Postal Data & Google Maps Shine Light on New Orleans Recovery

Postal Data & Google Maps Shine Light on New Orleans Recovery Presented by: Denice Ross Elaine Ortiz Joy Bonaguro Greater New Orleans Community Data Center

Founded 1997 10,000 unique visitors/month 50-100 data requests/month 3,500 e-newsletter subscribers New Orleans Index readership of 5,000 500+ media mentions so far in 2008 Urban Institute Nat’l Nbhd Indicators Partner

“ I need population estimates for the New Orleans area by day as the denominator for health rate calculations.” - US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” “ We would like to know the numbers of evacuees that have returned to the area. We are compiling data to use in a funding proposal. We need to know the number of citizens that will benefit from United Way agency services.” - United Way for GNO “ We need daytime population figures for New Orleans to make informed decisions about the future of television measurement in the market.” - Nielsen Media Research “ We'd like to know population trends on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish. We'd like to bring a particular major national client into the West Bank market by showing that population has boomed on the West Bank post Katrina.” -Kirschman Realty, LLC

“ As the statistician for Louisiana OPH HIV/AIDS Program I am called on to estimate the number of persons living in the region on a regular basis. I am interested in obtaining the latest population estimates available. Also, in order to create program-wide plans for community outreach, surveillance and behavioral survey efforts neighborhood breakdowns at any level would be immensely useful. Again, in the face of our recovery, these data are of key importance.” - Louisiana Office of Public Health

Good questions… little good data

71.5% 49.5% Census Bureau population estimates

Utility accounts Public school enrollment Voter Registration Drivers Licenses Traffic Volume Postal data Surveys Vehicle Registration Alternative sources of population data

Public school enrollment November 2, 2005: “New Orleans Public Schools is in the process of assessing the financial and structural feasibility of NOPS schools for January re-openings.” Open Public Schools in Orleans Parish

Utility accounts
Electric accounts get better household coverage than telephone or water accounts.
However, access to electric utility data is difficult:
Immediately following Katrina, Entergy could not provide data.
Then, Entergy simply would not provide data, and they don’t have to do so. Electric data is not public.
There are two service providers for New Orleans, and could be more in other areas of the country.
Record keeping practices are not standardized across utility companies, and the quality of data varies.

What the data captures…
Status of address
Active addresses : Someone has picked up the mail within the last 90 days.
Vacant addresses: Mail has not been collected for 90 days or longer.
No stat addresses : Address is vacant AND not likely to become active for a long time, or the address is under construction.
Type of address
Residential or business
P.O.box or not P.O. box

Publicly Reported
Frequent updates
Short time lag
Consistent methodology across geographies
Sub-parish breakdowns
Advantages of postal data

What the data misses…
No demographic data.
No data on number of people at an address.
Some group quarters are excluded, others are included.
Neighbor or landlord may be picking up the mail at an “active” house.
Occupied addresses may not receive mail, and be recorded as “vacant.”

Sources of USPS data
Aggregated data:
USPS Delivery Statistics Product (ZIP Code and carrier route, monthly)
HUD (Census tracts, quarterly)
Nonaggregated data:
Valassis (Address-level, monthly)

HUD data: Unoccupied addresses

Address Fields
Active/ Vacant
Residential/ Business
P.O. box/ Not P.O. box
Valassis key (unique ID for each address)

Geocensus Fields
Match code (address match, ZIP Centroid match, no match)
Six digit census tract
Four digit census block
Longitude & Latitude

Standard Distance Test reveals delay in census block geocoding

Database problem: Addresses placed in “neutral grounds”

Database problem: New streets result in a ZIP centroid match

Database problem: Suburban/ rural areas tend to get bad geocodes.

Expand to new geographies?

Selecting our technology

James Fee spatiallyadjusted.com To host or not to host? What do our maps require?
Polygons
Points
Landmarks & streets
Streets above polygons
+ Expand to new geographies? Geography comparer?

Design & Development

TIGER Navtech TeleAtlas GNOCDC

Usability Testing & Results

Notetaker User Interviewer

Field testing is messy, but you learn more about how people use your site in the real world.

“ I like your map, but are there any numbers I can look at?”

“ Wow. This is hard to read, I need my glasses.”

Lower Ninth Ward: More volunteer resources toward rebuilding, fewer toward data collection

Geographer Richard Campanella analyzed patterns of repopulation relative to elevation

Media coverage during Katrina anniversary and storms

Getting a grant for the playground in Palmer Park

Gentilly Civic Improvement Association: Demonstrating critical mass of customers to attract retailers

Community &Planners: Impact of proposed of LSU/VA Hospital

Postal Data & Google Maps Shine Light on New Orleans Recovery

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