....for those of you who used Census data ..... Dan

Dan Walters

National Map Liaison for ME, MA & RI

USGS

196 Whitten Road

Augusta, Maine 04330

207-776-1293

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, Dec 4, 2014 at 4:14 PM
Subject: New York Regional Office (NYRO) Census Geography Update 2014-03
To: [log in to unmask]

New York Regional Office (NYRO) Census Geography Update 2014-03

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Covering all the "News": New York, New Jersey & New England

This is one in a series of occasional informational emails concerning Census Geography from the Census Bureau's New York Regional Office.

This email is intended for any current or potential partners, data-users, or stake-holders in Census geographic activities.

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R E L E A S E O F A C S 5 - Y E A R D A T A

The Census Bureau released ACS (American Community Survey) 5-year Data earlier today. Previously, ACS data was only available through American Factfinder (AFF) down to the Census Tract level. Now for the first time, users can access ACS block group level statistics on the American Factfinder tool rather than a separate FTP site. For many statistics-users and GISers, this information is vital for the mapping of current demographic statistics. If you decide to download data to the block group level, be aware that you must download the block group within a tract or within the whole county (not a city/town level).

U S I N G A M E R I C A N F A C T F I N D E R ( A F F )

Agreed! American Factfinder is not always the easiest mechanism to use when you want to download Census data! But it does have its amenities! You can bookmark your searches to use later on; you can view your data in an on-line map before downloading (just to make sure you got what you thought you wanted); you can download a shapefile of your selected area in addition to downloading your data; and you can even create your own specialized census geography shapefile! Our office is always willing to help you over the phone with these issues or to come out and give you a hands-on training. Simply contact us at the phone number below. In the meantime, use the attached "recipes" to guide you through the process.

The first file is called "How to Bake a Cake" and will guide you through the process of downloading ACS 2012 data at the sub-county level (i.e. "towns, municipalities"). This "recipe" was created in the style of modern cookbook parlance, and is meant to attack the issue with a bit of humor.

The second file is a pictorial recipe that shows you picture by picture how to download Block Group data and shapefile for a county for 1 variable. The AFF method for downloading a shapefile will NOT work if your area has more than (or even close to) 3500 polygons. Good luck!

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David Kraiker
Data Dissemination Specialist
Census Bureau - New York Regional Office
Tel: 212-584-3440