June 2005
Intermediate to advanced
568 pages
24h 7m
English
Content preview from Mapping Hacks
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
60
|
Chapter 2, Mapping Your Neighborhood
#14 Make Free Maps of the United States Online
HACK
Mapping Census Data
But, wait, there’s more! The TIGER Map Service also offers a means for gen-
erating simple maps of the Census Bureau’s demographic data, in the form
of thematic statistical maps. From the web interface, you can select a demo-
graphic variable, such as median income or population density, and a level
of granularity to display that variable at, from statewide all the way down to
a few city blocks. For example, Figure 2-5 shows the percentage of renter-
occupied housing units in San Francisco at the Census block group level.
These maps were the precursor to the American FactFinder, which is a web
site hosted by the Census Bureau at http://factfinder.census.gov/. The Ameri-
can FactFinder offers an unbelievable wealth of demographic information
about the United States, as well as a whole suite of interactive maps based
on the TIGER/Line data. We absolutely recommend devoting some spare
time to exploring their site, especially if you have a particular interest in
mapping demographics. However, we elected to devote an entire hack to the
older TIGER Map Service because, for our purposes, the maps it produces
are a lot easier to hack than those of its somewhat flashier successor.
The Pros and Cons of the TIGER Map Service
Before you get excited and start building mission-critical applications
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access
More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.