“Governments started to use GIS for land assessment, infrastructure planning, and urban design, but now we see a shift toward using GIS technology to improve disparities and social inequalities. The problems we hear on the news—homelessness, income inequality, unemployment, opioid abuse, blight, community policing, access to public transit, food deserts—all point to the social issues we should be applying data and analysis to solve.” - Christopher Thomas, “Can a Map Speak for Those Who Cannot Speak for Themselves?”
This mapping project is an ongoing joint effort by Rice County Neighbors United in Northfield and students at Carleton College to visualize inequalities and inequities that exist within Northfield. Specifically, we aim to highlight the different experiences of refugee/immigrant populations and the rest of Northfield, by examining the distributions of different demographics and their access to basic resources like food and healthcare. Data presented here was obtained from the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted in 2019, and from the Minnesota Geospatial Commons.
We all experience and interact with the space we inhabit very differently. It is the hope of Rice County Neighbors United to continue partnering with Carleton classes. The goal is to continue to deepen the interactive maps with the hope to inform better policies that take into account all the disparities and the need for corrective and supportive measures.
To interact with the maps, click on the desired tab and around the map itself. Each tab houses a map with information corresponding to the title of the tab. For example, the tab named “Expected Home & Land Market Value” hosts the map with the information displaying estimated home and market values for different properties in Northfield. This map is divided by property and obtained using the Minnesota Geospatial Commons.
With the exception of expected market value, all map layers are calculated using ACS data and each segment of the map represents a different census tract.
Introductions to each of the maps are given upon entry.
Contributing to this map: Jacob Flignor, Marko Jurkovich, Molly Potter, Walter Williamson, Jaylin Lowe, Sagal Ahmed, advised by Professor Katie St.Clair at Carleton College.
This data table provides an overview of the overall sociodemographic information of Northfield. The percentages represent the variables of interest against the total Northfield population or against relevant total populations. An overview of how proportions were derived are described next:
White: proportion white over total Northfield population.
Not Citizen: proportion not citizen over total Northfield population.
No Vehicle Workers: proportion of workers who are age 16+ with no vehicles over total workers age 16+ in Northfield.
Poverty Level: proportion below poverty level in Northfield against total poverty surveyed.
| Sociodemographic | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Not White | 10.38 |
| Not Citizen | 4.28 |
| No Vehicle Workers | 1.30 |
| Poverty Level | 7.95 |
| a Information about average household size in Northfield has been omitted. Each census tract’s household is already averaged and displayed on the pop-ups of all maps except for the expected market value map. |
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores expected home and land market values for individual properties in Northfield.
Pop-ups accompany each click and display the estimated value of particular a property. Green map markers represent grocery stores, red map markers represent healthcare facilities, yellow markers represent public schools, black markers represent low-income housing complexes, and the Northfield Public Pool is indicated by the blue flag marker.
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores percentage of non-white residents per census tract in Northfield..
Pop-ups accompany each click and display census tract number, census tract’s specific sociodemographic information, as well as average household size per census tract.
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores percentage of non-citizen residents per census tract in Northfield.
Pop-ups accompany each click and display census tract number, census tract’s specific sociodemographic information, as well as average household size per census tract.
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores average household size per census tract in Northfield.
Pop-ups accompany each click and display census tract number, census tract’s specific sociodemographic information, as well as average household size per census tract.
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores percentage of residential adult workers without a vehicle per census tract in Northfield.
Pop-ups accompany each click and display census tract number, census tract’s specific sociodemographic information, as well as average household size per census tract.
To interact with map: click around the map.
Map explores percentage of residents below poverty level per census tract in Northfield.
Pop-ups accompany each click and display census tract number, census tract’s specific sociodemographic information, as well as average household size per census tract.
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