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The newest issue of the CT Geofocus newsletter is available now!
Brought to you by the CT GIS User to User Network and the CT GIS Council’s Education and Outreach Working group.
See past newsletters and how to submit your work here: http://ctgis.uconn.edu/resources/newsletter.htm.
Also check out the new and improved CT GIS User to User Network website at: http://ctgis.uconn.edu
If you’d like to submit something for the next issue, the deadline is Friday May 31st.
The Census Bureau is keeping up to speed with not only different types of statistics and data, but how users and developers can access and visualize that data in more meaningful and streamlined ways.
The Census Bureau was recently named a 2013 Honors Laureate by Computerworld for development of its open data API, an application programming interface implemented in July 2012 that allows developers to take data sets and reuse them to create online and mobile apps – for more information see: http://www.census.gov/developers/
The Bureau was recognized by the magazine “for its visionary applications of information technology promoting positive social, economic and educational change.” The story will be featured in the June 3 edition of Computerworld.
Recently, the Bureau developed a new mobile app that allows users to “take the pulse of the U.S. Economy” straight from their phone! According to the Bureau:
The America’s Economy app provides real-time updates for 16 key economic indicators released from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Bureau of Economic Analysis. Key economic measures on employment, manufacturing, international trade, retail sales, and residential construction and sales allow those who follow the U.S. economy to be the first to see whether the indicator has gone up or down since the previous report, and trends over time.
Learn more about this app by using the link above, or click one of the following to download:
Apple
Download iPhone Version
Download iPad Version
Android
Download Phone Version
Download Tablet Version
Key Features
Additionally, the Census Bureau’s website is home to many different web-based mapping applications that provide excellent visualizations of data. One example is the US County Migration Patterns map, available here: http://flowsmapper.geo.census.gov/flowsmapper/map.html 
or the 2010 Census Interactive Population map, available here: http://www.census.gov/2010census/popmap/
According to the Census Bureau, America’s foreign born population has undergone dramatic changes in size, origins and geographic distribution within the past 50 years. This infographic created by the Census Bureau depicts some of the major trends and statistics. As just one example: in 1960, 75% of foreign born individuals in the US were from Europe; but in 2010 only 12% were from Europe, while 53% were from Latin America and 28% were from Asia.
Here’s a snippet:
So, who is emigrating from Asia to the United States? In 1960 only 0.5 million people immigrated to the US from Asia, but by 2000 it had risen to 8.2 million, and in 2011 that number had reached 11.6 million, according to the ACS report linked to above.
Here in Connecticut, the 2007-2011 ACS data from American FactFinder shows that the total population was 3,558,172 with foreign-born individuals (both citizens and non-citizens) numbering 474,139 (+/- 5,979); thus comprising between 13.2% and 13.5% of the total population. By comparison, in 1960 the US Census reported that the total population of Connecticut was 2,535,234 and that 38.7% of that total (982,143) was foreign born with a majority (237,146) of individuals from Italy. The following visualization shows countries where foreign-born individuals emigrated from in 1960 that had numbers of emigrants higher than 20,000 individuals. Click the visualization to interact more with the data.
The other countries or areas that the Census recorded individuals emigrating from include: Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Finland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, Portugal, Asia and Mexico. There were also categories for Other and Unknown. Both Asia and Mexico now comprise higher emigration rates; but in 1960, only 645 people from Mexico came to Connecticut, and 11,786 came from Asia. The ACS 2007-2011 estimates for foreign born place of birth show that by 2011 there were 105,365 emigrants from Asia and 25,743 from Mexico. The emigration pattern has certainly changed in Connecticut since the 1960s, see below visualization for the countries in 2011 from which more than 20,000 people emigrated (including those with a MOE that causes the estimate to exceed 20,000); and unlike the 1960s, there are very few countries from which 20,000 or more people emigrated.The one country with the single highest number of foreign-born individuals in CT was Jamaica, with 34,742 individuals. In terms of regions broken down by continent, the highest number of individuals collectively came from Latin America which includes the Caribbean, Central and South America (197,224).
The Census Bureau’s Education, Training & Dissemination Branch has scheduled several webinars over the next three months. These webinars do have a finite number of slots available, so you may want to register early to make sure you are able to participate!
Registration information and webinar descriptions are available in the upper left corner of the Training Events page http://www.census.gov/mso/www/training/training_events.html
• The Economic Census and Other Economic Programs (April 17, 1:00 – 3:30 EDT)
• Understanding Census Geography (April 18, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)
• Introduction to the American Community Survey (April 24, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)
• The Current Population Survey & Survey of Income and Program Participation (May 8, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)
• Population Estimates and Projections (May 22, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)
• Customized Searching Through DataFerrett (May 29, 1:00 – 3:30 EDT)
• How to Navigate American FactFinder (June 19, 1:00 – 3:00 EDT)
• Government Statistics (June 26, 1:00 – 2:30 EDT)
If you are unable to attend these webinars, you might also find these tutorials from the Census Bureau’s Training Resources Library useful or informative:
The Census Bureau records quite numerous useful data beyond demographics here in the US. Included below are some examples, provided by the US Census Bureau, that exemplify just how informative some of this data can actually be!
Schools
This working paper discusses the decline in attendance at private schools over the past decade. According to the census bureau:
Data from several surveys, including the Current Population Survey and American Community Survey, show a decline in private school enrollment over the last decade. The working paper compares trends across datasets and subgroups and explores possible underlying causes of the decline in enrollment, which occurred particularly at larger, religiously affiliated schools in cities and suburbs. Possible causes explored by the paper include the growth in charter schools, home schooling and the recession.
Disability, Employment, and Government Assistance
The Census Bureau also reports that workers with a disability are less likely to be employed and for those who are employed, are more likely to hold jobs with lower earnings. The three most common occupations for men with disabilities were drivers/sales workers and truck drivers (246,000); janitors and building cleaners (217,000); and laborers and freight, stock, and material movers (171,000). For women, as cashiers (195,000); secretaries or administrative assistants (189,000); and nursing, psychiatric or home health aides (172,000). These data can be found on the Census website under the Disability Employment Tabulation available through American Factfinder.
The report, which uses data from 2011, indicates that 30% of of the 46 million adults that receive government assistance have a disability of some kind. There is a relationship to these statistics and those regarding employment as well; Bernice Boursiquot, co-author of the report and Census Bureau statistician noted that “On average, people with disabilities have lower employment and earnings; therefore, understanding what assistance people with disabilities receive may help governments better coordinate and administer their programs.”
Demographics & Income
And if you were wondering about demographics and income, the Bureau has also released income/earnings estimates for the third quarter (July-September) of 2011 by selected demographic characteristics such as gender, age, race/ethnicity, martial status, and educational attainment. Tables are available here:
A different report, released Feb 11 shows that the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT metropolitan area near NYC has the highest percentage of households with high income in the nation at 17.9 percent. High income is defined as being in the top 5 percent of national income distribution, which is an annual household income of at least $191,469.
Megacommuters
How long is your commute to work? How many miles do you usually drive? The ACS (American Community Survey) collects and provides this information. See ACS report here by Brian McKenzie, a Census Bureau statistician, to see how you compare to the rest of the US workforce. As an example, about 342,000 workers commute into Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Boston area) every day from outside of that county; if you’ve ever driven on I-93 or I-95 at rush hour, it certainly seems like it makes sense!
Did you know that:
For more information about Megacommuting in the US, see the below links:
Home-based workers
Working at home is on the rise! In contrast to megacommuting, it is now apparent that more and more individuals are choosing to work from home. The Census Bureau has also compiled an infographic to dissect some of the statistics involved with this phenomenon.
Snippet from infographic
Spring NEARC Conference – Call for Presentations (DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MONDAY APRIL 1, 2013)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Spring NEARC is an annual, one-day conference held near the center of the NEARC region. The day is packed with professional development and networking opportunities for all levels of GIS users.
NEARC is now accepting presentation submissions for the spring conference. Click here to learn about format options and to submit your workshop, lightning talk, presentation, panel, or poster. Presentations will only be accepted until Friday, March 22.
Conference highlights include:
• Workshops
• Lightning Talks
• GIS Karaoke
• ArcGIS 10.1 Update
• Pub Social
A schedule of the day will be available soon. Please visit the NEARC website for updates.
For information about last year’s conference please see:
http://www3.amherst.edu/~aanderson/nearc/schedule2012.html