Ranking the Best (Downtowns) in the Midwest

After reading Jenna’s post about population density in Franklin County and being hopeful that we are seeing a resurgence in downtown living, I decided to look at how Columbus compares to other downtown neighborhoods or central business districts. For my…

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Get on the bus…if you can find it.

A little over a year ago, Google established a common format for public transportation data called GTFS or General Transit Feed Specification. GTFS feeds allow public transit agencies to publish their transit data and developers to write applications that consume…

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Nate Silver’s election map VS the actual election map

This comparative map from I Love Charts via Julia Topaz display’s Nate Silver’s final election prediction vs the final outcome.  It’s an amazing example of how statistics and probability can be used to understand complex human systems in understandable ways.  We also like to think that…

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The Kids Aren’t Alright – Uninsured Children in America

Uninsured Children in America In 2008, the American Community Survey (ACS) began surveying the U.S. population on the subject of health insurance coverage.  To date, the most complete data set available is the 2008-2010 3 year ACS which excludes counties…

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Tornado Hot Spots in the U.S.

This week is the anniversary of one of the worst tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.  On April 3-4, 1974, at least 148 tornadoes roared across the United States.  Since then, this has been eclipsed by only the May 21-26, 2011 tornado outbreak….

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U.S. Nuclear Facilities and Disaster Planning

It’s been over a year since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.  It was a dark reminder that man-made disasters are sometimes harder to manage because there is often little warning.  It is therefore critical that the population within the…

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Location of the Undereducated At-risk Population

Several days ago I was discussing the link between education and unemployment with my economist friend Bill Lafayette, PhD.  The seemingly endless Republican Primary had recently thrust higher education into the national spotlight.  At issue was whether or not we…

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Most Popular Locations for Telecommuters

This week’s Map of the Week is the third in Urban Decision Group’s series of maps that examine commuting in the U.S.  Our first map dealt with Average Commuting Times in the U.S.  Last week’s map showed the Impact on…

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