Like Ms. Bousefield in Chicago, I find the HUD vacancy figures running
very low. The ACS county-level vacancy data appear far more accurate in
our area, but they are not available at the tract level yet. However,
the HUD data do appear to reflect different characteristics of tracts -
they correctly identify areas of generally higher vacancy. Therefore, I
may be able to use the HUD figures to identify changes in vacancy by
tract over time.
The HUD figures do not separate businesses from residences. Therefore,
like so many other sources, they are useful but not fully compatible
with other data sets.
Jonathan Lupton
Metroplan - Little Rock AR
70 pages?? It takes only one sentence to say zone boundaries need to be
based on access to the network being modeled, period.
Sam Granato
Ohio DOT, Office of Technical Services
1980 W. Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43223
Phone: 614-644-6796, Fax: 614-752-8646
"You will be flogged for being right and flogged for being wrong, but it
hurts less when you're right." - Hunter S. Thompson
The Florida DOT has just posted a 70 page report discussing TAZs and
their construction. While the information is for the model users
community in Florida there is a wealth of information in the report that
those who think about such things will find of interest. The document
is well worth adding to any list of TAZs references that you may have.
The report can be found on the Florida Transportation Modeling web site
at http://www.fsutmsonline.net/index.php?/site/directory/model_docs
The direct link to the report is
http://www.fsutmsonline.net/images/uploads/reports/FDOT_TAZ_White_Paper.pdf
The Florida DOT has just posted a 70 page report discussing TAZs and
their construction. While the information is for the model users
community in Florida there is a wealth of information in the report that
those who think about such things will find of interest. The document
is well worth adding to any list of TAZs references that you may have.
The report can be found on the Florida Transportation Modeling web site
at
http://www.fsutmsonline.net/index.php?/site/directory/model_docs
The direct link to the report is
http://www.fsutmsonline.net/images/uploads/reports/FDOT_TAZ_White_Paper.pdf
If other States or Regions have similar documents I wouldn't mind
learning about them and adding them to our ever growing list of data
related resources.
--
Ed Christopher
FHWA Resource Center
19900 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461
708-283-3534 (v) 708-283-3501 (f)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FYI, via the Association of Public Data Users.
_____
From: Patty Becker [mailto:pbecker(a)umich.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:36 AM
To: APDUMEM(a)apdu.org
Subject: [APDU members] Impact of Congressional Continuing Resolution
Hi all,
At this point, it is clear that the Congress will not complete its
budgeting job this week in time for the new fiscal year, making a
continuing resolution (CR) inevitable. Below, please find a
communication from Terri Ann Lowenthal, APDU Board member, about the
impact of the CR on the Census Bureau:
Good afternoon, census stakeholders.
A quick update on the status of Fiscal Year 2008 funding for the Census
Bureau, and a call for IMMEDIATE help in convincing House and Senate
appropriators to provide adquate funds for Census in the short-term
Continuing Resolution before Congress this week. As you know, the
fiscal year ends this weekend. The House will take up a CR as soon as
Wednesday.
The CR would allocate funds at the FISCAL YEAR 2007 LEVEL through
November 16 (at the earliest; another CR might be necessary then).
This outcome would spell disaster for key Census programs.
The Census Bureau received $893 million in FY07. For FY08, the
Administration requested $202.8 million for Salaries & Expenses, and
$1,027.4 million for Periodic Censuses and Programs. The House bill
provides $196.8 million for S&E and $1,025.4 million for Periodics.
The Senate committee bill provides $226.2 million for S&E and $1,020.4
million for Periodics. Overall, the Administration requested a 37.7
percent increase for the Census Bureau, in recognition of final
preparations for Census 2010 and the 2007 Economic Census and Census of
Governments, among other important activities.
Unofficial word from known sources (no one in the Census Bureau is
allowed to speak about this publicly) is that proposed funding levels
in the CR would endanger conduct of the 2008 Dress Rehearsal
(preparations are in full swing and the DR takes place on a census
schedule next March - summer) or use of handheld computers for
non-response follow-up in the census. The handhelds are being
developed for deployment in the Dress Rehearsal. If they are not used
then, it is very possible/likely they will not be used in 2010.
Please make any immediate contacts you can with staff/Members on House
and Senate Appropriations Committees, or other influential Members of
Congress, in support of an exception to proposed funding levels for the
Census Bureau in the CR. The Census Bureau is on a major cyclical
funding upswing ... it cannot continue to function at last year's
funding levels for a few months. Keep in mind that the 2007 Economic
Census and Census of Governments are starting this fall, with forms
going out in December/January. That cannot be delayed either.
Please also share this message with others in your census network.
===============================
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC/APDU FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Rd Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034 pbecker(a)umich.edu
Here is the REAL message I meant to send! Apologies for hitting the
"send" button earlier.
Thank you to Celia Boertlein and Kin Koerber at the Census Bureau for
the original materials and the recent updates related to 2006 ACS
tabulations. September 27 is the scheduled release date for the
remainder of 2006 ACS data standard products. Also, comments to the
Federal Register Notice on ACS Data Products (Docket 070725407-7408-01)
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo
.gov/2007/E7-16850.htm
are due September 28.
ACS TABLE NAMING AND NUMBERING
The first character in the table is a key to the type of the table.
Subject "S" Several tables compiled together addressing a specific
subject. Limited
to areas with 1+ million population.
Base or Detailed "B" These tables are used to create the Subject
tables, but can be used
independently.
Collapsed "C" These tables are a smaller version of the Base tables
with a reduced
number of categories to reduce suppression. However, some tables may
still be suppressed if the coefficient of variation among the cells is
too high.
Ranking "R" These tables sort the results based on individual values,
for example,
average travel time, or percent using transit as means of transportation
to work. For 2005, these are given for State totals.
Data Profiles: There are 4 profile sheets: demographics, social,
economic, housing, and
1 narrative document. The economic profile includes workers and
commuting.
Selected Population Profiles: These are tables by race, ethnicity and
ancestry.
All the JTW and Place of Work tables begin with "08". As for the
detailed (base) tables, there is somewhat of a pattern. Those beginning
with B080 or C080 support the Subject Table S0801. Also included in
that set are the Place of Work by metro/micro/non-metro or -micro tables
(B08016-B08018/C08016-C08018). The latter are included with the others
since S0801 uses the other Place of Work tables. However, S0801 does
use some JTW tables. The workplace-based tables that parallel those
detailed tables start with B084 or C084. The last two digits are the
same for corresponding residence-based and workplace-based tables.
The detailed tables that are used for the Means of Transportation
Subject Table (S0802), are numbered starting with either B081 or C081.
The workplace-based tables that parallel those detailed tables start
with B085 or C085. The last two digits are the same for corresponding
residence-based and workplace-based tables.
The household data detailed tables that were requested by DOT and not
used in any other products are numbered starting with either B082 or
C082. These are:
B08201: Household Size by Vehicles Available
B08202: Household Size by Number of Workers
B08203: Number of Workers by Vehicles Available
For the 2006 ACS, new one-dimensional JTW detailed tables have been
added, and start
with either B083 or C083. The workplace-based tables that parallel
those detailed tables will start with B086 or C086. The last two digits
will be the same for corresponding residence-based and workplace-based
tables.
B08301 Means of Transportation to Work
B08302 Time Leaving Home
B08303 Travel Time
There will be holes in the numbering where tables are removed.
The links to the topic search results:
The link for Journey to Work is -
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/acs-php/2006_experienced_users_guide.php?a
cs_topic=Journey+to+Work
for Place of Work --
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/acs-php/2006_experienced_users_guide.php?a
cs_topic=Place+of+Work
for Vehicles Available --
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/acs-php/2006_experienced_users_guide.php?a
cs_topic=Vehicles+Available
Another resource is the ACS 2006 Data Users Handbook --
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Downloads/Handbook2006.pdf
The CB's Journey to Work and Migration branch was asked to reduce the
number of ACS standard tables for 2006 and beyond.
Here's the list of what was removed.
1) Subject Table S0803. Worker characteristics crossed by sex. These
subject
tables are only produced for areas with 1 million+ population.
2) Mean travel time in S0802. Delete the mean travel time to work
column from subject table S0802. Some tables with travel time
distributions remain e.g.
B08012, B08134.
3) Means of Transportation by Marital Status : This change deletes all
the marital
status by means of transportation data.
4) Means of Transportation by Educational Attainment: This removes all
the educational
attainment by means of transportation data.
5) Means of Transportation by Household Type: This removes all the
household type by means of
transportation data.
Don't forget that we created our own profiles using the 2005 ACS
results. These are available at:
http://ctpp.transportation.org/home/default.htm and include some data
from 1990 and 2000.
We do not plan to prepare new profiles using the 2006 ACS results, as
the differences are likely to be small except for areas with large group
quarters population, and due to limitations in staff resources.
Elaine Murakami
FHWA Office of Planning
206-220-4460 (in Seattle)
The latest "Status Report" newsletter is now posted on line. The direct
link is http://www.TRBcensus.com/newsltr/sr0807.pdf
Alternatively, it can be found through
http://www.TRBcensus.com/
--
Ed Christopher
Resource Center Planning Team
Federal Highway Administration
19900 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461
708-283-3534 (V) 708-574-8131 (cell)
708-283-3501 (F)
Now that the Census Bureau is busy releasing the 2006 ACS data, I
thought it would be timely to post a few links on using the ACS data.
It is VERY IMPORTANT to understand that the biggest difference between
the 2006 and 2005 ACS is that GROUP QUARTERS population was ADDED in the
2006 sample. Areas with large Group Quarters population will see the
greatest differences between 2006 and 2005 results. Workers who live in
Group Quarters are more likely to walk to work, so you may see shifts in
distributions of means of transportation to work in these areas. The
population threshold for reporting 1-year ACS data is still 65,000
persons, based on place of residence. The 2005 and 2006 ACS standard
tabulation include tabulations for PLACE OF WORK called "for workplace
geography". Also, the "key" to finding tables on "journey to work" is
"08", for example: B08###, or C08###, or S08##.
Cynthia Taeuber's book, "American Community Survey data in Community
Planning" (Trafford Publishing, 2006 website:
trafford.com/06-2809 ) is an easy-to-understand document that covers
basic information about ACS, but most importantly, understanding
sampling error and confidence intervals. Note: The Census Bureau is
now using the term "Margin of Error" to reflect sampling error instead
of using confidence intervals (the estimate with an upper and lower
bound).
You can order it directly from Trafford.com, which is a "print on
demand" publishing house, but I just found it on Amazon.
(priced at $26.37 and listed as "in stock" )
Also, Cynthia's material completed for Brookings Institute "for
journalists" is on-line at:
http://www.brookings.edu/metro/umi/events/20061115_ACSreferenceguide.pdf
This document on the Census Bureau's webpage discussing the 2005 ACS is
also useful.
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/UseData/advance_copy_user_guide.pdf
The FHWA page also includes some material on using ACS data, which was
developed for earlier releases of ACS, but are still relevant.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/acs.htm
Because we prepared profiles sheets from the 2005 ACS data, with
comparison to Census 2000, we are currently NOT planning to issue NEW
profiles using the 2006 data. We are currently focusing on PLANS for
the NEXT CTPP, using the first 3 year accumulation of ACS data (2005,
2006, and 2007), and conducting research on 1) improving workplace
imputation for ungeocoded survey responses, and 2) alternative
approaches to disclosure avoidance, to avoid the data suppression
problems that arose in the CTPP2000.
If you have ideas for the 3-year CTPP product, especially NEW or
DIFFERENT Tables, please let me know!
Elaine Murakami
FHWA Office of Planning
206-220-4460
Taken from the Census Bureau Press Release........Don't forget to do
your significance tests when comparing to 2005 and 2000 and keep in mind
that the 2006 data contains group quarters.
The Census Bureau today released 2006 ACS social, economic, and housing
characteristics, demographic and housing estimates, and PUMS data. Data
are again available for the nation, the 50 states and the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, every congressional district, and all counties,
places, and metropolitan areas with populations of 65,000 or more.
Key topics included in this release consist of:
*Educational attainment
*Industry
*Occupation
*Class of worker
*Journey to work
*Employment status
*Work status
*Veteran status
*Housing
*Households and families
*Marital status
*Migration
These data may be found at:
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en.
As noted in the 2006 ACS data release on Aug. 28, 2007, this year marks
the first time that ACS data products cover the total U.S. population,
including populations residing in group quarters (such as prisons,
college dormitories, military barracks, and nursing homes).
The Census Bureau's Web site now contains guidance on comparing 2006 ACS
data to 2005 ACS data, as well as comparing 2006 ACS data to Census 2000
data. This guidance may be found at:
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/UseData/compACS.htm.
The final release of 2006 ACS data will occur on Sept. 27, 2007 and
consist of selected population profiles/tables for about 200 selected
population groups by race, Hispanic origin, and ancestry. In addition,
this release will include group quarters profiles, the first such
release since the 1990 Census. Also released at that time will be
workplace geography tables.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
