Monthly Archives: October 2011

The Uninsured Population of Connecticut

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One of the variables measured in the 2010 American Community Survey is the number of people who do not have health insurance. In order to find statistics related to the uninsured population in Connecticut, I downloaded two tables from the American Fact Finder: Health Insurance Coverage Status (Table S2701) by state and by Connecticut counties, respectively. Connecticut has a relatively low percentage of the population that is uninsured; it ranks fourth out of the fifty states in the country (see table below). Out of the counties in Connecticut (see map above), Fairfield County has the highest percentage (11.7%) while Tolland County has the lowest percentage (5.1%). 
Percentage of state populations that are uninsured from the 2010 American Community Survey 1 Year Estimate

Webinar – Taxes: More Than Just Income & Sales – October 26, 2011 from 2-3pm

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Webinar – Taxes: More Than Just Income & Sales

When: October 26, 2011
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

Description: This webinar is the second installment of Association of Public Data Users (APDU)’s webinar series on the Census of Governments.  This session will explain how the Census Bureau classifies and assigns tax revenues, what it publishes, and how the data is used for policy and macroeconomic analysis outside of the Census Bureau.

Presenters:

Cheryl H. Lee
Branch Chief
State Finance and Tax Statistics Branch, Governments Division
U.S. Census Bureau

Kim Rueben
Senior Fellow
Tax Policy Center
Urban Institute

Christopher Hall
Administrator
Tax Analysis Division
Ohio Department of Taxation

Cost: Free Click here to Register

MAGIC and Connecticut State Data Center Workshops – Fall Semester

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Included below is a listing of upcoming workshops offered by the University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC) and the Connecticut State Data Center for Fall Semester 2011. All of these workshops are free and open to the public. Links to register for each workshop are included below:

Georeferencing Maps – Basics
Do you have scanned or digitized maps you would like to incorporate within your research using ArcGIS or other mapping software? This workshop will provide an overview of how to take a scanned map and append geographic coordinates, a process known as georeferencing, which will enable you to create customized maps.
Day Date Time Location Max
Enrollment		 Register
Friday 11/11/11 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Babbidge Library Undergraduate Research Classroom 20 Register

Locating Census 2010 Data using the NEW American FactFinder
The U.S. Census Bureau has introduced a NEW American FactFinder online Census data tool with enhanced searching and data display capabilities in conjunction with the release of 2010 Census data.  In this workshop you will learn how to use the new American FactFinder to locate and download data  – and create thematic maps – from a wide variety of population, economic, and housing information in the 2010 and 2000 decennial Censuses. From information on individual neighborhoods or zip codes, to state- or national-level data, the new American FactFinder is a powerful tool for navigating the vast amounts of data made available by the U.S. Census Bureau. The new American FactFinder will also soon replace the legacy American FactFinder as the platform for retrieving data from the American Community Survey (the ongoing Census program which produces data on educational attainment, income, occupation, marital status, and other detailed social and economic characteristics), and will also deliver data from the Economic Census. Join us to learn more about how to effectively navigate the NEW American FactFinder.
Day Date Time Location Max
Enrollment		 Register
Wednesday 11/30/11 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM Babbidge Library Level 2 Electronic Classroom 18 Register



Making Maps Online with ArcGIS.com

Want to create a map and share it with colleagues or a class? This hands-on workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to learn how to create maps using ArcGIS.com which can integrate data from multiple sources, be viewed on mobile devices, and create a series of maps to highlight areas of interest for projects and/or your own research.
Day Date Time Location Max
Enrollment		 Register
Monday 10/24/11 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Babbidge Library Level 1 Electronic Classroom 20 Register
Wednesday 10/26/11 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Babbidge Library Level 1 Electronic Classroom 20 Register

Mapping Historical Photographs – Old S.F.

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Old S.F. is an application which displays historical photographs in the San Francisco Bay area over a Google Maps basemap. The developers (who can be followed on Twitter: @danvdk and @ravejk) geocoded thousands of images based on the subject of respective photographs in addition to cross streets in the images. According to the site, the developers have geocoded 13,000 out of 20,000 photographs, found in the San Francsico Historical Photograph Collection, that have information regarding location. 



Geography Awareness Week Kickoff Event – November 3, 2011 @ UConn

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Geography: The Adventures in Your Community
Thursday, November 3, 2011 4:45-8:00pm
Thomas J Dodd Research Center at UConn
Storrs, Connecticut
The heart of this year’s theme will revolve around a series of topics that encourage individuals or teams of students, families, or friends to explore their own communities through geographic eyes, and challenge them to look at things from a geographic perspective.
Program Agenda
4:00-4:30 Pre-conference tour of UConn Libraries – MAGIC
4:30-4:45 Registration – Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
4:45-5:00 Welcome – Bill DeGrazia & Tom Brodnitzki, CGA Co-Coordinators
5:00-6:00 Keynote Speaker – Arthur Bakis – U.S. Census Bureau Boston Regional Office
6:05-6:55 Buffet Dinner and Remarks
7:00-7:50 Breakout Sessions
I – Elementary Teachers – Allyson Lubs, Professional Development CGA
II – Middle & High School Teachers – Kristie Blanchard, NE Geography Teacher of the Year
III – Exploration of American Community Survey (ACS) –
Michael Howser, Connecticut State Data Center
7:50-8:00 CEU Records and Drawings

Participation Fee: $25 (add $10 if you would like to be awarded .3 CEUs upon completion of the program). The fee includes registration and a light dinner. Checks should be made payable to “Connecticut Geographic Alliance.“
Pre-Service Teachers receive a reduced registration fee of $10 and currently enrolled UConn Students receive free admission.
This workshop is a collaboration of the Connecticut Geographic Alliance, University of Connecticut Department of Geography, University of Connecticut Libraries Map and Geographic Information Center (MAGIC), and the Connecticut State Data Center.
To register for this event download the Registration form.

Free ESRI Presentation – Creating Map Books Using Data Driven Pages

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ESRI offers a free online presentation that gives a great overview of the capabilities of using data driven pages to create map books in ArcMap.  The presentation is about 60 minutes long and includes software demonstrations.  At the end of the presentation one will find suggested resources to learn more about creating map books. A great tool to create an organized multi-page PDF document with maps, tables, charts and figures to present to your stakeholders. This presentation is a recorded web presentation so you do not have to schedule time to be available to view it.

U.S. Census Economic Indicators Discussion on C-SPAN – October 21, 2011 at 9am

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On Friday, Oct. 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., Bill Bostic, U.S. Census Associate Director for Economic Programs, will appear live on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss key economic indicators and how they measure our economy. His presentation will include a rich mix of statistical visualizations and discussion, including a public call-in segment.

You can view this event and watch the program either on C-SPAN  from 9-10am on Friday October 21 or live through the Internet at:
http://www.c-span.org/Series/Washington-Journal/ (Not viewable until tomorrow, October 21, 2011)

For more information and to view the presentation graphs, please visit the following link, which will be live Friday morning (Oct. 21): http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/econ_ind.html

A recording of the presentation will be available afterward from the Ethernet TV Media Library.

Be sure to follow the U.S. Census Bureau on Facebook and Twitter for an ongoing discussion of economic indicators and for other information from the Census Bureau.

Converting JP2000, JP2 files to other formats

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There is a host of good reasons why archives like to preserve their images as JP2000 or JP2 files.  The two biggest reasons are the compression saves a large amount of space and the visual quality is excellent after the compression takes place.


What is a JP2000?

The downside to these file formats (depending on who you are) is that they are not very accessible in terms of software that can view or edit.  This is especially true if you are a dedicated user of non-apple personal computers.

So what do you do when you find an amazing map on the Library of Congress site that you download as a JP2000?  Not much, unless you find some third party software that can handle this file type and convert it into a much more accessible format.  This is where the Freeware IrfanView steps up and helps us all out.


Library of Congress Map Collection Site

IrfanView is a free image viewer that allows for light editing of images as well as converting file formats.  If you do use IrfanView be sure to download the optional plugins so that you can convert your JP2000 files to something more useful to you.

1. After loading a JP2 or JP2000 file you can see the basic and clean layout of the image viewer.

2. To convert the file simply navigate to the File drop-down menu and choose Save as… Note the many file types available and options within each file type.

3. That’s it!  You’ll also notice a batch conversion option in the File menu which will perform the same operation with a few more options.  It’s also helpful if you have a large amount of images you’d like to convert!
Indeed there are a host of viewing software packages available, so if this platform does not suit your taste I’m sure you will find others!  I have had good experience with this platform because its lightweight, converts files with ease, and the batching feature is a must with large digital image collections (really helpful when you work at a Map and Geographic Information Center).  So at the very least give it a try when Photoshop won’t read your JP2000 file to get you out of a jam.  
Cross posted MT and G

ESRI Develops Interactive Map of Occupy Wall Street Protests

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As they did for Hurricane Irene, ESRI has developed an interactive map that showcases social media related to the Occupy Wall Street Protests. The map features pictures from Flickr, Tweets, and YouTube videos. Currently, the majority of the content of the map is from the lower Manhattan protests, but the map also displays social media from outside the New York area. It will be interesting to see if the geographic distribution of social media shared on the map spreads as protests have sprouted up all over the country.

Percentage of Populations in the US Living in Poverty

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Yesterday, I generated the above map of poverty using TIGER shapefiles and data from the 2010 American Community Survey 1 Year Estimate.  This map demonstrates the unequal geographic distribution of poverty in the United States. Most notably, there is a sharp contrast between the relatively low percentages of the northern states and the higher percentages of southern states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. According to the data, Mississippi (18.9%) has the highest percentage of its population living below the poverty level while New Hampshire (7.8%) has the lowest.

Here is a shot of the data I acquired from the American Fact Finder:

Although ACS estimates can be useful in identifying patterns, they can also have a large margins of error, so it should be understood that the data is limited in its capabilities.