Visualizing the Local Effects of Recovery Spending on Job Loss
In the wake of U.S. President Obama’s speech on jobs last night, we present this mapping of Recovery Act spending. Development Seed, the same folks who mapped the famine in the Horn of Africa, have turned their attention on America.
Maps
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sunfoundation: Google Map Maker edits in real-time Google Map Maker is a simple tool that lets you d
sunfoundation: Google Map Maker edits in real-time Google Map Maker is a simple tool that lets you d
Congressional Campaign Totals
Members of Congress recently filed their quarterly campaign-finance reports, which detail their political fundraising, spending, cash on hand and debts. The Center for Responsive Politics posted the totals for all House and Senate members yesterday. This map shows fundraising totals by state:
Here’s a per-capita version:
The interactive version lets you toggle views between fundraising, spending, debt and cash.
Congressional Seniority
An interactive map from work:
This map visualizes the number of years officials have served in the U.S. House of Representatives, with darker shades representing longer seniority. Toggle the map below to see the members’ political affiliations (red=Republicans; blue=Democrats). Read a related story.
Source: U.S. House Clerk | Data: CSV
Mapping World Gas Prices
Inspired by FlowingData’s post, I mapped world gas prices by gallon in U.S. dollars. Gas is most expensive Turkey ($9.69) and The Netherlands ($9.01), where my mother in law lives and drives. It’s least expensive in Venezuela (9 cents) and Saudi Arabia (61 cents), two oil-rich states that surely subsidize the cost for locals.
(View larger interactive version)
Source: Wikipedia | Date: CSV | Made with Google Fusion Tables
Mapping Texas’ Diversity
A cross post from my work blog:
The Bronx. Queens. Fort Bend? Texas now has some of the nation’s most diverse counties, according to an index created by USA Today to analyze U.S. Census data.
Nine Texas counties make the list of the 40 most diverse counties in the country, according to the analysis. Fort Bend County, outside of Houston, comes in fourth, trailing Bronx County and Queens County in New York, and Hudson County, New Jersey.
The index calculates the probability that two people chosen at random from a county would have different races or ethnic orgins, setting a 0 to 100 score. Texas’ overall score in 2010 was 46, according to the index, below the national score, which was 55. Both increased from 2000, with Texas’ up from 42, and the nation as a whole up from 49.
In layman’s terms, Texas’ score means there’s a 46 percent chance that two randomly chosen people would have different races or ethnicities. Keep in mind that the index measures overal diversity, so counties that are heavily white or Hispanic rank lower in their scores. (State indexes ranged from 81 in Hawaii to 11 in Vermont, according to USA TODAY.)
Even though Texas’ score is below the national figure, nine of its counties are in the top 40 out of 3,141 across the country. Leading the way is Fort Bend County, which has a large Asian population, and a score of 75.2. (Whites represent about 50 percent of the population there.) Other Texas counties high on the list were, in order, Waller, Jefferson, Bell, Potter, Travis and Matagorda.
These maps visualize the scores in all of Texas’ 254 counties, with lighter shades representing less diversity. First, 2010:
Diversity in 2000:
Let us know if you have feedback or ideas for other data-related content, and be sure to follow @TribData on Twitter for updates.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau/USA TODAY | Data
D.C. Census Drops (Finally)
The U.S. Census Bureau today released redistricting data for the District of Columbia, a city that at first glance remains quite segregated — at least in terms of where people live. These quick maps visualize the percentage of black residents by census tract in 2000 and in 2010.
First, 2000:
Now for 2010. Notice that some neighborhoods are becoming more diverse, but not that many. Fewer than I expected, actually, given all I’ve heard about gentrification in D.C., where I moved last week.
(More to come).
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, IRE | Data: csv, ESRI shp
Mapping Three Decades of Japanese Earthquakes
Using data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, anyone can download historical data on earthquakes across the globe in various formats. Here’s a screenshot in Google Earth from a KML file downloaded today. It shows 30 years of earthquakes — in this extent focused on Japan — with colors representing depth and bubble size representing magnitude. (This obviously looks better in Google Earth):
Here’s an interactive version of the KML data uploaded to Google Fusion Tables:
View larger version | Source: USGS | Download the data
Hispanic Growth in Texas House Districts
I built a bunch of static maps today to visualize the Hispanic population change in Texas House districts. We’ve decided instead to create an interactive version, and I didn’t want that work to go to waste. (Click images to see larger versions).
Statewide percentage change by district:
Statewide raw population change by district:
Bexar County percentage change:
Bexar County raw population change:
D/FW percentage change:
D/FW percentage change:
Harris County percentage change:
Harris County raw population change:
Travis County percentage change:
Travis County raw population change:
Sources: Shapefiles | Data
Internet Censorship
Which countries censor the Internet, according to a report by the OpenNet Initiative:
Hat tip: Travis Swicegood