An Introduction to The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance and Geographic Information Systems Cheryl Knott GIS Analyst BNIA-JFI University of Baltimore June 30, 2009

Topics: BNIA-JFI Background NNIP Services Data Vital Signs Other Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Introduction Types of maps Data sources Geocoding

BNIA-JFI Part of the University of Baltimore Jacob France Institute Variety of research areas Ties with UB and other faculty Goal of BNIA-JFI Provide accurate data and objective research Strengthen the principle and practice of well informed decision making

NNIP – Urban Institute 32 Cities (and expanding) Defining Functions Building and operating neighborhood-based indicator systems Facilitating and promoting the use of data by community and city leaders Emphasizing the use of information to build the capacities of institutions and residents Cross-Site initiatives Prisoner re-entry Early childhood readiness Foreclosures National policy

BNIA-JFI Services One stop shop for data/information GIS Survey-based research Economic development Workforce development Community development Benchmarking Indicator analysis Legislative/policy analysis Transit-oriented development Market evaluation analysis (Baltimore DrillDown)

BNIA-JFI Recent Projects Baltimore Community Foundation Community Engagement Initiative - Older Adults Central Baltimore Partnership Indicator Tracking and Maps Associated Black Charities of MD More in the Middle – Dashboard report Downtown Partnership of Baltimore State of the Downtown, 2008 Homes for America Study of Annapolis, Maryland Baltimore City CEDS Evaluation

BNIA-JFI – Vital Signs Vital Signs Topics: Housing Children, Safety, Health Workforce/Economic Development Sanitation Transit Education Neighborhood & Community

BNIA-JFI Other Data/Information: Time Series Relationships with data providers Expanding focus Baltimore Metro Data Committee Flexibility New indicators Additional datasets Geography

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) What is GIS? Maps Databases History Traditional cartography Digital evolution

Old vs. New

GIS Software Specialized software for mapping ArcGIS from ESRI MapInfo

Types of GIS Maps Reference/Asset– maps that show where things are located spatially in reference to other landmarks/places or things of interest Highway atlas, locations of public schools Statistical/Thematic– maps that visually represent the spatial distribution of indicator data Density of foreclosure filings, median household income by neighborhood

An example of an asset map

An example of a thematic map

Spatial Statistics Points - Central tendencies - Nearest neighbor - Cluster analyses Lines - Characteristics (length, direction) - Connectivity Polygons - Characteristics (area, centroid distances) - Spatial autocorrelation

Spatial Statistics Univariate - Mean/median/mode - Variance Bivariate - Correlations - Trend analysis (regression models) “Statistical Analysis of Geographic Information” by Wong and Lee

Data Sources Proprietary data from Baltimore City Enterprise GIS (City Hall) - assets U.S. Census – boundary files ESRI – Software and data packages Any database with a location field (x,y or address)

Geocoding Lattitude/longitude (x,y) Address - References a center-line file - Approximates location

Geocoding – Address Formats 6 necessary components: street number, street direction (if applicable), street name, street type, city, state, and zip Correct spelling ESSENTIAL Combine street number, direction, name, and type in one field

Geocoding – Address Formats Right: “400 N. Calvert Street” “100 W. Baltimore St.” “1716 Merritt Blvd.” Wrong: “5204 Liberty Hts”Spell out Heights; add Road “600 Charles Blvd” No north/south; St. not Blvd. “3604 Greenmunt Ave” Greenmount misspelled

Cheryl Knott BNIA-JFI University of Baltimore Questions?