Infographic or Data Visualization?

What's the difference between an infographic and a data visualization? Robert Kosara, Associate Professor of Computer Science at UNC Charlotte, explains it well on his blog. He says, "The visualization is created by a tool that can be applied to many datasets, the infographic is hand-crafted for a particular dataset."

HealthLandscape creates data visualizations

With HealthLandscape, you can:

• Use the tools again and again for multiple data sets.
• Update your custom map at any time with more current data.
• Interact with your data to better understand it.
• View your data at multiple levels: state, county, census tract, or census block group.
• Add our data layers to your data.

And you can do all of this without being a designer or a GIS professional!

We'd like to help you visualize your data. Contact us at info@healthlandscape.org.

Sidenote: Be sure to read the comments on Robert's post. His ZIPScribble maps are pretty cool too.

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, 2009

New data available in HealthLandscape!

Yesterday, the U.S. Census Bureau released their 2009 Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates. According to their analysis, the poverty rate for children ages 5 to 17 in families rose in 295 counties and declined in 19 counties between 2007 and 2009. Most counties saw no statistically significant change between these years.

The U.S. Census Bureau, with support from other Federal agencies, created the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program to provide more current estimates of selected income and poverty statistics than those from the most recent decennial census.

The U.S. Census Bureau's Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program provides annual estimates of income and poverty statistics for all states, counties, and school districts. The main objective of the program is to provide estimates of income and poverty for the administration of federal programs and the allocation of federal funds to local jurisdictions. In addition to these federal programs, there are hundreds of state and local programs that depend on income and poverty estimates for distributing funds and managing programs.

The SAIPE program produces the following county estimates:
• total number of people in poverty
• number of related children ages 5 to 17 in families in poverty
• number of children under age 18 in poverty
• median household income

The estimates are not direct counts from enumerations or administrative records, nor direct estimates from sample surveys. Instead, income and poverty estimates are modeled by combining survey data with population estimates and administrative records. Beginning with the SAIPE program's estimates for 2005, data from the American Community Survey (ACS) are used in the estimation procedure; all prior years used data from the Annual Social and Economic Supplements of the Current Population Survey. Further details are given in a 2007 SAIPE report, Use of ACS Data to Produce SAIPE Model-Based Estimates of Poverty for Counties [PDF 3.4M]. For more information, see Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates.

Figure 1. Percent of Population in Poverty by County, 2009


Figure 2. Percent of Population Under 18 Years of Age in Poverty by County, 2009

Login now to start making maps!


Show the need.

Paint a portrait.

Tell the story.

Happy GIS Day!

What a great fall season so far - October brought us World Statistics Day, and November brings us GIS Day. For those of you who aren't well-acquainted with the term, GIS stands for Geographic Information System. GIS brings together technology and data to create a unique way to capture and display information. We use GIS to visualize data in a way that's often more meaningful than simple tables of numbers, where the real story often gets lost in the rows and columns. Displaying the data in geographic context makes it easier to spot patterns, trends, and relationships.

HealthLandscape uses GIS technology to map community data, including health, socio-economic and environmental information. The power behind the HealthLandscape platform is that all of the data are freely available in one central location.

Figure 1. Rate of High Cost Conventional Loans - Cincinnati Region - 2008 (Tract Level)


Figure 2. Ohio Self-Sufficiency Standard 2008: One Adult, One Infant, One Preschooler


Figure 3. County-Level Counts of H1N1 Cases



Other groups and agencies use GIS for in variety of applications, including mapping the ground motion and shaking intensity after an earthquake, the environmental consequences of natural and man-caused disasters, estimated carbon emission patterns, and crime rates. There is even an entire project dedicated to the mapping of historical Census data - GIS For History.

Figure 4. Pacific Northwest Shakemap, U.S. Geological Survey


Figure 5. Guimaras Oil Spill, Philippines, WWF Philippines


Figure 6. Total Emissions of Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide, The Vulcan Project


Figure 7. Rutgers Crime Log, Rutgers University


Figure 8. The First Census: America in 1790, GIS For History


For more information on GIS, visit GIS.com.

Login now to start making maps!

Show the need.

Paint a portrait.

Tell the story.

Halloween Mapping with HealthLandscape

The US Census Bureau just released their Halloween Special Feature. According to their research, in 2009 there were 36 million potential trick-or-treaters, or children between the ages of 5 and 13. These trick-or-treaters had 111.3 million occupied housing units to canvas for the annual haul of candy.

HealthLandscape can help you with your Halloween planning. If your county has a high number of trick-or-treaters, then you'd better have a few extra bowls of candy standing by.

Figure 1. Number of Children Ages 5 to 13, 2009 (Population Estimates)


Speaking of candy, in 2009 Americans had a per capital candy consumption of 24.3 pounds! Where did it all come from? California has the largest number of confectionary establishments, with 193. Pennsylvania is second, with 143, and New York is third, with 120.

Figure 2. Number of Confectionary Manufacturing Establishments (Chocolate and Non-Chocolate), 2008 (County Business Patterns)



Happy Halloween!

World Statistics Day

Happy World Statistics Day!



October 20, 2010 was set aside to celebrate the first World Statistics Day. The goal is to raise awareness of the achievements of official statistics and to recognize the work of statisticians in producing and disseminating the necessary data to respond to the every day new challenges and to measure progress in people’s lives. The celebration of the World Statistics Day will acknowledge the service provided by the global statistical system at national and international level, and help strengthen the awareness and trust of the public in official statistics. It serves as an advocacy tool to further support the work of statisticians across different settings, cultures, and domains.

Over 100 countries around the globe are celebrating with special events, Census data releases, statistical literacy campaigns, and statistical fairs.

Statistics are a part of our every day lives. We use and reference them regularly, sometimes without even realizing it. The US Census Bureau produced a video to illustrate just how common (and important!) statistics are.




They've also released a Special Edition of Facts for Features, featuring some fun facts in honor of the occasion:

There are 14 U.S. principal statistical agencies: the Bureau of Economic Analysis; Bureau of Justice Statistics; Bureau of Labor Statistics; Bureau of Transportation Statistics; U.S. Census Bureau; Economic Research Service; Energy Information Administration; National Agricultural Statistics Service; National Center for Education Statistics; National Center for Health Statistics; Office of Environmental Information; Social Security Administration Office of Research Evaluation and Statistics; National Science Foundation: Science Resources Statistics; and the Internal Revenue Service's Statistics of Income Division. (HealthLandscape includes data from many of these agencies!)

There were 29,208 statisticians employed in the United States in 2009.

In 2008, 20 percent of statisticians are employed by the federal government, with most of them concentrated in the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services. Another 10 percent worked for state and local governments.

(Source: US Census Bureau)

Login now to start making maps!

Show the need.

Paint a portrait.

Tell the story.

The Data are Coming!

Good news for all of the data-minded readers out there! While we're all anxiously awaiting the release of the Census 2010 data, we can begin to enjoy the first wave of releases from the American Community Survey.

The American Community Survey replaced the traditional long-form questionnaire that was sent to a smaller subset of households through Census 2000. The ACS sample includes about 3 million housing and group quarter units in the US, including representation from every county. The survey asks about professions, earnings, health insurance, modes of transportation, and housing costs. Census 2010 gives us the actual count of the population on April 1, 2010, but it's the ACS that describes how that population lives - the portrait of America. The 2009 ACS 1-Year Estimates are now available in the American Fact Finder for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more.

The highlights?

Median Household Income - Real median household income in the United States fell between 2008 and 2009 — decreasing by 2.9 percent from $51,726 to $50,221.

Poverty - Thirty-one states saw increases in both the number and percentage of people in poverty between 2008 and 2009.

Health Insurance - In 2009, the uninsured rate for children under 19 in the United States was 9.0 percent, and the uninsured rate in the states ranged from 18.4 percent in Nevada to 1.5 percent in Massachusetts.

Industry and Occupation - Work hours fell in 46 of the 50 most populous U.S. metro areas between 2008 and 2009.

Home Values - After adjusting for inflation, the median property value decreased in the United States by 5.8 percent between 2008 and 2009.

Rental Housing Costs - Housing cost burdens ranged from a low of 23.2 percent of renting households in the Casper, Wyo., metro area to a high of 62.8 percent of renting households in the College Station-Bryan, Texas, metro area.

Education — Science and Technology - The estimated number of people in the United States 25 and over with a bachelor's degree or higher was 56.3 million. Of this group, 20.5 million, or 36.4 percent, held at least one science and engineering degree.

Even more exciting than newly updated 1-Year Estimates; for the first time ever we will be able to get regularly-updated county- and place-level information for ALL US COUNTIES AND PLACES, including those with fewer than 20,000 people, through 5-year estimates. The first release of these 5-year estimates is scheduled for December, 2010. This is a big deal to those of us who regularly use data to describe populations and solve problems, as the best data we have right now for those smaller areas are 10 years old. You can imagine what kind of problems this can cause. Think about how much has changed in your own personal life over the last 10 years. 10 years ago, would you have been able to accurately predict where you are today? Population estimates and extrapolation can only take us so far.

HealthLandscape is continuously uploading data to the newly added 2009 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates section, so be sure to check back regularly for new additions.

Figure 1. Journey to Work: Percent of Population Using Public Transportation


Figure 2. Educational Attainment: Percent of Population with Graduate Degrees

Login now to start making maps!

Show the need.

Paint a portrait.

Tell the story.

Health Insurance Coverage by County, 2007

New data available in HealthLandscape!

The US Census Bureau's Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) for 2007 are estimates of health insurance coverage for all counties. This dataset includes county-level estimates on the number of people and the percentages of people with and without health insurance coverage for ages 18 to 64 years. For more information, see, SAHIE.

The Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) program was created to develop model-based estimates of health insurance coverage for counties and states. The program builds on the work of the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) program.

SAHIE released 2007 county estimates of people with and without health insurance coverage by:

• Ages 0-18; 0-64; 18-64; 40-64; and 50-64;

• Sex;

• People of all incomes and people at or below 200 percent or 250 percent of the poverty threshold; and

• Measures of uncertainty of the estimates.

This research is partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). The CDC has a congressional mandate to provide screening services for breast and cervical cancer to low-income, uninsured, and underserved women through the NBCCEDP. Most state NBCCEDP programs define low-income as 200 or 250 percent of the poverty threshold.


Figure 1. Percent of Population Uninsured by County, 2007


Figure 2. Percent of Population at or Below 200% of Poverty Uninsured by County, 2007

Login now to start making maps!

Show the need.

Paint a portrait.

Tell the story.