Map of the Month 2007
Each month CERC features a Map of the Month to illustrate the varied uses of our powerful mapping tool. If you would like to learn more about our GIS services, contact GIS Manager Mike Macionus.
December 2007
The home sales activity index used in this map shows the total number of sales in the past four quarters through 2007:Q3, based on the stock of houses in the town for 2006. The colors of each town and the height each town is raised above the plain reflect the index. The five colors differentiate the towns into five groups with the dark red color highlighting the six towns in the state which had 15 or more single family detached house sales per 1,000 houses.
Three of the towns, Darien, New Canaan, and Weston are in Fairfield County which has also experienced high home prices. It is also interesting to note the large number of red colored towns in Hartford County with relatively large "churn" measures (between 12 and 15 sales per 1,000). This activity index incorporates the historical activity from the previous four quarters to compensate for the volatility that would be observed in a quarterly measure.
While this compensation reduces the immediacy of the index it allows for the opportunity to consider other questions associated with a high number of house sales, such as corresponding churn in the region's labor markets, changes in the transportation pressures due to commutation patterns, and perceived value regions in the housing market. The high values in the activity indices for Ashford, Coventry, possibly Granby and some of the other more rural towns may reflect households selling in high costs areas, purchasing relatively cheaper homes and accepting longer commutes.
November 2007
This map illustrates the effectiveness of a three dimensional GIS technology application. It depicts Connecticut's population density by census blockgroup in the form of color and elevation. Whereas the two dimensional map original (inset on the lower right), contains X-Y coordinates, the values of the blockgroup's 'population density' column in the attribute table are incorporated as a Z coordinate. The result is a landscape of peaks and valleys. Elevation heights are determined and adjusted by applying algorithms or formulas of the GIS user's discretion to the attributes' values. This can exaggerate the contrasts for easier viewing of otherwise subtle differences.
In addition to the added landscape dimension, the values of each blockgroup determine their elevations individually, as opposed to being contained in one of the five brackets of the two dimensional map. The largest Connecticut cities are instantly recognizable with their high density neighborhoods towering above the landscape. Smaller but distinctly dense towns are clearly visible, even without labels, such as Bristol, Manchester, Vernon-Rockville, Middletown, and Greenwich. Note the solitary blockgroup 'spire' with impressive height in the middle of the low density region to the northwest of Windham. That is the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut.
The map is a simplistic but effective example of vector -based 3D GIS. Negative values in the attribute table (such as population decline over time) can be constructed as negative 'peaks' inverted below the base plane. More sophisticated Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) are raster coverages where each individual pixel contains X-Y-Z coordinates along with attribute data. This allows the GIS user to measure and determine elevation and slope anywhere on the terrain. The availability of that information is invaluable for planning, development, flood control, and conservation.
October 2007
This month's map illustrates the extent to which Connecticut's cities still serve as the hub of much regional activity. Each symbol on the map signifies the presence of an institution such as a hospital, college or university, daily newspaper, cultural resources and government facilities. With the exception of museums, which are widely scattered across the landscape, most of these resources or institutions are tightly clustered within many of our smaller and mid-sized old line industrial cities. This reflects the historic role of these cities as centers of commerce and culture, facilitated in most cases by access to water power or navigable ports. Although the competitive value of water power has all but disappeared, these towns and cities remain local centers of activity and serve as resource centers for many of their neighboring suburbs.
September 2007
This month's map showcases the openings and relocations of banks and credit unions in Connecticut since May 1, 2002. View the accompanying article in the Hartford Business Journal.
July/August 2007
According to the Warren Group during calendar year 2006 there were 37,483 sales of single-family homes in Connecticut---the lowest level of sales since 1996. Given that there were an estimated 961,774 owner-occupied housing units in 2006, this yields an overall churn rate of 3.9 percent, or 3.9 sales per 100 units.
At the municipal level churn rates ranged from 6.1 percent (New London) to 1.2 percent (Franklin). The map illustrates real estate churn, or turn-over rates, for each of Connecticut's 169 towns. As helpful as maps can sometimes be, it is difficult to discern any clear patterns here.
Affluent towns, such as Darien and New Canaan exhibit very high levels of turn-over as do less prosperous towns such as New London and Norwich. High churn rates are also found in some rural communities such as Plainfield and Norfolk, as well as high density cities such as Meriden and East Hartford. Municipalities as diverse as densely-settled Branford and Derby had very low churn rates as did the sparsely-populated communities of Pomfret and Scotland.
After testing a few relationships between churn rate and other variables such as median price, household income, and population density the only correlation that emerged was a moderate negative correlation (-0.24) between homeownership rate and churn rate--the lower the ratio of single family homes in a community, the higher the residential sales churn rate. Although this may speak to issues of community stability it is somewhat speculative as exceptions are common. Certainly it would seem that communities with a lower churn rate would have fewer issues with student mobility and transfers.
June 2007
This month's map addresses the high school graduation rate by state. While New England is strong in the ranking, the northern Midwest / west takes the cake with the top 4: Minnesota (78.9%), Utah(78.3%), Iowa(78.2%) and Wisconsin (78.2%). The southeast has the weakest ranking, with South Carolina at the bottom (50.7%). New York does not perform well, ranking 42nd (61.4%). Vermont and Connecticut have the highest ratings for New England, ranking at 5th (77.9%) and Eighth (77.0%), respectively. The Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI) method was used to measure these rates.
May 2007
This month's map depicts the share of a state's population classified as urban in the 2000 Census. It is interesting to note that three northeastern states are included in the states with the highest urban shares (over 90 percent) and three northeastern states are also included among the states with the lowest urban shares. The northeastern states with the high urban shares are New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and the lowest include Vermont (ranked 50th with only 38% of total population classified as urban), Maine (ranked 49th with 40% urban) and New Hampshire (ranked 39th with 59% urban). These three states reflect the more general observation that the states with the highest rural populations are states with more traditional farming communities and without large urban centers. For more details, please read the accompanying research brief.
April 2007
This map depicts the median house sales price by town in 2006. It clearly reflects the accumulated wealth in the southwestern / western part of the state which Connecticut is known for. Some exceptions include the river/coastal towns, particularly the town of Lyme, with its estates along the Hamburg cove area.
March 2007
This month's map looks at states' employment change in the Insurance and Financial Services (IFS) sector by state between 1990 and 2005. The three major components of the IFS sector include Insurance Carriers, Banking and Investment Services
In general, job losses have been the greatest in the Northeast and Midwest, but there are notable exceptions. Specifically New Jersey, New Hampshire and Rhode Island stand out as exceptions in an otherwise weak region. In the case of New Hampshire business cost advantages may explain part of their success. That is not likely the case in New Jersey which has comparable, if not higher, business costs. Differences in industry mix may explain some of the differences but further work is required to test that hypothesis.
Had IFS employment in the Northeast grown at the same pace as the rest of the nation, the region would have created an additional 283,000 jobs. Instead, the Northeast experienced a net job loss of 21,200 and is the only region in the country with negative job growth in the IFS sector between 1990 and 2005.
In general, job growth in most industries in this region, as in most areas, is highly correlated with population growth. Across the nation population growth accounts for more than 50 percent of interstate differences in IFS employment growth. Although, as the map illustrates, there are other forces at work as well.
February 2007
This month's map shows the general trend throughout the region of urbanized counties losing jobs while suburban counties are growing. For more details, please read the accompanying research brief.
January 2007
**There are six maps in this file, therefore the PDF is large - 2.6 mb**
This month we're featuring a series of maps that illustrate cartograms (click on the map to view the six maps and read the accompanying notes). Cartograms give the viewer a visual tool for better understanding of specific geospatial data attributes. Through the use of specific algorithms, the physical geographies of the features are re-calculated based upon the attribute data that accompanies them, changing their shapes and thus the appearance of the map.