Using Infoshare

DESCRIPTION | PROFILING AN AREA | COMPARING AREAS USING SELECTED DATA
CREATING YOUR OWN TABLE | SEARCH THIS DATABASE

DESCRIPTION:

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Infoshare was developed by faculty members in the Urban Studies Department at Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY). It provides various demographic data including population statistics, immigration trends, socio-economic indicators, birth and death data, hospitalizations, local economic data, and much more. It allows users to profile an area of your choosing, compare that area across a region, and to produce your own tabulations.  It is particularly valuable to users interested in demographic information about the Metropolitan New York area. Infoshare Online is a product of Community Studies of New York, Inc., a non-profit corporation based in New York City. 

 

PROFILING AN AREA

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This option allows you to select one area, by a Zip Code, Congressional District, or County, and look at a variety of information for that area. There are three regions that you must choose from to begin: USA, New York State, or New York City. From the Main Page of the Infoshare database, you can select any of these three regions on the upper right side of the screen. When you select a region, it will list the various types of demographic information that are available for that particular region.

1. To begin, click on the "Area Profile" tab or the "Profile an Area" link under the Main Menu.

2. Then you must choose one of the following regions from a drop-down menu: New York State, New York City, or USA. Infoshare will default to New York State, if you do not make a selection.

USA

If you choose USA as your region, your Area Type choices will be: State, Nation, and County. If you choose State, you can choose from any of the 50 States. If you choose Nation, you can view information from the 2000 or 1990 US Census. If you choose County, you will get an alphabetical drop down menu of states and counties which correspond to each other. Once you select an individual county, you will be prompted to choose a Data File - either the 2000 or 1990 US Census. You are then given a drop-down menu and are prompted to select from a list of data collected by the Census bureau about the people of an individual county.

New York State

If you choose New York State as your region, your Area Type choices will be: County, State, Census Tract, Zip Code, Village, Town, City, Assembly District, State Senate District, Congressional District, Public Use Micro-Sample Area.

New York City

If you choose New York City as your region, your Area Type choices will be: City, Borough, Census Tract, Zip Code, Community District, Health Area, Health District, City Council District, School District, Police Precinct, NYC Neighborhood, UHF Neighborhood, Mental Health Region, Sub-borough Area, Assembly District, State Senate District, and Congressional District.

3. You can now select an Area Type that is even more specific. Your Area Type choices will differ, depending on the region you select. From the Main Page of the Infoshare database, you can select any of the three regions on the upper right side of the screen. When you select a region, it will list the various types of demographic information that is available for that particular region. Below are descriptions of the different Area Types.

Assembly Districts
New York State Assembly Districts are the 150 areas in New York State from which people are selected to the New York State Assembly. There are 61 New York State Assembly Districts in New York City. The Assembly Districts used in
Infoshare were created after the 1990 Census.

Census Tract
A census tract is an area defined by the Bureau of the Census as part of their counting districts. It has an average population of 4,000 people, ranging from 1,500 to 8,000, and varies in size according to the population density of an area. Areas with denser populations will have smaller sized census tracts (as small as a few blocks), and areas with sparser populations will have larger sized census tracts. There are 2,281 Census Tracts in New York City and 5,514 in New York State. 

City Council Districts
City Council Districts are the 51 areas in New York City from which representatives are elected to the New York City Council. The current City Council Districts were created after the 1990 Census. 

Community District (CD)
Community Districts (CDs) were established by the New York City Charter in 1969 to facilitate delivery and accountability of city services. The New York City Department of City Planning issues maps of the fifty-nine Community Districts that make up the five boroughs. Each Community District is referred to by a borough and sequence number (e.g. BX-1 = Bronx Community District 1). Each borough has between three (Staten Island) and eighteen (Brooklyn) Community Districts.

Congressional District
Congressional Districts are the 435 areas in the United States from which people are elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. There are 31 Congressional Districts in New York State and 14 in New York City. The Congressional Districts in Infoshare were created after the 1990 Census. 

Health Area
Health Areas are composed of specified sets of census tracts and are defined by the NYC Department of Health. There are 354 Health Areas in New York City Health Districts Health Districts (sometimes referred to as Health Center Districts) are composed of Health Areas and are defined by the NYC Department of Health. There are 30 Health Districts in New York City.

Mental Health Region
Mental Health Regions are made up of groups of zip codes as defined by the NYC Department of Public Health (formerly the NYC Department of Mental Health). There are 17 Mental Health regions in New York City. 

NYC Neighborhood
A NYC Neighborhood 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 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 view themselves as living.

Police Precinct
A police precinct is a division utilized by the NYC Police Department. Police Precincts are usually coterminous with Community Districts, in order to facilitate communication between Community Board (which represent Community Districts) and the Policy Department. Exceptions are in high-crime or high-concern areas where morethan one precinct may be defined. There are 75 police precincts in New York City. 

PUMA
A Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) is a decennial census area composed of census tracts for which the U.S. Census Bureau provides specially selected extracts of raw data from a sample of long-form census records that are screened to protect confidentiality. These extracts are referred to as Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. A PUMA must have a population of a least 100,000 people, to protect the confidentiality of census respondents. There 131 PUMAs in New York State. 

School District
School Districts are geographic areas used by public school systems to group its elementary, junior high and high schools. There are 32 School Districts in New York City. 

State Senate
New York State Senate Districts are the 61 areas in New York State from which people are elected to the New York State Senate. There are 25 New York State Senate Districts in New York City. The State Senate Districts in Infoshare were created after the 1990 Census. 

Sub-borough Area
Sub-borough Areas are groups of census tracts in New York City containing at least 100,000
population. Sub-borough Areas are the Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) for New York City. The tract composition of each area is designed so that their boundaries approximate those of Community Districts, but they must meet Census Bureau requirements that no sub-borough area have a population of less than 100,000. As a result, Community Districts BX-1 (see Community District) and BX-2 in the Bronx are combined intoa single Sub-borough Area, as are BX-3 and BX-6 in the Bronx, MN-1 and MN-2 in Manhattan, and MN-4 and MN-5 in Manhattan. There are 55 Sub-borough Areas in New York City.

UHF (United Hospital Fund) Neighborhood
UHF Neighborhoods are defined by the United Hospital Fund for its Health Atlas and other purposes. UHF Neighborhoods consist of between three and six zip codes. There are 41 UHF Neighborhoods in New York City. 

Zip Code
Zip Codes are United States Postal Service designations used to deliver postal mail. There are 1,672 in New York State and 185 in New York City. Zip codes change periodically as the population pattern changes and the Postal Service reorganizes its delivery services.

4. Once you have selected a Region and an Area Type, you will now be given a drop-down menu of various Data Files. What's a Data File? Each data file in Infoshare presents a different type of data, often collected from different sources. There are three main data files in Infoshare: Demographics (population characteristics), Socio-Economics, and Health. The data in Infoshare is collected primarily from public agencies at the Federal, State, and local level. It is then converted into a common format for use in Infoshare. No changes are made in the data. They are presented exactly as they come from the agency that provides them. Whenever you generate a table, it will contain, at the bottom of the table, information on the original source of the data contained in the table.

5. After you have selected a Data File, you will then be prompted to select a year and a particular item to present in a table. If you would like data for more than one year, choose Trend.

6. Now you can --

• Print the data table you have assembled.

• Save the data in your table to a file. You can save the table as an Excel spreadsheet or a text file.

• View the next or previous tables in the data file.

 

COMPARING AREAS USING SELECTED DATA

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Choosing this option will enable you to view the values of selected data elements for a list of areas within a larger region - for instance, Zip Codes within a Borough or County or Counties within a State. This is useful for comparing specific characteristics of the smaller areas with each other, as well as comparing rates of selected events (e.g., birth rates) with those of larger areas such as Boroughs and Counties.

1. To begin, click on the "Area Comparison" tab or the "Compare Areas Using Selected Data" link under the Main Menu.

2. Make sure the Region (e.g., New York City, New York State) in which your Coverage Region is located has been
selected.

3. Choose the Type of Areas to Compare, that is, the types of areas you wish to view in your table.

4. Choose the Type of Coverage Region you wish to use for your table. This selection will determine the extent of the list of areas you will compare with each other. Usually, the Coverage Region will be an area that is larger than the type of area you wish to view (for instance, a Borough or County if you want to view zip codes), but it might be the same type of area as you wish to view (see Hint below).

5. Choose the particular Coverage Region you wish to use from the displayed list, by name or number. You can click on each of the "radio buttons" to scan quickly through all the areas, by Borough or County. Hint: Want to find data more quickly? Once you have selected your Areas to Compare and your Coverage Region, use Search for Data to locate the data you want.

6. Select the Data File containing the first piece of data you want in your table. Again you can use the "radio buttons" to scan through the list of data files.

7. If data for more than one year is available for the data file you selected, choose the Year you wish to see. If you would like data for more than one year, choose Trend. Hint: Want more information on the data in a Data File? Once you have selected the Year, for many data files you will see an Info button that will provide additional details on the contents of the Data File.

8. Choose the Table containing the data you wish to display.

9. Select one or more Data Elements to construct your table. To select more than one data element, hold down Ctrl or Shift (PC) or COMMAND (Mac) key while selecting with the mouse. If there is only one Data Element, you still must select it. Hit the Go button to proceed.

10. Now you can --

• Go back toward the top of the screen and add more Data Elements to your table by choosing a different Table, or a different Year, or a different Data File to display.

Hint: Want to combine data from different data files into one table? After selecting the data from one Data File, return to the Data File list and select another data file. Then choose the Year, Table, and Data Element you want to include.

• Print the table, just as it is displayed.
• Save the data in your table to a file. You can save the table as an Excel spreadsheet or a text file.
• At any time in this sequence, you can --
  • Go back toward the top of the screen and choose a different Table or a different Year or a different Data File from which you can select Data Elements for your table.
  • Select New List from the Left Sidebar and choose a different Area and Coverage Region to display.

Hint: Want to compare data for a local area in New York City with corresponding data for the Borough and City, or a community in New York State with its County and the State as a whole? Select both the Area to Compare and Coverage Region Type as the type of area you want (e.g., an Assembly District). Both area types will be the same (in this example, Assembly Districts). Then select the particular area you want to examine (e.g., Assembly District 43). Choose the data elements you want in your table. You will get a three-row table that shows the City- or State-wide values, the Borough or County values, and the area values for each of the data elements you choose.

CREATING YOUR OWN TABLE

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This option allows you to take information from the Infoshare database and place it into a table. You can create a table with rows and columns of your choosing and set your own conditions on the data in the table. For instance, you could create a table from the 1997 birth file showing age of the mother by zip code for women of Dominican ancestry.

1. To begin, click on the "Two-Way Table" tab or the "Create your own two-way table" link under the Main Menu.

2. Make sure the Region (e.g. New York City, New York State) is the one you want.

3. Choose the Data File (e.g. Public Use Micro-Sample 1990 Census) from which to generate your table.

4. If data for more than one year is available for the data file you selected, choose the Year you wish to use.

5. For some data files, there may be additional Categories you must select. For instance, with Hospital Admission data you must indicate whether you want the number of Persons admitted, the number of Admissions (the same person may have been admitted more than once during a year), or the number of Patient-Days.

6. Select the type of data you wish to use as Column headings in your table. For example, if you choose Sex in one of the Death data files, your table will have the column headings Male, Female, and Sex Not Known.

7. Select the type of data you wish to use as Rows. For example, if you choose Borough, your table will have five rows: Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island.

8. Your table will now be available at the bottom of the screen, but you may also want to define further conditions within your table. Now you can --

• Go back toward the top of the screen and add more Data Elements to your table by choosing a different
  Table, or a different Year, or a different Data File to display.
  Hint: Want to combine data from different data files into one table? After selecting the data from one Data File, return to the Data File list and select another data file. Then choose the Year, Table, and Data Element you want to include.

• Identify Conditions to use when selecting data from the Infoshare data file for your table. For example, if you choose Race as a Condition in the above Borough table and specify Black or African American, your table will consist of the numbers of Black residents in each of the five boroughs who died during that year, divided into male and female. The total numbers will also be shown, both by row and by column.

• You can select other conditions as desired. Each additional condition will further restrict the table, that is, all of the conditions must be satisfied for any record in the data file to be counted. For some conditions (e.g., Race), you will see a list of choices and you can select one or more of them. (If you select several choices in the list, a record in the data file will be counted if any of those choices are present.) For other conditions (e.g., Age), you will be asked to enter a number or range of numbers. Both types of conditions restrict the records that will be counted in creating your table.

• Print the table, just as it is displayed.

• Save your table to a file. You can save the table as an Excel spreadsheet, a comma-delimited text file, or a dBase file Most mapping software packages can use dBase files as data files for generating maps).

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Revised 02/03/05
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