2 Jul
2014
2 Jul
'14
7:44 a.m.
*Call Title*
*Applications for Small-Area ACS and CTPP Data: New Data, New Challenges*
*Sponsoring Committee*
Census Data for Transportation Planning Subcommittee of the Urban
Transportation Data and Information Systems Committee, ABJ30(1)
*Call Description*
The Census Data for Transportation Planning Subcommittee of the Urban
Transportation Data and Information Systems Committee, ABJ30(1) invites you
to submit posters for a session focusing on the innovative use of small
area ACS and CTPP geography for transportation planning and related
applications. Posters will be displayed at the TRB Annual Meeting in
Washington, DC, January 2015. Authors of the most innovative posters will
be invited to present at the subcommittee meeting.
*Background*
The American Community Survey 5-Year data and the Census Transportation
Planning Products special tabulation have given practitioners access to a
wealth of current data in geographic units as small as Census Block
Groups. Data topics include a wide range of demographic, social, economic,
and transportation data including journey-to-work ("commuter") flows. This
level of geographic detail allows for a finer level of detail in activities
such as transit planning, site selection, model validation, program
analysis, and community outreach.
While these data sets have significant potential it is not a panacea for
all programmatic and research tasks. High margins of error mean small-area
data may not be as accurate as is needed for a project and it is a
challenge to display it without giving a false sense of precision.
Aggregation and derived margins of error create further challenges to
statistical analysis. Small area data may not fit well into locally
created geographic boundaries (towns, watershed, etc.). Transferring data
from older geographies such as 2000 Census tracts to newer small area
geographic units is often needed for analysis but can be hard to accomplish
without further reducing the accuracy of the data.
*Evaluation Criteria*
A broad range of abstracts relating to the topic are welcome. Preference
will be given to posters which emphasize the following:
· Practical and applied ("real world") uses of small-area geography
· Posters that display solutions for the statistical challenges
that come from working with small-area geography
· Innovative visualization of margins of error
· Topics that address applications towards urban planning
A session-development subcommittee will review all abstracts to identify
those that most effectively demonstrate innovative analyses and
communication techniques conveying the value of small geography ACS and
CTPP data. The subcommittee hopes to identify posters representing a
diverse array of uses and applications. Applicants will be notified in
late-September of their selection.
*Poster Session Guidelines*
Those selected for this session will prepare a poster for presentation at
the 2015 Annual Meeting in January. *Participants are not required to
prepare a paper*. Each presenter will be provided with a table and a 4’ x
8’ vertical panel for displaying posters and other materials. An electrical
connection will be available at each station. Telephone and internet
connections will not be available. TRB's guidelines for poster presenters
are available at
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/archive/Guidelines/PosterPresenters.pdf.
Presenters are expected to attend and participate in this session.
Presentation teams are welcome.
*Submission Instructions*
A special deadline for submittals has been established. Interested
candidates should submit an abstract explaining their project and poster
concept by 11:59 pm EDT on *Wednesday, September 3, 2014*. The abstract
should be no more than a single one-sided page in length (approximately 500
words) and include:
· Contact information (name, agency/organization, phone number, email
address)
· Title of your proposed poster for use in the Annual Meeting agenda
· Explanation of the project, research, or process using CTPP/ACS data
and how the data were used
· Any innovative discoveries or lessons learned about small-area use
of this data that would be useful to the transportation community
· Preliminary description of the information to be conveyed in your
poster
You are welcome to include links to on-line materials that illustrate
visualization or graphic communication concepts described in your abstract
but this will not substitute for the information requested in the abstract.
The subcommittee will not consider sales presentations on products or
services.
Abstracts should be in a PDF format and submitted to:
Mara Kaminowitz
mkaminowitz(a)baltometro.org
Include the term “*ABJ30(1) Poster Abstract*” in the subject line.
*For More Information*
Questions about the poster session or the abstract submittal process should
be directed to:
Clara Reschovsky
creschovsky(a)mwcog.org
202-962-3332
Mara Kaminowitz
mkaminowitz(a)baltometro.org
410-732-0500