The MoDOT Socio-Economic Indicator Resource (SEIR) Web Application provides authoritative social and economic data at geographic levels of administration and data display meaningful to transportation planning and project development.

OSEDA and MoDOT carried out research to determine:

• who the users of these data would be,
• what their data needs included, and
• how this information should best be made available.

• organized around meaningful administrative geographies;
• delivers data for small area geographies e.g. block group, TAZ, tract;
• delivers content in the form of maps, charts, and tables;
• provides a Data Query Tool to access the data directly from the database;
• delivers regional reports describing socio-economic trends taking place in Missouri;
• delivers environmental justice and QOL reports, and;
• integrates data from CTPP 2000.

The SF3 dataset (also referred to as Sample data or Long Form data) are those census questionnaires sent to roughly one in six households in the US and asks questions on 34 subjects regarding social, economic, and housing characteristics. Some examples of the SF3 data tabulations that are available include: income, poverty, disability, occupation and commuting to name a few.

In addition to there being different questionnaire items between the two datasets, the SF1 and SF3 datasets also differ regarding the levels of census geography the data are available. The SF1 dataset lacks the social and economic richness of the SF3 dataset; however all of the SF1 data are available at the block level of geography. A census block is the smallest unit of geography for which census data are made publicly available and typically consists of 100 people. The census block geography is also the atomic unit of census geography and can be used to aggregate to all subsequent census geographies. Unfortunately, due to reasons of personal privacy and non-disclosure rules, the SF3 data are not available at the census block level but is available at the block group geography level. A block group (a collection of blocks) is the smallest geography for which SF3 data are made available and optimally consists of 1,500 people; this value can range from 300 to 3,000. The majority of the data used to create the content components (charts, maps, and tables) and data query tool were derived from the SF3 dataset.

The second source of Census derived data provided by and used in the SEIR application comes from the 2000 Census Transportation Planning Package (CTPP). CTPP 2000 is a set of special tabulations from the 2000 decennial census designed for transportation planners. The data are tabulated from answers to the Census 2000 long form questionnaire, mailed to one in six US households. CTPP provides tabulations of households, persons and workers. It summarizes information by place of residence, by place of work, and for worker-flows between home and work. Some examples of data tabulations from the 2000 CTPP include: vehicle availability, income, occupation, industry, departure time to work, travel mode, and travel time to work. Another unique and useful characteristic of the CTPP data are that it is typically cross-tabulated with another indicator within the dataset. For example, a user could find out how many workers had two or more vehicles, and even more specifically, how many households with householders 65 or older have two or more vehicles.

Like the SF3 dataset, the smallest area of geography for which CTPP data are available is the block group level of geography. Unique to the CTPP is the Transportation Area Zone (TAZ) geography created by transportation planners from the Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO). For Missouri, the TAZ geographies do not cover the entire state; rather they are located within the boundaries of the major metropolitan centers. However, all of the CTPP data are available at the block group level of geography for the entire state.

It's important to keep in mind that the CTPP data used in the SEIR application exists in several "parts" that differ based on where the respondent lives and where they work. Part 1 CTPP data refers to CTPP data provided at the level of geography of where respondents live. The Part 2 CTPP data provides CTPP data at the level of geography where respondents work. Part 2 data reliability for small geographic areas, areas smaller than a county, should be given increased inspection given that the place of work geographies are assigned based on a write-in response which results in a significant amount of data allocation for the location of work small area geographies due to missing or inadequate responses to the question of "Where did you work last week".

Return to the Socio-Economic Indicator Main Page

Have a question or a comment? Contact:

Ted Gallion, OSEDA GallionT@missouri.edu
Ernie Perry, MoDOT Ernest.Perry@modot.mo.gov

This file last modified Tuesday April 29, 2008, 16:34:00