Mapping Municipal Discrimination

GIS maps are being used to identify where communities need services -- and whether some communities are victims of municipal discrimination.

1 minute read

December 29, 2009, 1:00 PM PST

By Nate Berg


"The Cedar Grove Institute has been using maps to exhibit patterns of municipal discrimination against low-income and minority communities for almost a decade. The patterns, rooted in the days when residential discrimination was supported by law, have been reinforced under the cover of such contemporary land-use mechanisms as annexation, zoning and extra-territorial controls.

To produce the maps, the institute employs geographic information systems technology, a computer-based tool for organizing, analyzing and displaying data in a spatial or geographic context. While the maps seem simple, producing them is anything but. Data must be collected from a host of sources, including government databases, door-to-door surveys and Global Positioning System devices. The data is digitized, analyzed, converted to images and layered together in various combinations."

Monday, December 28, 2009 in Miller-McCune

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