2009 ACS 1 year estimates –> September 2010
2005 to 2009 ACS 5 year estimates –> December 2010*
2007 to 2009 ACS 3 year estimates –> Early 2011

Here’s a general ACS Data Release Schedule so you can see the planned releases for 2011 and 2012.

Census American Community Survey (ACS) Data Release Schedule by Year

*Why is the release of the American Community Survey (ACS) 5 year data such a big deal?

It has to do with Census geography levels. The absolutely smallest geographies that the Census has released ACS data for today are areas with 20,000 persons or more. ACS data for less populated cities and counties as well as small Census geographies like tracts, block groups and blocks has not been released yet.

Census American Community Survey (ACS) Data Release Rules

When the ACS 5 year estimates come out in December 2010, this will be the first time since the release of the Census 2000 data that we’ll have updated nationwide, socio-economic data for smaller cities and counties and for Census tracts, block groups and blocks. Even though the slide above doesn’t show Census blocks, the 5 year ACS release will include basic counts at the Census block level.

Brian McKenzie with the Census Bureau provided the above dates in this awesome seminar. I can’t recommend Brian’s portion of this recorded seminar highly enough if you work with Census data or the entire seminar if you work with transportation data like FHWA’s CTPP data.

3 Interesting Points

• Rule of Thumb: The Census Bureau tries to release ACS data 1 year after that data is collected.
• It took 3 years for the Census Bureau to release the Census 2000 SF3 data; so the ACS data releases are much more timely than the decennial Census release.
• A helpful tool: ACS Alerts. You can sign up for ACS alerts which are email updates about what’s going on with ACS at the Census Bureau’s website here.

Clear As Mud, Right?

American Community Survey data and release schedules are more complex than the decennial Census data and release schedules. If you’re unfamiliar with phrases like ACS 5 year estimates, I’m working on a blog post that summarizes how the ACS is different from the decennial Census–give me a week or two to finish it. Also, leave me a comment if you have any questions about ACS data and release schedules, and I’ll try to address them.

Related posts:

1. American Community Survey Sumlevel
2. Census Data is So 2000! – How to get data more recent than Census data
3. When will Census 2010 data be available?

Land Use Type: Hay/Pasture with Needle Present

Searching for land use/land cover data for your projects can make the proverbial needle in a haystack search seem like a walk in the park. At least with the needle in the haystack search, you know that the needle exists and you know where the haystack is. When searching for land use/land cover data, there may OR may not be local data, and you may OR may not know the agency that has the local data.

The best case scenario would be that your project/area of interest is in an area that has a local agency with excellent, accessible and current land use data and that they’ll let you have access to that data for free. I’d check the following agencies when hunting for land use data.

1 & 2. MPOs and COGs

I would start searching for land use data at the local Metropolitan Planning Organization or Council of Government (aka MPO & COGs). To see if there’s a MPO or COG in your area, check out this list of MPOs and COGs. When you visit their websites, search for “GIS”, “data”, “maps” or “land use.” A few tips when looking for MPO/COG data are as follows.

• While most MPO/COG data is free, you may have to pay for some land use data as in the case with Metro, Portland’s MPO.
• You may need to provide your contact information to the MPO/COG to access their data as is the case with the Central Texas Council of Governments.
• You may also need to contact the MPO/COG for assistance in finding exactly what you are looking for, as is the case with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. This MPO has links to server directories containing data, but the file names are not intuitive. There’s not a way to know exactly what is about to be downloaded.

3. Cities

Begin by going to your city’s website and searching for GIS data. If an initial search is fruitless, contact someone in the community development department, planning department or natural resources department to see if a land use dataset is available.

4 & 5. Counties and States

If an MPO, COG or city does not have land use data for your area of interest, try going to either the county or state website for information. The Des Moines Area MPO has a link that takes you to the Iowa Geological Survey’s GIS Library where you can search for and download data by county or by theme for the entire state of Iowa.

Another good starting point is simply doing a Google search for “state name+GIS”. Many states have a .gov or a .state.us site concerning GIS, maps and data. From these home pages, you will have to search for land use data. Not all states’ GIS portals are as easy to use as New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma or Texas portals. Some states like Georgia require a user profile to access free data. You may have to dig a fair amount to find land use data from a state’s GIS page. Or you may be required to follow links away from a state page to, for example, an educational institution’s GIS department or a non-state-government-operated clearinghouse.

6. Geospatial One Stop

Geospatial One Stop is a GIS portal to help you get access to geospatial data. But don’t let the name fool you–I wouldn’t call it a One Stop. A better name might be Geospatial Another Site to Check on your hunt for land use data.

The Back Up Plan: USGS’s 2001 National Land Cover Data Set

And if all else fails, check out the USGS’s 2001 National Land Cover Data Set–a land use data set that covers the entire United States.

If you need more information about where to get land use/land cover data, Aaron Herman researched and wrote an excellent whitepaper on the subject. This blog post is based on his research. If you want a pdf of his whitepaper, contact me here and I’ll send it to you.

Do you know of other local agencies/organizations that provides land use data? Let me know about the agencies that I forgot to include in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. National Land Cover Data Set: when there’s no Local Land Use GIS data
2. FEIS Land Swap Halted Over Alternative Analysis Failure

Finding land use land cover data is a pain. Unless your project is within an MPO/COG that has historic and current land use shapefiles that are easy for your GIS guru to access, you can be up a creek without a paddle when it comes to finding good land use data.

Despite the data challenges, many planners HAVE to have land use data for their projects. For example, over 90% percent of transportation environmental impact statements address land use impacts in their indirect impacts analyses according to this unscientific survey. So what should you do if your project is in an area that doesn’t have local land use data? Or what if you have a giant project area and the land use data set for one area doesn’t jive with the land use data set for another area?

USGS Land Use Data

If you can’t find good land use data from the typical local venues (I’ll blog about “typical local venues for land use data” next week), check out the US Geological Survey’s 2001 National Land Cover Data Set (or USGS NLCD 2001). The USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data Set is the latest, most accurate, nearest-to-complete and standardized land use coverage for the entire United States. Yup, you can get land cover data for the whole USA enchilada.

2001 National Land Cover Data Set

Positives of the USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data Set

• Nationwide land use data for the entire United States
• Standardized land use types makes for easy apples-to-apples comparisons
• Have historic data & are working on more current data set (2006) for visualizing land use trends over time

There is a USGS NLCD 1992 data set. And the land use experts over at the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium are working on a USGS NLCD 2006 data set. You can use these USGS National Land Cover Data Sets to visualize land use changes over time.

Visualizing Land Use Change Over Time with National Land Cover Data Sets

Negatives of the USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data Set

• 2001 is old
• National land use data won’t be as detailed or current as local land use data
• The data is provided as a image. While it’s possible to convert the image to acreage estimates, it’s technically difficult to do and would involve custom scripting.

Head to Head Battle: Local Data vs. USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data

Generalized Land Use 2005, Twin Cities Metropolitan Council

2001 NLCD Data

Let’s compare the land use data provided by Twin Cities’ Metropolitan Council and the USGS NLCD 2001. I was able to download Generalized Land Use 2005 data from the Metropolitan Council for the seven-county area. For comparison, displayed below is the USGS 2001 National Land Cover data for roughly the same area. These images are pretty small–if you need bigger images or want more information about land use land cover data sources, scroll down to the end of the blog post where you can get more information in a pdf.

You can get much more specified data with the local Metropolitan Council data set. For example, I can determine Single Family Attached versus Single Family Detached versus Mobile Homes using the Metropolitan Council’s data. The USGS 2001 National Land Cover data provides generalized data on Developed High Density, Developed Low Density and Developed Medium Density. But not every project area has good, accessible land use data like the Metropolitan Council data. And that’s where USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data comes in handy.

Bottom Line

If you have a small project in an area that has good local land use data, local data is your best bet. If you have a large project area (think multi-county, multi-MPO/COG, especially multi-state) or you can’t find good local data, then check out the USGS 2001 National Land Cover Data Set.

If you need more information about where to get land use land cover data, Aaron Herman researched and wrote an excellent whitepaper on the subject. This blog post is based on his research. If you want a pdf of his whitepaper, contact me here and I’ll send it to you.

Do you have another favorite back-up land use data set that you use? Leave a comment so we can check it out.

Related posts:

1. 6 Best Sources for Local Land Use/Land Cover GIS Data
2. FEIS Land Swap Halted Over Alternative Analysis Failure

San Francisco

This post is a follow up to: But Is It Healthy? (Part 1) – Health Impact Assessment and NEPA

San Francisco is leading the way in combining planning and health forces, to spatially measure environmental, social and health impacts.  Their Department of Health, and Department of Planning, among others, created the Eastern Neighborhoods Health Impact Assessment (HIA), which provided quantitative indicators that could be used to measure health impacts – the Health Development Measurement Tool.

What is the Health Development Measurement Tool (HDMT)?

The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) launched the first HDMT in March of 2007, and they define it as a comprehensive evaluation metric to consider health needs in urban development plans and projects.  This online metric includes provides detailed instructions, health indicators, and strategies, organized in a convenient checklist.

How does the HDMT work?

The tool is divided into six elements:

• Environmental Stewardship
• Sustainable and Safe Transportation
• Public Infrastructure
• Social Cohesion
• Adequate and Healthy Housing
• Healthy Economy

Within each element, there are four Community Health Objectives:

• Community Health Indicators – Data and maps of baseline conditions

• “Healthy Development” Targets – Criteria used to assess whether plans and projects achieve community health objectives.

• Policies and Design Strategies – Potential actions of project sponsors or policy makers to achieve community health objectives.

• Health-based Rationales – Research that describes the connection between community health objectives and physical and mental health.

All sections are organized in a user-friendly checklist.

Why should I care?

The tool may be on its way to your area. Planning departments all over the country are adopting the tool, including Galveston after Hurricane Ike struck the Texas Gulf Coast, (more info here) and Denver, Colorado, for their historic Lincoln Park neighborhood.

The tool provides a screening device to prevent future problems and debates during environmental assessments.  The definitive checklists provided by SFDPH provides an extensive way to cover most, if not all, ways in which a project will impact human life.

How do I get started?

The SFDPH sponsored website www.thehdmt.org is an excellent source, providing background, uses and benefits; also step-by-step instructions, worksheets, checklists, flowcharts.  Also, the SFDPH is offering education, advise, and help to those who are interested in implementing the HDMT.

Related posts:

1. But Is It Healthy? (Part 1) – Health Impact Assessment and NEPA

Image of Rural Poverty

Cubit is working on a new report called the Poverty Statistics Report. You can get cut-and-paste ready data, statistics, charts, and graphs for your projects in seconds.

The poverty statistics come from 13 different data sources, like the American Community Survey, US Census 2000, SNAP (food stamp) programs, Medicaid and National Center for Education Statistics.

As a test case, I pulled all of this data for the City of San Antonio, Bexar County and Texas. I knew exactly what data I was looking for, and it still took me hours to find, compile, calculate and produce graphs. But if I was trying to determine poverty trends in an area, this is the report that I would want to have. Check out the sample Poverty Statistics report.

If you think the Poverty Statistics Report would be a useful tool for your work and you’d like to have this data in seconds, include your email address here. I’ll send you an email when the report is ready for beta testing.

Related posts:

1. Current 2010 Poverty Guidelines
2. 2010 Poverty Guidelines will not be revised until at least March 1, 2010
3. When will the 2010 poverty guidelines be published?

What I learned from my unscientific Indirect Impacts survey:

• Almost 100% of documents noted that the proposed project would indirectly impact land usage. Since the documents I studied were all transportation projects, this is not surprising.
• Traffic indirect impacts encompassed almost 70% of the researched documents. Again, the documents I studied were infrastructure projects so long-term traffic effects should be prevalent, but did not necessarily need mitigation.
• 47% of the documents addressed socioeconomic indirect effects. Perhaps the number of documents that were concerned with this issue wasn’t higher, because some proposed projects were in rural locations and not near existing residents.
• Water Resources, Wetlands, and Biological indirect impacts were prevalent in about the same percentage of documents. Maybe the percentages aren’t higher because some agencies encompassed these effects within the broader category of land use.
• A mere 13% of the documents addressed air quality as an indirect impact.

A Closer Look at the Indirect Impact Section:

The most ambiguous part of exploring possible indirect impacts is the requirement for the effects to be “reasonably foreseeable.” Even the guidelines for analyzing potential indirect impacts aren’t very clear. What if an area’s population grows dramatically within the next ten years, regardless of whether or not an improvement is made to an existing roadway? NEPA documents are supposed to address indirect impacts of all of the proposed alternatives, including the no-build alternative where no changes would be made. But after doing my research, I’ve discovered that some documents don’t separate the analysis of indirect and direct effects, or they just analyze direct and cumulative impacts without delving into studying indirect impacts separately. Perhaps because indirect impacts are very difficult to distinguish from direct impacts or already existing or future conditions, agencies don’t spend as much time analyzing them. In conclusion, indirect impacts are difficult to predict but must be addressed.

Related posts:

1. Fresh EISs? Where to Find Current Example EISs
2. 5 ICI Analyses Tips with Susan Geist
3. Environmental Impacts of Military Aviation

Alaskan North Slope Oil Production

You’ve never heard of Nuiqsut, Alaska, but this small Inupiat community located 7 miles from a large oil development is changing how NEPA documents are written.  According to a former mayor, the health impacts of oil development show “up in our health statistics, alcohol treatment programs, emergency service needs, police responses – you name it.”

While preparing an EIS for an oil and gas lease of the National Petroleum Reserve, the Bureau of Land Management conducted the first-ever joint federal Health Impact Assessment/Environmental Impact Statement (HIA/EIS) to address the community’s health concerns. You can read the innovative Northeast NPR-A EIS and learn more in the PowerPoint presentation “Integrating Health and Environmental Impact Assessment”.

The idea of including health in an EIS document is covered by NEPA (Sec 1508.27 (b)(2), Sec. 2 [42 USC §4321]), which encourages agencies to include HIAs in their NEPA documents.  According to Aaron Wernham, Director of the Health Impact Project, 4 other HIA/EIS have begun and the EPA in California is calling for an HIA on large highway project and port expansion.  It seems that new environmental analysis requirements start in California before trickling across the rest of the nation, so agencies in your backyard may require HIAs in your NEPA documents in the near future.

What is an HIA?

Essentially, an HIA is a tool to measure potential health impacts of policies or projects, in an attempt to avoid “unintended health consequences and unexpected costs,” according to the Health Impact Project.  They combine qualitative and quantitative methods, and can vary in scope and complexity, depending on the project and funding.

How does the HIA work?

Here are the major HIA steps, (according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention):

• Screening – Identify if the project would benefit from an HIA.
• Scoping – Identify which health effects to consider.
• Assessment – Identify risks and benefits, and which people will be affected.
• Recommendation – Suggest changes/alternatives to proposals to mitigate adverse health effects.
• Reporting – Present the results.
• Evaluation and Monitoring – Identify indicators and track the outcomes of the Recommendation.

Where can I learn more?

• The Health Impact Project is calling for proposals for demonstrations of HIA projects. Grant money is awarded, and the website provides a wealth of helpful info regarding the process, and the future of HIAs.
• The American Planning Association offers a free in-depth online workshop (requires realplayer) on HIAs, complete with a quiz, an evaluation, interactive tools, and tons of helpful resources.

Speaking of helpful resources:

Incorporating Health Impact Assessment into Community Design and Transportation Decisions.  A video presentation from February 23, 2010.

Integrating Health into Environmental Impact Reports.  The San Francisco Department of Public Health and the San Francisco Planning Department are leading the way with this process. On this page, you can go to their Eastern Neighborhoods Community HIA (pdf).

So, what do YOU think – is the HIA a valuable tool or more paperwork? Have you worked on a project that required an HIA? Share your opinion in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. But Is It Healthy? (Part 2) – Healthy Development Measurement Tool
2. Environmental Assessment Omits Water Infrastructure, Violates NEPA
3. For NEPA Nerds, TRB’s discussion of NEPA 50% faster

Here’s the information for anyone googling “American Community Survey sumlevel.”

Sumlevel Codes
010 Nation

020 Region – Four groupings of states established by the Census Bureau in 1942 for the presentation of census data.

030 Division – A grouping of States within a census geographic region, established by the Census Bureau for the presentation of census data.

040 State – the primary legal subdivision of the United States

050 County – the primary legal subdivision of every state except Alaska and Louisiana

061 Minor Civil Division – the Census Bureau produces estimates for MCDs in 20 states. These legally defined county subdivisions are known by various descriptions, including towns (in New England, New York and Wisconsin), townships, and districts.

071 MCD Place Part – incorporated places can cross MCD boundaries, therefore a place name (with the pt. following it) can appear in more than one MCD. The 071 code designates that part of a place that is within one MCD.

157 County Place Part – incorporated places can cross county boundaries, therefore a place name (with the pt. following it) can appear in more than one county. The 157 code designates that part of a place that is within one county.

162 Incorporated Place total

170 Consolidated City – An incorporated place that has combined its governmental functions with a county or subcounty entity but contains one or more incorporated places that continue to function as local governments within the consolidated government.

172 Consolidated City-Place within Consolidated City – An incorporated place or consolidated city “balance” within a consolidated city

The source of the above information is: http://www.census.gov/popest/geographic/

Related posts:

1. When Will Census American Community Survey (ACS) Data Be Released?
2. When will Census 2010 data be available?

Here’s a link to the Creating Jobs Over Coffee article in the Dillingham Comprehensive Plan: http://www.agnewbeck.com/pdf/bristolbay/Dillingham_Comp_Plan/APA_BusinessIncubator.pdf

Related posts:

1. Starting a business changes how you…write?

The Past

Sarah presented on the legal framework of environmental justice analysis.  You can watch Sarah’s portion of the presentation here:

The Present

Brandy presented on the current state of TxDOT guidance.  One very interesting portion of her talk was a list of major elements of environmental justice analysis.  Brandy asked a series of questions that I’ve outlined below.

Major Elements of Environmental Justice Analysis

1. Users and Options

• Who is using the facility?
• What are their choices?
• How do you figure out who is using the facility?
• Are there free, parallel access roads?
• What are the non-toll routes?

2. Accessibility, Policies and Collection Methods

• Where is the excess toll revenue going?
• What kind of projects are being funding with the toll revenue?
• How easy is it to get a toll tag?
• Does a toll tag require a credit card?
• What are the payment options other than a toll tag?
• How far do people have to go to get a tag?
• What are the payment choices?
• How much more does it cost if users don’t have a toll tag?

3. Economic Analysis

Today, TxDOT uses a simple reasonable scenario analysis to determine economic impact.

1. How often is someone likely to use the facility?
2. How many times per year?
3. How much would a reasonable scenario cost (i.e. likely times to use the facility x number of times per year)?
4. What percentage of income would the reasonable scenario be for a person of low-income versus a person of medium income?

You can watch Brandy’s portion of the presentation here:

The Future

Finally, Jolanda presented her research on the Appraisal of Available Analytical Tools To Assess Environmental Justice Impacts of Toll Road Projects.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Texas is a leader in analysis of potential environmental justice concerns followed closely by Washington DOT.  Learn more about the methods used by the different states in Jolanda’s portion of the presentation here:

Does your company block YouTube? If so, check out the PowerPoint of the presentation here.

Environmental Justice and Toll Roads

View more presentations from kcarney.

If you’re interested in a quick estimate of environmental justice groups in an area, check out Cubit’s free EJ Estimator.

Environmental Justice Estimator

A big thank you to Sarah, Brandy, Jolanda and the Heart of Texas Chapter of WTS for letting us record the presentation and make it available.

What? You’re not a member of WTS? Learn more about the Heart of Texas Chapter of WTS here.

If there’s any portion of the presentation that you’d like to discuss further, leave me a comment below.

Related posts:

1. Customer Case Study: Edd Manges, Environmental Planning Department Manager
2. Hand to Mouth: EPA Releases Guide to Child Environmental Exposures
3. FEIS Land Swap Halted Over Alternative Analysis Failure