[acs-r] acs.R version 1.2: Now, with 2012 data

Thu Feb 6 20:25:45 EST 2014

Done - signed, Scoop.it and tweeted!

On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 5:20 PM,  <arilamstein at gmail.com> wrote:
> I just created a petition on whitehouse.gov asking the Obama administration
> to make all census data from all years available via the Census Developer
> API.  Please consider signing it and sharing it with other people who you
> think might benefit from this: http://wh.gov/lnc3J
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 2:09 PM, Ezra Haber Glenn <eglenn at mit.edu> wrote:
>>
>>
>> The acs.R package is limited to data available via the API, listed
>> here: <http://www.census.gov/developers/data/>.  In short, right now
>> it's only the 5-year survey ending in 2010, 2011, 2012.
>>
>> In addition, the package can only deal with the "Summary File"
>> variables -- not the "Data Profiles," which are really in a different
>> format -- more like short reports than summary tables.
>>
>> In the future, I expect that the census will add the 1- and 3-year
>> summary files to the API, at which point the package will be able
>> fetch those as well.
>>
>> --Ezra
>>
>> At Sat, 1 Feb 2014 22:33:42 -0800, M Edward (Ed) Borasky wrote:
>> >
>> > My initial goal for pdxcensusdata was to provide a 'decoder ring' for
>> > Census data for local journalists. The initial test case was going to
>> > be languages spoken at home, since the transportation planners here
>> > need that for signage and the mobile apps. And I'm personally
>> > interested in the Gini coefficient measures of inequality.
>> >
>> > I'm pretty sure the acs.R package only accesses 2010, 2011 and 2012 as
>> > "end years", with a length parameter of 1, 3 or 5 years.
>> >
>> > On Sat, Feb 1, 2014 at 10:25 PM,  <arilamstein at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > > Ed,
>> > >
>> > > The pdxcensusdata project looks very interesting, but I still have the
>> > > same
>> > > question - which years are accessible with the current version of
>> > > acs.R?
>> > >
>> > > You are (mostly) correct about the limitations of the current version
>> > > of
>> > > choroplethr.  But in addition to state and county level data, it also
>> > > renders ZCTA (Zip Code Tabulated Area) level data.  Although I had
>> > > trouble
>> > > working with the ZCTA shapefile that the census releases, so I just
>> > > render
>> > > each ZIP as a colored dot, centered at the longitude and latitude of
>> > > the
>> > > ZIP.  At that point its no longer a proper choropleth (because it
>> > > lacks a
>> > > border), but I still thought it was worth including in the project.
>> > >
>> > > I spoke with Ramnath briefly as well about using rCharts for rendering
>> > > choropleths, but I haven't had a chance to follow up with him yet.
>> > > Please
>> > > send along any interesting results you get.  I think that choropleths
>> > > are
>> > > going to benefit a lot from the recent advances in interactive
>> > > graphics.
>> > >
>> > > Ari
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On Sat, Feb 1, 2014 at 7:24 PM, M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
>> > > <znmeb at znmeb.net>
>> > > wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> I have a script that will extract table code names and their
>> > >> definitions into CSV files so one can browse, rather than doing a
>> > >> lookup via acs.r lookup functions. See
>> > >> https://github.com/znmeb/pdxcensusdata/tree/master/csv. However, this
>> > >> only covers 2012, 2011 and 2010, not earlier data. I suspect if there
>> > >> are XML files on the Census Bureau site equivalent to the ones in
>> > >> acs.r I could hack up the scripts to use them without much trouble if
>> > >> you have a use for this.
>> > >>
>> > >> As far as I can tell, choropleth.R only goes down to the county
>> > >> level,
>> > >> not census tract, block group or block. I'm also talking to Ramnath
>> > >> Vaidyanathan of rCharts (http://ramnathv.github.io/rCharts/) about
>> > >> making Census choropleth maps using Leaflet.js, which will rended
>> > >> automagically on Github Pages. I'm going to try to hack something up
>> > >> for that this week in the above-linked project.
>> > >>
>> > >> On Sat, Feb 1, 2014 at 7:13 PM,  <arilamstein at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > >> > Hi Ezra,
>> > >> >
>> > >> > Thanks for including this update.  I'm having a tough time figuring
>> > >> > out
>> > >> > what
>> > >> > data is available via acs.R.  From what you've said before, I
>> > >> > gather
>> > >> > that
>> > >> > it's "whatever is available via the Census API".  But that is also
>> > >> > not
>> > >> > clear
>> > >> > to me.  For example, I found this page on the census website, which
>> > >> > I
>> > >> > think
>> > >> > lists all ACS ever conducted:
>> > >> >
>> > >> >
>> > >> >
>> > >> > http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/help/jsf/pages/metadata.xhtml?lang=en&type=survey&id=survey.en.ACS_ACS
>> > >> >
>> > >> > But when I tried to get the 2005 or 2007 ACS I get an error message
>> > >> > and
>> > >> > lots
>> > >> > of warnings.  Do you have any documentation of what data your
>> > >> > package
>> > >> > supports retrieving?
>> > >> >
>> > >> > I am interested in making animated gifs where each frame is a
>> > >> > choropleth
>> > >> > of
>> > >> > some demographic measurement at a particular year.  Right now
>> > >> > that's
>> > >> > difficult because I'm just going hit or miss thru the list, and it
>> > >> > seems
>> > >> > to
>> > >> > be a lot of misses.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > Also, in version 1.0 of choroplethr I am just using the 2011
>> > >> > (default)
>> > >> > ACS.
>> > >> > In subsequent versions I would like users to use whatever (year,
>> > >> > span)
>> > >> > combinations acs.R supports.  I would also like to distribute a
>> > >> > list of
>> > >> > available data with my code, but right now I don't have one.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > Thanks.
>> > >> >
>> > >> > Ari
>> > >> >
>> > >> >
>> > >> > On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 5:30 PM, Ezra Haber Glenn <eglenn at mit.edu>
>> > >> > wrote:
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> Dear acs.R folks:
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> As some of you have noticed, the new five-year Census ACS data has
>> > >> >> just come out (see <http://www.census.gov/developers/data/>), and
>> > >> >> is
>> > >> >> now available via the Census API. To make sure you are able to
>> > >> >> fetch
>> > >> >> the freshest possible data to play with in R, I’ve updated the
>> > >> >> acs.R
>> > >> >> package to version 1.2, which now includes full support for the
>> > >> >> 2008–2012 ACS data.
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> The latest version is now available on the CRAN repository -- see
>> > >> >> <http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/acs/index.html>. If you’ve
>> > >> >> already installed the package in the past, you can easily update
>> > >> >> with
>> > >> >> the update.packages() command; if you’ve never installed it, you
>> > >> >> can
>> > >> >> just as easily install it for the first time, by simply typing
>> > >> >> install.packages(“acs”). In either case, be sure to load the
>> > >> >> library
>> > >> >> after installing by typing library(acs), and install (or
>> > >> >> re-install)
>> > >> >> an API key with api.key.install() — see the documentation and the
>> > >> >> latest version of the acs user guide for more info.
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> To get the latest data, just continue to use the acs.fetch()
>> > >> >> function
>> > >> >> as usual, but specify endyear=2012. (By default, endyear is set to
>> > >> >> 2011 if no year is explicitly passed to acs.fetch, and I didn’t
>> > >> >> want
>> > >> >> to change this for fear of breaking existing user scripts. In the
>> > >> >> future, we might to rethink this, so that it selects the most
>> > >> >> recent
>> > >> >> endyear by default. Thoughts?)
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> (Note: It might take a day or two for the updates to percolate
>> > >> >> through
>> > >> >> the CRAN system.  If you update and you’re not sure which version
>> > >> >> you
>> > >> >> are using, you can always type packageVersion(“acs”) to find out.)
>> > >> >> --
>> > >> >> Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP
>> > >> >> Department of Urban Studies and Planning
>> > >> >> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>> > >> >> 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 7-337
>> > >> >> Cambridge, MA 02139
>> > >> >> eglenn at mit.edu
>> > >> >> http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/ezra-glenn |
>> > >> >> http://eglenn.scripts.mit.edu/citystate/
>> > >> >> 617.253.2024 (w)
>> > >> >> 617.721.7131 (c)
>> > >> >>
>> > >> >> _______________________________________________
>> > >> >> acs-r mailing list
>> > >> >> acs-r at mit.edu
>> > >> >> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/acs-r
>> > >> >
>> > >> >
>> > >> >
>> > >> > _______________________________________________
>> > >> > acs-r mailing list
>> > >> > acs-r at mit.edu
>> > >> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/acs-r
>> > >> >
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> --
>> > >> Twitter: http://twitter.com/znmeb; Computational Journalism on a
>> > >> Stick
>> > >> http://j.mp/CompJournoStickOverview
>> > >>
>> > >> My poltergeist can beat up your zeitgeist.
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Twitter: http://twitter.com/znmeb; Computational Journalism on a Stick
>> > http://j.mp/CompJournoStickOverview
>> >
>> > My poltergeist can beat up your zeitgeist.
>>
>> --
>> Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP
>> Department of Urban Studies and Planning
>> Massachusetts Institute of Technology
>> 77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 7-337
>> Cambridge, MA 02139
>> eglenn at mit.edu
>> http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/ezra-glenn |
>> http://eglenn.scripts.mit.edu/citystate/
>> 617.253.2024 (w)
>> 617.721.7131 (c)
>
>

-- 
Twitter: http://twitter.com/znmeb; Computational Journalism on a Stick
http://j.mp/CompJournoStickOverview

My poltergeist can beat up your zeitgeist.