SANDAG Transportation Resources

SANDAG Senior Research Analyst Mike Calandra sent us some traffic data updates for our Data As a Public Good report. I’m always thrilled when I get to communicate directly with agency analysts, and having them write to me is like an early Christmas. In our Data as a Public Good report several interviewees reported that … Read more

Population Density Maps

Here is some  eye candy, a population density map of Pacific Beach and surrounding neighborhoods. This map was created with a lot of Python code, using the 2010 census shapefiles for census blocks, setting a value for each block as the population of the block divided by the area of the block, and rasterizing all … Read more

Python Data Analysis Workshop

I’m spending the morning at Qualcomm for the Python Data Analysis Workshop, run by Dave Cook of the San Diego Python User group. I’m presenting about using Python to analyze crime and census data. If you like pretty pictures, the presentation has plenty of them: Analyzing Crime and Census Data Presentation.

Report: Municipal Open Data Policies

We’ve released a new report, Municipal Open Data Policies. The best way to ensure that San Diego area nonprofits and citizens get useful data is for local governments to adopt Open Data policies. These policies, which have been implemented in many cities around the country, mandate that cities publish data. So, instead of fighting for months … Read more

Report: Data as a Public Good

Our first report, Data as a Public Good, assesses data requirements from over 20 civic and social organizations in the San Diego region and documents specific needs for municipal data. The report highlights the datasets that city governments control that would be most useful to the public if they were easily available. The report also discusses limits to … Read more