Neighborhood Explorer

An app for analyzing data at the neighborhood level

Available here

Goals

1. Make it easier to easily compare statistics about census tracts

• Problem: Census tracts are given numeric IDs that are not memorable
• Solution: Put the Census data on a map in an easily consumable way

2. Create a tool that helps people learn about their communities
3. Learn more about R + Shiny

Structure

• Variables are organized into "topics"

  • Race/ethnicity

  • Income

  • Commute mode

  • Housing

• Code is highly modular. The same functions can be applied to different "topics".

Inspirations

• https://www.policymap.com/newmaps#/
• https://www.energy.gov/eere/slsc/maps/lead-tool

Resources

• Data:

  • US Census Bureau

  • Historical Housing Unit and Urbanization Database 2010

• {tidycensus}

• {leaflet}

Next steps

• Add more topics

  • Variables from Census

  • Other data sources

• Add other areas of the US

  • Metro areas (MSAs)

• Improve UI

  • Show summarizations of the tracts the user has selected

• Incorporate variables that use other geographies (for example, data only available at the zip code level)