Web Application for Spatial Exploration of Racial Diversity over the Entire United States at 90 m Resolution

Anna Dmowska, University of Cincinnati
Tomasz F. Stepinski, University of Cincinnati
Pawel Netzel, University of Cincinnati

We describe SocScape – a GeoWeb application for visualization and exploration of population density and racial diversity over the entire United States at 90 m spatial resolution. A distinct feature of SocScape is its use of gridded data instead of census tracts-based data. The 90 m/cell grids of population density and racial diversity were calculated from the 1990 and 2000 block-level censuses data using dasymetric modeling that utilizes land cover maps as an auxiliary variable. SocScape offers fast and intuitive exploration of demographic patterns starting from the continental scale of the entire U.S. down to the scale of an individual street with Google Maps includes for spatial reference. We describe how to use the SocScape and how to utilize it for detailed analysis of temporal change in population and diversity patterns. We also demonstrate the advantage of high resolution grids over the census tracts-based maps. SocScape is available at http://sil.uc.edu/webapps/socscape_usa/