An Introduction to The Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance and

Geographic Information Systems

Cheryl KnottGIS Analyst

BNIA-JFIUniversity 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 KnottBNIA-JFI

University of Baltimore

cknott@ubalt.edu410-837-4377

http://www.ubalt.edu/bnia/

Questions?