” file for your data. There is one geo file for the SF1, SF2, SF3 and SF4 files for each state. The “geo” file is normally at the bottom of the folder that contains the zip files for the summary file. For instance, at the bottom of the folder for California SF1 data there is a file named cageo_uf1.zip. Step 3: Download the tool. There is a different program for each summary file (i.e. 1–4). Step 4: Follow the instructions in the user manual that is available for download from the same site that you got the program from.

Home & Communities: Department of Housing and Urban Development

  • Site Summary: HUD provides this Beta version Internet mapping application in conjunction with ESRI. It provides mapping tools and data sources to support community and housing advocacy and includes HUD housing and community development data, EPA data, FEMA data, and U.S. Census Bureau (2000 and 1990) data.
  • Suggested Uses: Good tool for easy-to-create community thematic maps.

HUD User - A Picture Of Subsidized Housing 2000

  • Site Summary: This dataset describes the 4.9 million households living in HUD-subsidized housing in the United States for the year 2000. The dataset provides characteristics of assisted housing units and residents, summarized at the national, state, public housing agency (PHA), project, and census tract levels. Picture 2000 also includes summary data for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and cities. Best of all, you can create custom queries of the Picture 2000 data by geography and by HUD program, and retrieve exactly the data you need.

Metropolitan Area Research Corporation

  • Site Summary: “MARC’s objective is to study growing social and economic disparity and inefficient growth patterns (”sprawl”) in metropolitan areas, and to assist individuals and groups in fashioning local remedies.”
  • Suggested Uses: MARC provides numerous studies and reports on metropolitan areas. The Struggle to Grow Equitably provides maps and data analysis for the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Over a thousand maps of socio-economic, fiscal capacity, race, and land-use trends are provided. American Metropolitics explores 25 largest metropolitan areas. Four hundred and forty maps of socio-economic, fiscal capacity, race, and land-use trends are provided. Regional Reports provides examples of MARC’s individual reports on specific geographic areas.

Social Explorer

  • Site Summary: Social Explorer provides accessible demographic data mapping tools for the United States. They provide hundreds of interactive maps including historical maps extending back to 1940.
  • Suggested Uses: Social Explorer is a wonderful resource if you need to work with decennial Census data. The REP was impressed with the sites ease-of-use and the ability to zoom in to the census tract level. Users should note that the mapping application only can map one variable at a time. Also, maps do not include several every-day geographic features such as roads. Despite these limitations, Social Explorer is well worth a visit.

U.S. Census Bureau LED OnTheMap

  • Site Summary: OnTheMap is an online application to map Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data. In English, that means that you can create detailed maps showing where people work and where workers live with companion reports on worker ages, earnings, industry distribution, and local workforce indicators. A total of 42 states are currently “mapable” and data is available from 2002 through 2004.
  • Suggested Uses: Persons interested in community economic development, regionalism, and other related areas may find OnTheMap useful.

U.S. Census Bureau Maps and Cartographic Resources

  • Suggested Uses: Definitely for the experienced GIS user. Less experienced users will find the mapping function of AmericanFactfinder more helpful. With regards to the boundary files and TIGER/line data, if you figure out the how to find data files or how to import them into ArcGIS our hat goes off to you.

California Mapping Resources

California Spatial Information Library

  • Site Summary: The California Spatial Information library (CalSIL) is a portal maintained by the State of California providing access to State government GIS activities, access to statewide GIS data, and links to the larger California GIS community.
  • Suggested Uses: If you are looking for California specific data and shape files for ArcGis or similar applications this is the place to go. The REP likes the Landstat imaging available despite the fact that it has no application to race-based advocacy.

HealthyCity

  • Site Summary: HealthyCity offers perhaps the most comprehensive access to community resources, demographic/health data, and cutting edge online GIS mapping technology that the REP has ever seen. For the time being, the site only offers coverage of Los Angeles county. We hope that HealthyCity will be going statewide soon but until that time we will have to stew in our jealousy of the wonderful online mapping and data analysis tools that residents of the city of angels have access to.
  • Suggested Uses: If you have any mapping or data analysis needs related to Los Angeles county and you are not adverse to free, powerful, user-friendly online mapping and data analysis tools than HealthyCity is for you.

Neighborhood Knowledge California

  • Site Summary: We love Neighborhood Knowledge! Its easy-to-use online mapping is tops. Whether you are looking for presentation-ready data on a census tract or for an entire county, this is the place to go. We particularly like that the application can map up to four demographic characteristics on a single map. Although the programs flexibility is limited by its user-friendly interface, it sure beats crunching Census data on your own. Also, unless you are proficient in using ArcGis or a similar program it is unlikely that there is a better application for you.
  • Suggested Uses: Neighborhood Knowledge is wonderful for producing thematic maps for any area in California. The maps are readily useable for presentations.

Statewide Database

  • Site Summary: Provides 2000 Census and other data in DBF format.
  • Suggested Uses: Do you need data to populate a desktop GIS map? This is a great source for SF1 and SF3 data. The DBF files include the LOGRECNO field and a Block Group Code. The Block Group Code is the same as the STFID field present in ESRI Census shape files. Please not, however, that the Block Group Codes in the Dataset are not unique values. Thus, for instance, you might have multiple entries for the same block group.

Area Specific Mapping Resources

Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System

  • Site Summary: Philadelphia NIS is a web-based property and social indicators information system used by city agencies and community based organizations throughout Philadelphia. NIS users research individual properties; run queries to locate comparables; plan, site and evaluate housing development programs; and study neighborhood conditions with user-defined maps, charts and reports.
  • Suggested Uses: Any data or mapping need for the city of Philadelphia.

Print and PDF Resources

Myron Orfield, American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality, Brookings Institute Press 2002.

  • Summary: “American Metropolitics… provides an eye-opening analysis of the economic, racial, environmental, and political trends of the 25 largest metropolitan regions in the United States which contain more than 45 percent of the U.S. population. Using detailed maps and case studies, Orfield demonstrates that growing social separation and wasteful sprawling development patterns are harming regional citizens wherever they live.”

Myron Orfield, Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability, Brookings Institute Press 1997.

  • Summary: “Metropoliticsis the story of how demographic research and state-of-the-art mapping, together with resourceful and pragmatic politics, built a powerful political alliance between the central cities, declining inner suburbs, and developing suburbs with low tax bases. In an unprecedented accomplishment, groups formerly divided by race and class–poor minority groups and blue-collar suburbanites–together with churches, environmental groups, and parts of the business community, began to act in concert to stabilize their communities.”

GIS Tutorials

Every so often, the REP posts “tutorials” on using GIS software, both desktop and web-based, in poverty law practice. We’ve decided to re-post some of our best efforts here. Enjoy.

Directing Resources In Response To The Foreclosure Crisis

  • Summary: This tutorial teaches users how to use DataPlace, a web-based GIS application, to identify areas where substantial populations of LSC eligible homeowners reside and where substantial populations of LSC eligible homeowners of color reside. The provision of foreclosure related services to the areas identified would maximize the impact of the limited resources that LSC service providers can expend to address the variety of foreclosure issues faced by our client populations. This tutorial requires a basic familiarity with Excel.

Directing Resources In Response To Natural Disaster - The Southern California Fires

Mapping HUD-Subsidized Housing

  • Summary: The REP often needs to map the location of HUD-subsidized housing complexes in our work. This tutorial, produced by HUD, walks users through the process of mapping HUD-subsidized housing complexes as points with ArcGIS. This tutorial requires a working knowledge of ArcGIS.

Community Mapping Service Providers

Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities

  • “The Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities provides multi-disciplinary technical assistance, analysis and training (with a focus on the use of public data) and develops tools that community groups [and non-profit organizations] can use in their efforts to promote equitable community development and wealth preservation.” Recently, the Institute served as an expert witness in Lopez v. City of Dallas, 2005 WL 1131181 (N.D. Tex. 2005), 2004 WL 2026804 (N.D. Tex. 2004).

MARC

  • “MARC has conducted over 23 regional studies and 4 statewide studies. For a single regional project, MARC examines socioeconomic separation and sprawl in the region, including data mapping and analysis. For a statewide study, MARC looks at several (3-8) metropolitan regions in a single state and then compares regional trends in the context of current state policies and politics. To accompany each study, MARC designs and produces a highly attractive report complete with photos, tables, maps, analysis and recommendations for use as a public education and outreach tool.”

Sharing Resources

Please share your mapping resources. Whether these resources are in the form of a map, a presentation, or a case study, sharing resources allows us to maximize our collective impact. We can make documents available for general or restricted release according to your preference. Lastly, if you have a mapping issue that you can’t resolve, let us know. We may have something to help you in our cache of restricted release documents. Please include your name, organization, position, and a description of the type of information needed and for what purpose it will be used. We will try our best to help you.