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Show Me the Mapping
On my Feed Me the Data page I provided some links to free data sources that can help satisfy the appetites for data from our more analytically-oriented visitors. However, as a professor teaching in an interdisciplinary program I recognize the some of us are more visual than analytical when it comes to learning and information-seeking. This page is targeted to those visitors, focusing on sites and web applications that free interactive mapping as a gateway to spatial information. As you will discover, these sources have lowered the bar for those interested in exploring selected markets and/or searching for new markets or locations. If you find something of interest here or want to join disparate data sources to create your own "big data" system, you might want to cross-reference these two pages.
This is a "Show me the Mapping" page, a phrase I borrowed from Jerry Maguire although in the case the underlying currency is a virtual form of currency, one that is spatially-anchored and spans both the space-time and money-time dimensions of the real estate discipline. The maps are interactive, allowing you to customize the queries to focus on topics most of interest to you. It is my hope that you will discover new ways of drawing on analytics to complement your experiences and understanding of how real estate markets actually work. Indeed, if we are successful, we may help lead the regime change in real estate. Have fun mapping!
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Market Indicators
These sources present interactive maps that provides insights into the market conditions in various geographic areas across the country.
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The American Community Survey interactive map interface allows user to explore key metropolitan statistics. These statistics include: age disribution, commuting to work, computer and internet access, education, employment status, foreign-born, health insurance coverage, household income, households and families, and poverty indicators.
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The Census Bureau's On the Map interface is an interactive mapping portal through which users can access 2018 Longitudinal Employment-Household Dynamics (LED) data. Users can select standard geographies (e.g., counties, cities, metros, or census tract or block) or the can zoom in and draw custom polygons or shapes for which to extract data. Data options include year(s) and job types; users can also select other geographic areas with which to extract comparative statistics. Output options include detailed reports, geography, and underlying data.
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Census Quickfacts is an interactive, map-based application that provides access to key indicators by state, county, city, town, or zip code. Once the geographic area is selected, the user can choose detailed data with respect to population, age and sex, race and ethnicity, population, housing characteristics, families, internet use, education, health, economy and other key variables. By selecting multiple locations, the data can be retrieved on a a side-by-side basis to allow comparisons among geographic areas.
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Using the interactive GEOFRED map query application visitors can build customized maps for states or counties. Users can register for free and save queries, graphs and charts for future retrieval.
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The BEA BEARFACTS mapping system allows users to query standardized reports and information for state, country, or Metropolitan Statistical Areas. These reports which can be downloaded as PDFs, include a series of charts and graphs.
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Using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics "Economy at a Glance," you are two clicks away from retrieving current state and, metro area employment data. When you click on a MSA name, you have access to labor statistics including labor force, employment, unemployment, wages, CPI, government and non-farm wages and salary by category (e.g., manufacturing, trade, information, finance, business services, education, and leisure/hospitality).
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The County Business Patterns (CBP) interface allows users to access state-level date on People and Population, Race and Ethnicity, Families and Living Arrangements, Health, Education, Business and Economy, Employment, Housing, Income, and Poverty. By changing the geography to Metro Area or County, similar data can be retrieved.
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Cluster Mapping Methodology and terminology are explained. To make it easier to apply, separate user personas and usage paths are set up for Economic Developers, Policymakers, Academics or Researchers, and Private Sector users.
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StatsAmerica is to provide actionable data for economic developers to use in site requests, developing metrics, grant writing and strategic planning. StatsAmerica compiles data from federal and state sources, along with some commercial or private source data. It is a service of the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business with support from the Economic Development Administration. Some interesting map-based applications include:
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Is a map tool that allows users to select a standard geography and retrieve Innovation Index data including: Headline Index (and Rank among peers); Human Capital & Knowledge Citation, Busines Dynamics; Business Profile, Employment Productivity, and Economic Well-Being.
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Allows users to compare and contrast selected counties with others nationwide. Data includes demographics, education, income & poverty, jobs & earnings & wages, labor force, and living arrangement.  <-- Click on Link
Users select a city, county or metro area and then specify a radius from 25-500 miles. The query will return detailed data on population and growth rate, unemployment, employment, average earnings/job, and 2-digit NAICS codes for employment.
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The Measuring Stress tool calculates whether a county, region or neighborhood meets grant thresholds for unemployment and income. Just select county or tract and the tool will create regions or neighborhoods based on your choices. In addition to a customized distress report, the app can provide a social & economic profile to put the report in context. <-- Click on Link
The Regionizer allows users to build market areas that cut across state lines or contain multiple counties. The query provides access to customized reports on commuting, demographics, occupational clusters, and industry clusters.
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Town Profiles draws on American Community Survey (ACS) data 5-year estimates to provide standard demographic profiles for all incorporated cites and towns in the US. Key categories include people & housing, employment & income, population by age by race and by hispanic origin, educational attainment, households, housing units and tenure and mix, labor force, commuting, and occupations. Each of the detailed data items are compared to the state for reference. <-- Click on Link
Allows a user to select a general location and zoom in to select census tracts to define a customized neighborhood or submarket. Standardized reports are generated for the areas.
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Housing Markets
This section highlights some useful map interfaces for exploring the housing market, both public and private. The emphasis is on mapping applications; see "Where's It At" for more data from these sources.
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Private Housing Market
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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) produces reports on commercial and residential markets across the country. In addition, several interactive maps have been developed to help visitors track residential real estate activity at metropolitan, county, and state levels. Some of these maps include:
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Zillow provides several map-based query systems including Buying a Home, Selling a Home, and Renting a house or property. Users can select areas of interest within markets, or compare areas across markets for possible relocation. The Buying and Renting interfaces are similar: once an area is selected, the user can turn on filters (e.g., price range, number of beds and baths, type of property, size, age, amenities). The map links include:
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Public Housing Market from HUD
(Click on Hyperlinks to visit sites)
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- Where is HUD-Assisted Housing? This interactive map allows you to view the location of LIHTC properties, Multifamily Properties Assisted by HUD, Public Housing Buildings,and Housing Choice Vouchers. You can search by market and zoom/pan to query the data.
- Small Area Fair Market Rents. This map allows visitors to explore Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) calculated at ZIP Codes levels within Metropolitan Areas. These rents are used for Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher payment standards in areas designated by HUD as well as other assistance programs.
- HUD Section 202 Elderly Housing. This map identifies the locations of HUD assisted Multi-Family properties that primarily serve elderly residents and, with a mouse click that triggers a pop-up presents key data including address, project manager, and number of units.
- Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) by Tract. This map allows you to select markets and tract to view the number of Housing Choice Vouchers by Census Tract, the HCV % of Rentals, Fair Market Rent, and Zip Code.
- Opportunity Zones & Affordable Housing. The interactive map allows visitors to toggle on and off the locations and key data for Public Housing Buildings, Assisted MF Properties, HUD-Insured Healthcare Properties, Housing Choice Vouchers, LIHTC Properties, USDA RD Developments, and Promise Zones.
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As defined by my mentor, Dr. James A. Graaskamp, real estate is "Artificially delineated space over time with a fixed reference point to the earth." As such, real estate is an inherently spatial industry. Unfortunately, the academy spends more time on the money-side of real estate than the space-time which ignores the fundamental building block that drives value. Indeed, many of our students find it easier to set up an IRR calculation than to seek out information on the submarket conditions that affect the "set of assumptions" that drive proforma forecasts. This is especially true since the spatial side has its own lexicon and somewhat archane and cumbersome coding systems that make it hard for non-GIS types to extract the data and process it into meaningful and actionable information.
Fortunately, by learning some fundamental geographic concepts upon which spatial analytics is built, you can identify markets and delineate the submarket or trade areas that are most relevant to your decisions. The section is designed to introduce you to some basic geographic principles that will help you as you navigate through the various sources.
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Environmental Attribute Mapping
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Environmental Attributes are one of the key dimensions of the real estate product construct. The term "environmental" is broad and inclusive, enfolding natural and manmade attributes of the "built environment," as well as services and infrastructure that support it. These attributes are also referrred to as externalities and can be positive or negative in terms of how they impact a particular site.
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This interactive visualization is updated daily by Our World in Data provides a comprehensive view of the efficacy of COVID-19 containment strategies by country. By mousing over any of the countries in the interactive viz, a user can quickly see the pattern of confirmed cases compared to other countries. Users can also query the COVID-19 Cases through a Map Interface. The underlying data can be viewed in charts or downloaded.
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The Environmental Justice Screen allows you to query EPA's environmental data for any site in the country. Once you are on the home screen, enter the city or address of interest and the map will pan to that location. From there, pick a site or draw a geography of interest using the drawing tools. By clicking on Report you will see the key environmental statistics. Once the report is produced on-screen, the user can select from three types of reports: environmental indicators, demographic indicators, and EJ indices. By clicking on the comparisons above each graph, the relative ranking of the area to state, regional, and national percentiles are displayed. Mousing over each of the bars reveals a pop-up with actual statistics.
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The Water Quality Portal (WQP) provided by the National Water Quality Monitoring Council is a collaboration of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC). Using the portal, users can select location from standard geographic shapes or a buffer area around a specific latitude/longitude coordinate as well as the type a sampling parameters of interest. Once the geographic areas or points have been specified, the user can display the datapoints on a map which can then be downloaded.
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Crime Data explorer allows users to query crime data at both the state and reporting agency (e.g., county sheriff's office, city police department) levels of geography. Once selected, a series of charts and graphs are generated displaying trends in total crime, cases created and cleared, as well as crimes by category, location, victim profils, types of weapons, and links to other crimes. The underlying data are collected through the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) and National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
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Linkage Attributes
Linkage Attributes are defined as the "connections" among places. The term includes both the infrastructure (e.g., roads, highways, bridges, rail lines, airports) as well as the modes of transit (e.g., private, public). Although often measured in euclidian distance, linkages often follow irregular paths and networks. While linkages can be quantified in terms of distance measures, the attributes should also be viewed through a behavioral lens through which they are viewed by the market. Thus, the relative ease of transit (i.e., congestion, commuting times) should also be considered when comparing locations.
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(Click on Hyperlinks to visit sites)
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- Access to Intercity Transportation in Rural Areas. COVID-19 and the rise in remote working has created new interest in rural America. The Bureau of Transportations' interactive map shows the percent of the rural population with access to scheduled air (commercial), intercity bus, and intercity rail transportation. These data are provided for 6-year intervals (i.e., 2006, 2012, and 2018) which allows you to see changes in accessibility by clicking on respective years. You can also change the mode of transportation (e.g., air, bus, or rail).
- Interim National Multimodal Freight Network. The National Multimodal Freight Network map interface allows users to view the national network overall, as well as to select specific locations of interest. Users can also toggle filters on for Border Crossings, Airports, Ports, Wateway Connections, Inland Coastal Waterways, Marine Highways, Highways, Rail Connectors, and Railways. For each category, users can also view attribute tables.
- National Transportation Noise Map. The objective for creating the Noise Map is to allow various stakeholders, interest groups, and policymakers track trends in transportation-related noise. The measures are available by individual transportation mode (e.g., aviation, road, and rail) as well as multiple modes. The noise levels are presented in dBA for 24-hour periods for 2016 and 2018 allowing trend analysis. By selecting a location, the map zooms into to a detailed map showing differential noise levels around highways, airports, and other noise generators.
- Opportunity Zone Transportation Infrastructure. This interactive map allows users to explore transportation infrastructure in or near Qualified Opportunity Zones. These data can be helpful in selecting QOZs for suitability for distribution facilities (i.e., the Last Mile Challenge) as well as selecting sites for other uses for which linkages and transit are important criteria. By clicking on a location of interest or panning to a potential submarket, the user can see interstate exits, major FHWA projects, NHS Bridges, Amtrak/Commuter Rail Stations, Communter Rail Stations, Intercity Bus Stations, Light Rail Stations, and Airports.
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Geospatial Applications
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The Small Business Edition allows the user to explore market demand by type of business and location using a hierarchical method for selecting the type of business and location. The Regional Analyst version has some similarities to the Small Business version in terms of style and queries although the focus is on broader areas and retrieving market characteristics. Users can also interact with the map by using standard shapes or drawing custom polygons.
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Opportunity Zones &
State Legislative Districts. <-- Click for link
This mapping site identifies and delineates Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ) in the US.
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This interactive mapping site identifies and delineates Difficult to Develop Areas (DDAs) and Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) effective January 1, 2021. In addition to DDAs and QCTs, visitors can toggle on with Fair Market Rent areas and Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects.
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Spatial Orientation
Despite the relative ease of finding the areas of interest via a map interface, there are times when knowing the code for an area of interest as well as the hierarchy of places can expedite the search and retrieval processes. This section points you to some basic spatial resources.
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This site provides a lookup tool where you can query the Metropolitan Statistical Codes which can help in retrieving data for markets of interest.
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 <-- Click on Link The United States Geographical Service (USGS) provides science about the natural hazards related to water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources. USGS also monitors the health of ecosystems and environment, as well as the impacts of climate and land-use change and the processes of change.
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The USGS publishes geologic maps and 3-D geologic frameworks that provide critical data for the US and organizes and maintains the geospatial baseline of topography, natural landscape, built environment, and related materials.
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The National Map (TNM) is a customizable map with which users can select different map galleries, select layers, display legend, add data, share the app, query information, measure areas, view elevation profile, return spot elevations, print, draw and select features. The TNM Advanced Viewer has a wide range of functions including a Download Client Link to downloading National Map GIS data and the TNM Download Client, and Help Pages link explaining the Advanced Viewer.
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TopoView archives topographic maps over time allowing users to find the names of natural and cultural features that have changed over time. The US Topo series and HTMC maps are offered as GeoPDFs through The National Map and the USGS Store with additional formats accessible through topoView including GeoTIFF, JPEG, and KMZ.
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