Not off-topic at all; however, what you're describing is pretty much the
Holy Grail of GIS and Planning. Vendor claims to the contrary, there is
no source of small geography data more recent than the 1990 Census which
can be validated without an effort pretty much equal to the Census for a
given area. The statistical models used by the big, expensive vendors
[and by the Census] are comparable and are invariably oriented to data
aggregation at or above the county/parish/etc level. Below this level
it falls on the planner, whether public or private consultant, to do
sufficient homework/legwork to justify a small area analysis.
In other words, if you could do what you are describing, you could
retire after the first project. As I'm sure you've already had the
experience, most of the effort of getting a workable budget for what you
will need to do yourself is proving that the data does not exist, unless
a local agency or consortium has already completed and validated what
you are proposing to do.
David Bruce
Pflum, Klausmeier and Gehrum Consultants, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Tim Rood wrote:
>
> This may be a little off topic in terms of strict
> applicability to MI or MB, but, as a city planner,
> I have lots of uses for small area census
> data---tract, block group and block (zip,
> sometimes, too). Of course, the 1990 Census data
> getting a little long in the tooth, but, it seems
> that for many measures there's nothing more
> current that can compare. Who else would have
> things like mode of transportation to work by how
> long you've lived in the neighborhood
> (compulsives: I said "like;" I doubt this
> particular cross tab is real)? I've heard of
> vendors who claim to update certain census
> variables by small area geography. I get the
> impression that this type of product revolves more
> around the "disposable income" sort of data rather
> than the kind that planners would more likely use
> (population, age, housing units and households,
> ownership, rents, sometimes ethnicity and
> socioeconomic data). Anybody use this and have an
> opinion on how good it is?
> What about techniques of using some of the data
> that is collected between the decennial census and
> at a larger geographic scale (either by the census
> or other entities) and using it to update some of
> the small area data. Does anybody have a good
> angle on that approach?
> Thanks for all responses.
> Tim Rood
> Ravenna Planning Associates
> Seattle, WA
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