2015 Maryland America's Communities GIS Base Project

 

Empowering visions for success ... data resources described here are essential to know where we are, when change might occur and how that change might impact us,  We help leaders and stakeholders calibrate their visions with data-driven measurements of change.  A strategic plan is an essential part of this continuously changing process and supported by resources described here.

 

This section is focused on data and tools to examine characteristics of the Maryland geographic, demographic and economic patterns and trends. Focus is placed on schools, neighborhoods, cities, counties and metropolitan areas.  Use these resources to develop/extend/share insights into ways of improving opportunities and outcomes.

 

The  2015 Maryland America's Communities GIS Base Project is a part of the ProximityOne America's Communities Program.

 

Install these data and tools to examine statewide to neighborhood to individual school, school district, cities and other geography. Knit together multi-sourced data to gain insights into patterns and infrastructure for the geography, population and topics of interest. Optionally examine these current, historical and trending data in combination with demographic-economic projections. Planning for the future ... assess the how, what and where of change between now and 5 years ahead.

 

How you can use these ready-to-use resources:

 • visually collaborate on wide-ranging patterns and geographies in committees/meetings.

 • create maps for integration into stories and reports.

 • view geographic reference maps of cities, schools, school districts of interest.

 • view thematic pattern maps of schools, cities, school districts, counties.

 • add student data and view these data contextually with neighborhoods & other geography.

 • add other subject matter data.

 • add other geography.

 • view data in a tabular manner; sort and apply queries.

 • extract data for selected types of geographies for use with other applications.

 

Visual Analysis of Demographic-Economic Patterns
Maryland ACP GIS Project Start-up view; see additional views below

View created with CV XE GIS. Click graphic for larger view.

The GIS fileset uses the most recent data from:
  • reports by schools, school districts, state & Federal education agencies
  • demographic-economic data from the American Community Survey
  • geographic, demographic, economic data developed by ProximityOne.
The GIS project is available for the U.S. or any state.

Additional GIS Application Views
Children in Poverty by School District

... uses 2013 estimates as alternative to free and reduced lunch fee participation. Click graphic for larger view.

Montgomery County Public Schools (bold black boundary) vicinity; schools as markers.
  - Rockville city shown by hatch pattern. Urban census blocks shown by orange fill pattern.


Montgomery County Public Schools vicinity: income inequality by block group
  - Gini Index showing patterns of income inequality by block group.
  - Rockville city shown by hatch pattern.


Montgomery County Public Schools vicinity: economic prosperity by neighborhood
  - median household income by census tract.
  - Rockville city shown by hatch pattern.


Additional Views under development.

Installing the GIS Project (requires Windows computer with Internet connection)
1. Run the ProximityOne CV XE GIS Installer (only required if not already installed)
... run the CV XE GIS installer
... take all defaults during installation
2. Run the Data Installer -- requires Maryland Data Installer UserID (not your User Group ID)
... updated 1/30/15 ... if previously installed allow to reinstall with overwrite/update.
... the data installer will guide you through installation step by step.
... project files may not be redistributed whole or in part; shapefiles are not authorized for use with other software.
3. Initial start-up.
... after completing the above steps and with CV XE running (use desktop icon)
... use File>Open>Dialog to open the project file named c:\k12\k12_md.gis
... the map view shown at top of this section should appear.
4. Additional optional settings.
4.1. Enable full set of CV XE GIS features available to User Group members:
    ... add your User Group ID to the Key edit box in Settings.
4.2. Enable automatic open of the k12_md.gis project when CV XE is started:
    ... add c:\k12\k12_md.gis to the Start-up GIS Project edit box in Settings.
5. Additional optional GIS projects.
... open a different GIS project with different start-up settings.
... patterns of economic prosperity; median household income by census tract.
... create a project for any school district, city, county, etc. with custom settings; your additional data.
... use File>Open>Dialog to open the project files named below:
5.1. Montgomery County Public Schools ... c:\k12\k12_md_montgomery.gis ... start-up view shows:
  ... Columbia Public Schools (bold boundary); Columbia city (hatch pattern); schools; urban area by census block.


Layers, Shapefiles & Datasets Included
  • U.S. by state
  • Maryland metropolitan areas with selected ACS 2013 demographic-economic data
  • Maryland counties with selected population estimates
  • Maryland cities, initially set with query for Scottsdale
  • Maryland 2012-13 public schools and selected attributes -- iterated four times:
      ... showing school name as label (when layer checked)
      ... showing school enrollment as label (when layer checked)
      ... showing school free and reduced lunch fee students as label (when layer checked)
      ... showing school as red markers (when layer checked)
  • Maryland roads -- TIGER/Line road coverage for selected counties
  • Maryland census blocks with integrated demographics, urban/rural status, other geographic codes
  • Maryland cities
  • Maryland towns/county subdivisions
  • Maryland census tracts with ACS2013 subject matter ... see list of selected items
  • Maryland 2013-14 school districts and selected attributes -- iterated four times:
      ... showing school district boundaries (all types) with district name as label (when layer checked)
      ... %grade relevant children by elementary school district (when layer checked)
      ... %grade relevant children by secondary school district (when layer checked)
      ... %grade relevant children by unified school district (when layer checked)
        (shows %grade relevant children as label)
  • Mapquest Open Street Map as tiling base layer
        (shows only with Internet connectivity)

Using the Datasets
Each shapefile has an associated dBase file; for example the schools layers all use the shapefile sch1213pts_md.shp.
The file named sch1213pts_md.dbf (part of the shapefile) may be opened/viewed/exported.
Use Database>dBrowse to perform these operations; or open the file "sch1213pts_md.dbf" directly in Excel or Access.
Caution -- be aware that this feature can permanently modify the file opened.
  ... any changes made to a field value are permanent.
  ... the Zap button permanently deletes all records.
  ... queries/filtering, changing field widths, sorting, and use of Field Location Manager do not affect the dataset.
Refer to CV XE GIS User Guide for more information.

Illustration of using dBrowse to view schools data; click graphic for larger view

ACS 2013 Census Tract Items -- scroll section

ACS 2013 Census Tract Items Field Descriptions -- scroll section
Similar to above list but structured with one row per item/field.
This item/description list can be used is applications as described in A-3 above.

Extending the GIS Project
The GIS project may be extended in several ways. Among the possbilities are:
  • add other layers/shapefiles of different type to to project; e.g., census tracts, roads, cities, other locations.
  • augment/add a school or school district layer/shapefile with performance data.
  • augment/add a school district layer/shapefile with other ACS 2013 demographic-economic data.
  • modify query settings applied to a layer to show other attributes; e.g. schools by locale code.
  • save a modified project with a new name and start-up view.

Related Resources
  • 2012-13 LEA Characteristics Interactive table
    ... view subject matter used in the Maryland school districts layer/shapefile in this interactive table
    ... national scope table; 18,000+ local education agencies
    ... illustration -- Maryland school districts ranked on total enrollment:
  • 2012-13 Public Schools Characteristics Interactive table
    ... view subject matter used in the Maryland school layer/shapefile in this interactive table
    ... national scope table; 100,000+ schools
  • ACS School District Demographic-Economic Characteristics Interactive tables
    ...General Demographics
    ...Social Characteristics
    ...Economic Characteristics
    ...Housing Characteristics
  • Children's Demographics by School District
  • America's Communities
    ... view city demographic-economic profile.
  • Analyzing Maryland Neighborhood Patterns
    ... use this related GIS project as-is; optionally add layers from this project to the k12_md.gis project.
  • Metropolitan Areas -- interactive demographic-economic data table
    ... Metro Profiles (include school district summaries)-- click link in left column below to view selected metro