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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. O-OPC-21952 Task Order One between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Cover: Background: Share of home mortgage applications in Atlanta, Georgia without race-ethnicity information, 1999. Pattern confirms that nondisclosure rates are highest in predominantly African-American neighborhoods. SOURCE: Wyly, E. K., and S. R. Holloway. 2002. The Disappearance of Race in Mortgage Lending. Economic Geography 78(2):129-163
Top left: Urban rowhouse in Washington, D.C. SOURCE: Monica Lipscomb, Washington, D.C.
Center left: GIS made available via community data centers can engage citizens in urban and regional planning as demonstrated by this photograph. SOURCE: Photodisc stock photos, Technology at Work. Copyright 1999 CORBIS.
Bottom right: Examples of data layer overlays including (from top to bottom) land ownership, demographics, transportation and aerial imagery. SOURCE: National States Geographic Information Council and Federal Geographic Data Committee. nd. Using Geography to Advance the Business of Government: The Power of Place to Support Decision Making. CD-ROM. Washington, D.C.: NSGIC.
Copyright 2003 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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COMMITTEE ON REVIEW OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS AT HUD: CURRENT PROGRAMS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
ERIC A. ANDERSON, Chair,
City of Des Moines, Iowa
NINA S-N.
LAM, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Baton Rouge
KATHE A. NEWMAN,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
TIMOTHY L. NYERGES,
University of Washington, Seattle
NANCY J. OBERMEYER,
Indiana State University, Terre Haute
MYRON ORFIELD,
Ameregis, Minneapolis, Minnesota
JOHN PICKLES,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
DANIEL Z. SUI,
Texas A&M University, College Station
PAUL A. WADDELL,
University of Washington, Seattle
National Research Council Staff
LISA M.VANDEMARK, Study Director
MONICA R. LIPSCOMB, Research Assistant
VERNA J. BOWEN, Administrative Associate
COMMITTEE ON GEOGRAPHY
BILLIE L. TURNER II, Chair,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
BERNARD O. BAUER,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
RUTH S. DEFRIES,
University of Maryland, College Park
ROGER M. DOWNS,
Pennsylvania State University, University Park
MICHAEL F. GOODCHILD,
University of California, Santa Barbara
SUSAN HANSON,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
SARA L. McLAFFERTY,
University of Illinois, Urbana
ELLEN S. MOSLEY-THOMPSON,
Ohio State University, Columbus
ERIC S. SHEPPARD,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
National Research Council Staff
KRISTEN L. KRAPF, Program Officer
MONICA R. LIPSCOMB, Research Assistant
VERNA J. BOWEN, Administrative Associate
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER, Chair,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
JILL BANFIELD,
University of California, Berkeley
STEVEN R. BOHLEN,
Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Washington, D.C.
VICKI J. COWART,
Colorado Geological Survey, Denver
DAVID L. DILCHER,
University of Florida, Gainesville
ADAM M. DZIEWONSKI,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
WILLIAM L. GRAF,
University of South Carolina, Columbia
RHEA GRAHAM,
New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, Albuquerque
V. RAMA MURTHY,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
DIANNE R. NIELSON,
Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Salt Lake City
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada
MARK SCHAEFER,
NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia
BILLIE L. TURNER II,
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
THOMAS J. WILBANKS,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
National Research Council Staff
ANTHONY R. DE SOUZA, Director
TAMARA L. DICKINSON, Senior Program Officer
DAVID A. FEARY, Senior Program Officer
ANNE M. LINN, Senior Program Officer
PAUL M. CUTLER, Program Officer
KRISTEN L. KRAPF, Program Officer
KERI H. MOORE, Program Officer
LISA M. VANDEMARK, Program Officer
YVONNE P. FORSBERGH, Research Assistant
MONICA R. LIPSCOMB, Research Assistant
VERNA J. BOWEN, Administrative Associate
JENNIFER T. ESTEP, Administrative Associate
RADHIKA S. CHARI, Senior Project Assistant
KAREN L. IMHOF, Senior Project Assistant
TERESIA K. WILMORE, Project Assistant
WINFIELD SWANSON, Editor
Acknowledgments
This report has been reviewed by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the authors and the NRC in making their published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The content of the review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report:
Libby Clapp, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Government of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C.
Joseph Ferreira, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Edward G. Goetz, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Sharon Krefetz, Clark University, Worchester, Massachusetts
Harold Wolman, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Although the individuals listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by John S. Adams, Department of Geography, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Appointed by the National
Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the NRC.
Preface
Rapid development of technology has become matter of fact in our daily lives. With the increasing speed of computers, reduction in their cost, and regular development of new software, computers are becoming more accessible and useful to everyday Americans. We begin to see computers as a regular and unremarkable part of our daily lives, however; the pace of integration of new technologies into our organizational structures, public and private, is much slower than the development of those technologies. Nowhere is this clearer than in the development and utilization of geographic information systems (GIS). The potential of GIS to inform housing and urban research and applications is the subject of this report.
GIS is software that uses geographic (spatial) location as the organizing principle for collection, storage, analysis, and presentation of information in digital form. It began as a tool for planning, moved forward into engineering through CAD (computer aided drafting), and has rapidly developed into the best enterprise software available for management and decision support. In the past 20 years, GIS has developed rapidly, increasing its potential for effective use in both public and private organizations. However, development of effective enterprise uses of GIS and creation of a national infrastructure supporting its use have been slow.
With the work of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and all the federal, state, and local participants in their work, the concept of the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) has begun to move from an idea to reality. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
has a role to play in the FGDC, specifically in the development of data about urban areas. HUD’s mission is to promote adequate and affordable housing, economic opportunity, and a suitable living environment free from discrimination for all Americans (HUD, 2002). The daily work of the department fosters the use of GIS and the development of locational data in the housing agencies throughout the country. HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research is central to this effort.
HUD asked the Committee on Geography of the National Research Council to review its work and that of its local housing agencies in the development and use of GIS. The agency asked for recommendations to maximize the quality and use of its information, and that of the local housing agencies with which it works.
To address this charge, the Committee to Review Research and Applications of GIS at HUD: Current and Future Programs held three meetings between February 2002 and July 2002. These meetings included testimony from HUD staff and other experts in GIS applications in areas of neighborhood change and discrimination, housing, and metropolitan research and technical tools needed for effective dissemination and data accuracy. As background, the committee reviewed relevant HUD documents, pertinent National Research Council reports, and other literature and technical reports, and engaged in discussion with other federal agencies whose responsibilities include urban and community issues.
This report is written for multiple audiences. The network of people who use HUD’s data for policy and research purposes is a broad community: professors and students at colleges and universities, policy makers and analysts working for local governments, HUD program managers and research scientists, and neighborhood leaders and residents employed by community-based organizations. The committee heard presentations from and interviewed representatives from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, and public, non-profit, and private sector groups at the national, state, and local levels.
I would like to thank all the members of the ad hoc committee, the workshop contributors and presenters, and the National Research Council staff for their efforts in creating this report. In addition, I thank the Committee on Geography for the opportunity to serve and be involved in this effort.
Eric A. Anderson
Chair