Infoshare FAQs |
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Looking for more information on how Infoshare Online works?
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What do Infoshare tables look like? To see examples of Infoshare tables, click here to see an example of a Profile or a Comparison. What is the source of Infoshare data? All data files are obtained from City, State, and Federal government agencies. Community Studies of New York is in constant contact with these agencies, and incorporates the newest data as soon as it becomes available. We then convert into a standard form which can be displayed in the Infoshare Online system. How does Infoshare provide information for geographic areas when data are not published for such areas? Community Studies obtains from its data sources (government agencies, some commercial firms) data at the smallest geographic area at which it is publicly available, usually census tracts and zip codes. To provide data for other geographies, we have, over the past decade, developed a series of overlap factors which convert this small-scale data into these larger areas of special interest. Such overlap factors are based upon the distribution of residential housing, when this is available. In that case, the overlaps approximate as closely as possible the distribution of the population by residence. Where this residential data is not available, geographic overlap factors are derived using standard geographic mapping overlays. Overlap factors (for instance, the percentage of a zip code in a particular State Assembly District) are maintained to three significant figure accuracy (e.g., 12.3%). Therefore, data which may appear to have more than three significant figures should be treated carefully. In general, census tract, zip code, borough-wide, and City-wide data will be fully accurate, but data for other geographic areas will only be as accurate as the overlap factors. These are generally expected to be accurate to 1-3%. When I add the values I find for School Districts, City Council Districts, etc., they don't always equal the Borough, City, County, or State totals. Why is that? Community Studies obtains from its data sources (government agencies, some commercial firms) data at the smallest geographic area at which it is publicly available, usually census tracts and zip codes. To provide data for other geographies, we have, over the past decade, developed a series of overlap factors which convert this small-scale data into these larger areas of special interest. Such overlap factors are based upon the distribution of residential housing, when this is available. In that case, the overlaps approximate as closely as possible the distribution of the population by residence. Where this residential data is not available, geographic overlap factors are derived using standard geographic mapping overlays. Because this data cannot be exact, there are small discrepancies in areas such as City Council Districts for which the data was obtained using an overlap function. Overlap factors (for instance, the percentage of a zip code in a particular State Assembly District) are maintained to three significant figure accuracy (e.g., 12.3%). Therefore, data which may appear to have more than three significant figures should be treated carefully. In general, census tract, zip code, borough-wide, and City-wide data will be fully accurate, but data for other geographic areas will only be as accurate as the overlap factors. These are generally expected to be accurate to 1-3%. How do I find out which Zip Codes are in a Community District or other types of geographic areas? From the Main Menu, select the tab <Area Comparison> or the link for <Module 2- Compare Areas Using Selected Data>. For <Areas to Compare>, select <Zip Code>. For <Coverage Region Type>, select <Community District> (or the type of area in you want). Choose the Community District or other area you wish to view. For <Data File>, <Table>, and <Data> choose any option you wish, e.g., Demographics, <2000 Census>, <Total Population>. Then view your table. In the left two columns of your table you will see listed the zip codes within your chosen area and the proportion of each zip code that is included in that area. To apply this to any other type of overlap, substitute the smaller geographic area you wish to see for Zip Code and the Coverage Region for Community District, e.g., Census Tracts within a Zip Code; School Districts within a Borough; or Zip Codes within a Police Precinct. What does the first column in Module 2 represent? The first column in any table produced in Module 2 will be labeled 'MapID'. This column contains values that will be recognized by your mapping software if you choose to map the data. If you are not using the tables for mapping, simply delete the first column from any file you save. What is a "NYC Neighborhood"? This is one of 292 neighborhoods in which New Yorkers generally think of themselves as residing. They are not precisely defined, and no government agency has specified official boundaries for them. Nevertheless, a number of years ago an City informal task force drew boundaries for them, and we are using these boundaries. In spite of their lack of official definition, these areas are useful, simply because they are the neighborhoods in which residents believe they live. To view or print a Map of NYC Neighborhoods in an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, click NYC Neighborhood Map. How can I compare data for a local area in New York City with corresponding data for the Borough and City (or a local area in New York State with the County and State values, or a County with the State and the Nation)? Use <Module 2 - Area Comparison> and select, for both <Areas to Compare> and <Coverage Region Type>, the type of area you want to examine (e.g., City Council District). Select the particular area you want to examine (e.g., City Council District 14). Then choose the data elements you are interested in, as you would normally in Module 2. You will get a three-row table that shows the Citywide values, the Borough values, and the neighborhood values for each of these data elements. Why is some data missing from the 2005 Census? For some data items and some geographic areas in the 2005 Census, no data appears because there were too few cases in the Census Bureau's sample to provide a reliable count. Some counties in New York State do not appear because they have fewer than 65,000 people, the Census Bureau's limit for the 2005 version of the American Community Survey. What is the 'adjusted' "Hispanic Population by National Origin"? The 2000 Census asked those who indicated they were of Hispanic origin to specify their particular country of origin or their family's country of origin. However, the question was apparently unclear to many people, and a large number failed to specify their origin. Thus, except for Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban, for which check boxes were given, the numbers of people indicating they were of Dominican, Salvadoran, Colombian, etc., origin was much smaller than expected. To correct for this, we have included in Infoshare an adjusted distribution of Hispanic ethnic origin, using a method suggested by John Logan of the University at Albany (see "The New Latinos: Who They Are, Where They Are", Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research, University at Albany, Sept. 10, 2001). In the original data, as provided by the Census Bureau, the "Other Hispanic" category includes all those who failed to indicate their ethnic origin. It is thus much larger than it should be. Logan estimates, using other Census surveys, that for New York State the "Other Hispanic" category should be no more than 2.4% of the total. Using this, along with the Census values for each ethnicity, and weighting the Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban correction at 1/10 of the rest, since they were shown explicitly and not as easily skipped, we adjusted the values in proportion to the values shown by the Census Bureau. Why do I find a lot of 3s in birth and death tables I create in Module 3 (Two-way Tables) and in the AIDS data in Module 1 or 2? In order to maintain the confidentiality of birth and death records, values between 1 and 5 cases are suppressed in birth and death cross-tabulations and values smaller than 5 (including 0!) are suppressed in the AIDS data.. In order to avoid creating problems when users import these tables into spreadsheets and other software packages, a "3" or "2" is placed into these cells instead of some character such as an asterisk. How do I convert dollar values from the 1990 or 1980 Census to current values? The 1990 Census asked respondents to report their income for the previous calendar year, 1989. The inflation factor to convert 1989 to 2002 dollars is 1.43; multiply 1989 dollars by this factor to obtain their equivalent in current dollars. Similarly, the 1980 Census asked for income during 1979. To convert 1979 dollars to their equivalent in current dollars, multiply by 2.44. What is the "poverty level"? The "poverty level" is a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to provide a criterion for who is poor. If the total income for a family or unrelated individual falls below the relevant poverty threshold, then the family or unrelated individual is classified as being "below the poverty level." In 2005 the poverty levels, for difference family sizes and compositions are as follows:
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| Persons in Family or Household |
48 Contiguous States and D.C. |
Alaska | Hawaii |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $ 9,800 | $12,250 | $11,270 |
| 2 | 13,200 | 16,500 | 15,180 |
| 3 | 16,600 | 20,750 | 19,090 |
| 4 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 23,000 |
| 5 | 23,400 | 29,250 | 26,910 |
| 6 | 26,800 | 33,500 | 30,820 |
| 7 | 30,200 | 37,750 | 34,730 |
| 8 | 33,600 | 42,000 | 38,640 |
| For each additional person, add |
3,400 | 4,250 | 3,910 |
SOURCE: Federal Register, Vol. 71, No. 15, January 24, 2006, pp. 3848-3849
What does "n.e.c." mean?
" n.e.c." means "not elsewhere classified", that is miscellaneous,
not included in other specified categories.
Why do I find a lot of 5s in the immigration data?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which now runs U.S. immigration
services, has recently imposed confidentiality restrictions on the
release of immigration data. For the years 1999 on, the actual number
of cases in an area cannot be disclosed publicly if there are fewer
than 10 cases. To avoid creating problems for users when they import
these tables into spreadsheets and other software packages, a "5" is
placed into these cells (instead of some character such as an asterisk)
when there are between 1 and 9 cases..
Why does immigration appear to be less than we "observe" in our neighborhoods? And why does immigration decline about thirty percent for 1997 and 1998?
Immigration data is obtained from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which now runs the immigration services. All immigrants are asked for the zip code of their host or their expected residence. It includes only legal immigration which is generally estimated to be about one half of all immigration into the U.S. The INS reports that the apparent decline in 1997 and 1998 reflects not a real decline in immigration but problems the INS encountered in processing applications.
What is the difference between "Persons" and "Admissions" in the Hospital Admissions file?
The "Persons" selection gives the number of different individuals admitted for a particular diagnosis. Individuals are counted only once when they are admitted for the same 3-digit ICD-9 diagnosis code. That is, if an individual is admitted two or more times with different diagnoses, that person will be counted each time, but repeated admissions of the same person for the same diagnosis will be counted only once. "Admissions", on the other hand, count all inpatient admissions, even when the same person is admitted repeatedly for the same diagnosis.
What are ICD-9 Codes? How can I find data on hospitalizations for asthma or drug abuse?
The 9th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) classifies diseases and injuries into major grouping or Chapters. There are 17 Chapters plus the V Codes, supplementary classifications relating to health status and use of health services. The ICD-9 Chapters are further subdivided into Sections, which are groupings of diseases identified by three-digit codes. ThereThere are 121 Sections and 999 three-digit codes, plus 82 two-digit V-codes. As an example, the first Chapter, Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, is divided into 15 Sections including Intestinal Infectious Diseases (Codes 001-009), Tuberculosis (010-018), Zoonotic bacterial diseases (020-027), etc.
For Drug Abuse, look under the ICD-9 Section for "Neurotic and other Nonpsychotic Mental Disorders (300-316)". Asthma and other pulmonary diseases can be found in "Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Allied Conditions (490-496)".
Why is there so little birth and death data for
New York City after 1999? Why is the number of statewide births and
deaths so much smaller after 1999? And why do the New York City counties
of Bronx, Kings, etc., seem to have so few births and deaths after
1999?
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene maintains
the vital statistics records for New York City, while the New York
State Department of Health keeps these records for the rest of the
state. (New York is the
only state with such an arrangement.) The State Department of Health
provides us with vital statistics records each year, but the City
Health Department has not been willing to release birth and death
records (or any other
health
data) at small geographic areas (e.g., zip
codes) for use in Infoshare since 1999. Thus, we are not able to
provide that data or include them in the statewide files, and the
statewide files include only residents, and events,
outside the five boroughs of New York City. We have been able to
obtain a limited amount of New York City birth data from other sources.
Do you have maps of the geographic areas in Infoshare?
Yes, we will shortly provide for Infoshare subscribers the ability to create maps using Infoshare Online, as well as boundary files for all the areas in Infoshare. These files will allow users to prepare their own maps in MapInfo, AtlasGIS, Maptitude, and ArcView. Soon, you will be able to create maps directly on this site as well.
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