17 Feb
2012
17 Feb
'12
10:41 a.m.
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with the
AFF2 problem by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret. I
must reluctantly confess that I am still struggling, and would like to know
how other members on the CTPP list serve are faring. Here are my conclusions
at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles (despite
its clunky and counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience it's still
hard - even with the benefit of some training - to really drill down into
the kind of esoteric data I sometimes need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair amount of
data for multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.) but I'm
having a hard time drilling down to the highly specific items I need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force
participation by age and sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in
Census 2000. I have been able, with the help of Data Ferret, to obtain the
table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret can't seem to give me the
figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads are proving
error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center site,
while much appreciated, hasn't yielded the results I need. My own State Data
Center (Arkansas) has some useful profiles, but again not as specific as I
need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just possibly -
AFF2, although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful out
of AFF2, since results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on Data
Ferret back in December was helpful, but didn't have a lot of in-depth
training on large downloads, highly specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does
anyone else want more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
17 Feb
17 Feb
11:20 a.m.
Hi Jonathan and everyone else --
I am forwarding this to Scott Boggess at the Census Bureau.
Also, I just had the FHWA webpage on ACS updated to include the
information below:
Census Bureau hotlines:
AFF: 1-800-923-8282
Data Ferrett: 1-866 -437-0171
Census Bureau Regional Offices: http://www.census.gov/regions/
<http://www.census.gov/regions/>
I have found that the Census Bureau Regional Offices have Information
Specialists who do training on AFF2, which is why the first "cheatsheet"
we did on AFF2 was taken from materials provided by Linda Clark in the
Seattle regional office. I didn't look up on the map which region
covers you, but I am going to guess Atlanta.
And certainly, we can arrange another webinar on using Data Ferrett for
very large downloads, but I think the answer to that one is that it is
probably better to do multiple downloads and then join them outside of
Data Ferrett.
Elaine Murakami
FHWA Office of Planning
206-220-4460
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with
the AFF2 problem by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data
Ferret. I must reluctantly confess that I am still struggling, and would
like to know how other members on the CTPP list serve are faring. Here
are my conclusions at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles
(despite its clunky and counter-intuitive interface), but in my
experience it's still hard - even with the benefit of some training - to
really drill down into the kind of esoteric data I sometimes need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair
amount of data for multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.)
but I'm having a hard time drilling down to the highly specific items I
need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force
participation by age and sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3
in Census 2000. I have been able, with the help of Data Ferret, to
obtain the table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret can't seem
to give me the figures I need in a single download, and multiple
downloads are proving error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table
numbers in AFF2 yields the typically useless results. My search of the
Missouri State Data Center site, while much appreciated, hasn't yielded
the results I need. My own State Data Center (Arkansas) has some useful
profiles, but again not as specific as I need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just
possibly - AFF2, although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make
anything useful out of AFF2, since results so far have been
disappointing. The seminar on Data Ferret back in December was helpful,
but didn't have a lot of in-depth training on large downloads, highly
specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does
anyone else want more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
11:26 a.m.
I agree with Jonathan about AFF2. I have participated in many webinars (all very well
done) but even so I still have a very difficult time doing searches of any kind. AFF1
was so easy to use and I wish it was still there.
Michael Harmon
Census Program Coordinator
San Luis Obispo Council of Governments
San Luis Obispo, California
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with the AFF2 problem
by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret. I must reluctantly confess that
I am still struggling, and would like to know how other members on the CTPP list serve are
faring. Here are my conclusions at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles (despite its clunky and
counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience it's still hard - even with the
benefit of some training - to really drill down into the kind of esoteric data I sometimes
need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair amount of data for
multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.) but I'm having a hard time
drilling down to the highly specific items I need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force participation by age and
sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in Census 2000. I have been able, with the
help of Data Ferret, to obtain the table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret
can't seem to give me the figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads
are proving error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center site, while much
appreciated, hasn't yielded the results I need. My own State Data Center (Arkansas)
has some useful profiles, but again not as specific as I need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just possibly - AFF2,
although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful out of AFF2, since
results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on Data Ferret back in December was
helpful, but didn't have a lot of in-depth training on large downloads, highly
specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does anyone else want
more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
12:05 p.m.
Hi everyone,
In the past, Caliper has provided voluminous Census data with a set of "Table
choosers" with each copy of our TransCAD and Maptitude software. These data were
provided in addition to a much smaller set of "profile" data that we felt was
very useful for transportation planning. Lately, we have been thinking about whether or
not to take the Table chooser approach with the new ACS data. We would be interested in
feedback about your potential interest in this and whether it would address the problems
that folks are having with Census downloads.
Howard
Howard Slavin, Ph.D.
President
Caliper Corporation
617-527-4700
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Mike Harmon
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 12:26 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I agree with Jonathan about AFF2. I have participated in many webinars (all very well
done) but even so I still have a very difficult time doing searches of any kind. AFF1
was so easy to use and I wish it was still there.
Michael Harmon
Census Program Coordinator
San Luis Obispo Council of Governments
San Luis Obispo, California
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with the AFF2 problem
by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret. I must reluctantly confess that
I am still struggling, and would like to know how other members on the CTPP list serve are
faring. Here are my conclusions at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles (despite its clunky and
counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience it's still hard - even with the
benefit of some training - to really drill down into the kind of esoteric data I sometimes
need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair amount of data for
multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.) but I'm having a hard time
drilling down to the highly specific items I need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force participation by age and
sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in Census 2000. I have been able, with the
help of Data Ferret, to obtain the table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret
can't seem to give me the figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads
are proving error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center site, while much
appreciated, hasn't yielded the results I need. My own State Data Center (Arkansas)
has some useful profiles, but again not as specific as I need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just possibly - AFF2,
although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful out of AFF2, since
results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on Data Ferret back in December was
helpful, but didn't have a lot of in-depth training on large downloads, highly
specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does anyone else want
more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
1:22 p.m.
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found the table and have a simple geography (counties). I
would have downloaded the table as a csv file and open it in excel. Manipulate it there
to remove the variables you don't want and calc the LFPR.
Are you looking for something that will extract the exact cells (total pop and in LF) you
need? You could use the "modify table" function in AFF but I agree - at this
time that is kinda clunky and slow - because you can only make one change at a time. But
to me AFF to Excel is much faster than DataFerrett for pulling a table for multiple
geographies. I guess it is just what you are comfortable with.
Using the info, Mara Kaminowitz from Baltimore sent out earlier this month, once you know
the specific table you want, you can construct a direct link like this one which will pull
table PCT 35 from 2000 SF3 for Arkansas statewide and all its counties:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF3/PCT035/0400000US…
BTW - this table is also available by race as table PCT079 in SF4. Its link to the data
for Hispanics would look like this:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF4/PCT079/0400000US…
I have found that that the text search feature has greatly improved in AFF2. I typed
"labor force age sex" (219 results) then selected 2000 SF3 (1 result). Now
pick your geography. A handful of clicks got me to the data. If you are not familiar
with the tables in the census data files, the search is actually improving into a useful
tool.
Nancy Gemignani
California State Census Data Center
Demographic Research Unit
(916) 327-0103 ext 2550
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with the AFF2 problem
by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret. I must reluctantly confess that
I am still struggling, and would like to know how other members on the CTPP list serve are
faring. Here are my conclusions at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles (despite its clunky and
counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience it's still hard - even with the
benefit of some training - to really drill down into the kind of esoteric data I sometimes
need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair amount of data for
multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.) but I'm having a hard time
drilling down to the highly specific items I need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force participation by age and
sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in Census 2000. I have been able, with the
help of Data Ferret, to obtain the table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret
can't seem to give me the figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads
are proving error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center site, while much
appreciated, hasn't yielded the results I need. My own State Data Center (Arkansas)
has some useful profiles, but again not as specific as I need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just possibly - AFF2,
although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful out of AFF2, since
results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on Data Ferret back in December was
helpful, but didn't have a lot of in-depth training on large downloads, highly
specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does anyone else want
more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
2:09 p.m.
Jonathan
Here is some Perl code which you might find useful to extract the data you
want. This code is written to obtain specific ACS data tables from tracts
in multiple counties and put it all in a single file. The README tab
describes the process in detail. You can modify it to fit your needs.
Hope it helps.
Krishnan
On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Gemignani, Nancy <
Nancy.Gemignani(a)dof.ca.gov> wrote:
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found the table and
have a simple
geography (counties). I would have downloaded the table as a csv file and
open it in excel. Manipulate it there to remove the variables you don’t
want and calc the LFPR. ****
** **
Are you looking for something that will extract the exact cells (total pop
and in LF) you need? You could use the “modify table” function in AFF but
I agree – at this time that is kinda clunky and slow - because you can only
make one change at a time. But to me AFF to Excel is much faster than
DataFerrett for pulling a table for multiple geographies. I guess it is
just what you are comfortable with. ****
** **
Using the info, Mara Kaminowitz from Baltimore sent out earlier this
month, once you know the specific table you want, you can construct a
direct link like this one which will pull table PCT 35 from 2000 SF3 for
Arkansas statewide and all its counties:****
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF3/PCT035/0400000US…
****
** **
BTW – this table is also available by race as table PCT079 in SF4. Its
link to the data for Hispanics would look like this:****
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF4/PCT079/0400000US…
****
** **
I have found that that the text search feature has greatly improved in
AFF2. I typed “labor force age sex” (219 results) then selected 2000 SF3 (
*1 result*). Now pick your geography. A handful of clicks got me to the
data. If you are not familiar with the tables in the census data files,
the search is actually improving into a useful tool. ****
** **
*Nancy Gemignani*
California State Census Data Center****
Demographic Research Unit****
(916) 327-0103 ext 2550 ****
** **
*From:* ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:
ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net] *On Behalf Of *Jonathan Lupton
*Sent:* Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
*To:* ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
*Subject:* [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads****
** **
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with
the AFF2 problem by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret.
I must reluctantly confess that I am still struggling, and would like to
know how other members on the CTPP list serve are faring. Here are my
conclusions at the moment:****
** **
**1. **AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles
(despite its clunky and counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience
it’s still hard – even with the benefit of some training – to really drill
down into the kind of esoteric data I sometimes need.****
**2. **Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair
amount of data for multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.)
but I’m having a hard time drilling down to the highly specific items I
need.****
** **
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force
participation by age and sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in
Census 2000. I have been able, with the help of Data Ferret, to obtain the
table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret can’t seem to give me
the figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads are proving
error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center
site, while much appreciated, hasn’t yielded the results I need. My own
State Data Center (Arkansas) has some useful profiles, but again not as
specific as I need.****
** **
Does anyone else have tips? ****
** **
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or – just possibly
- AFF2, although I’m deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful
out of AFF2, since results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on
Data Ferret back in December was helpful, but didn’t have a lot of in-depth
training on large downloads, highly specific data needs, etc.****
** **
I’m deep in ‘flyover country,’ and hence there’s a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does
anyone else want more web-based training, too?****
** **
Jonathan Lupton AICP****
Research Planner****
Metroplan****
Little Rock, Arkansas****
** **
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--
Krishnan Viswanathan
1101 High Meadow Dr
Tallahassee FL 32311
2:29 p.m.
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but failed. I'll share this with the
list serve because it may be instructive to others. I'm probably missing
something simple, but this may help reveal the (multiple) fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as you said in the message
below: I typed in "labor force age sex." This was great. I got a long list
of 2010 ACS tables, but at least they resembled what I'm looking for. Then I
typed in "2000 SF3" and got: "No tables, files or documents were found
that
match . blah blah."
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling through the multiple pages
of results, I go through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into 2009 ACS.
How many dozens of pages must I scroll through to get Census 2000?
I also can't help but use this as commentary on AFF2. I'm a data user with
years of experience and training. If I can't easily find what I need, what
hope does the general public have? Very little of Census 2000 is available
in printed form. Will it become the "dark age" Census, that nobody can get
to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like nothing more than to be able
to make full use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found the table and have a simple geography
(counties). I would have downloaded the table as a csv file and open it in
excel. Manipulate it there to remove the variables you don't want and calc
the LFPR.
Are you looking for something that will extract the exact cells (total pop
and in LF) you need? You could use the "modify table" function in AFF but
I agree - at this time that is kinda clunky and slow - because you can only
make one change at a time. But to me AFF to Excel is much faster than
DataFerrett for pulling a table for multiple geographies. I guess it is
just what you are comfortable with.
Using the info, Mara Kaminowitz from Baltimore sent out earlier this month,
once you know the specific table you want, you can construct a direct link
like this one which will pull table PCT 35 from 2000 SF3 for Arkansas
statewide and all its counties:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF3/PCT035/0400000US0
5.05000|0400000US05
BTW - this table is also available by race as table PCT079 in SF4. Its link
to the data for Hispanics would look like this:
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/00_SF4/PCT079/0400000US0
5.05000|0400000US05/popgroup~400
I have found that that the text search feature has greatly improved in AFF2.
I typed "labor force age sex" (219 results) then selected 2000 SF3 (1
result). Now pick your geography. A handful of clicks got me to the data.
If you are not familiar with the tables in the census data files, the search
is actually improving into a useful tool.
Nancy Gemignani
California State Census Data Center
Demographic Research Unit
(916) 327-0103 ext 2550
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 8:41 AM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
I much appreciate the efforts by Elaine Murakami and others to help with the
AFF2 problem by providing the recent webinars in AFF2 and Data Ferret. I
must reluctantly confess that I am still struggling, and would like to know
how other members on the CTPP list serve are faring. Here are my conclusions
at the moment:
1. AFF2 is useful for obtaining pre-organized data profiles (despite
its clunky and counter-intuitive interface), but in my experience it's still
hard - even with the benefit of some training - to really drill down into
the kind of esoteric data I sometimes need.
2. Data Ferret is great for batches, like downloading a fair amount of
data for multiple geographies (like all BGs in a county, etc.) but I'm
having a hard time drilling down to the highly specific items I need.
My latest troubles involve trying to get employment/labor force
participation by age and sex for counties and/or my metro area from SF-3 in
Census 2000. I have been able, with the help of Data Ferret, to obtain the
table numbers (PCT 3500-PCT 3518), but Data Ferret can't seem to give me the
figures I need in a single download, and multiple downloads are proving
error-prone and troublesome. Searching the table numbers in AFF2 yields the
typically useless results. My search of the Missouri State Data Center site,
while much appreciated, hasn't yielded the results I need. My own State Data
Center (Arkansas) has some useful profiles, but again not as specific as I
need.
Does anyone else have tips?
I feel like I could use further webinars on Data Ferret or - just possibly -
AFF2, although I'm deeply suspicious of trying to make anything useful out
of AFF2, since results so far have been disappointing. The seminar on Data
Ferret back in December was helpful, but didn't have a lot of in-depth
training on large downloads, highly specific data needs, etc.
I'm deep in 'flyover country,' and hence there's a lack of training and
information exchange available. Surely others face the same issues. Does
anyone else want more web-based training, too?
Jonathan Lupton AICP
Research Planner
Metroplan
Little Rock, Arkansas
3:17 p.m.
The best way to get a specific data set is to
select it by clicking on topics, then
dataset. Then all the tables you bring up are
restricted to those in that one dataset.
The ACS labor force/age/sex table is
B23001. After selecting the dataset, you can
type the table number into the selection box and
click go, and then it will bring up the one table
and you can click the box and "view." It's still
way too many clicks If you want 2000 data,
select 2000 SF3 as a dataset and then just type
"labor force" in the box. You'll get an
assortment of tables and you can choose the one you want.
We all hate AFF2, although our lists of pet
peeves may vary in content. Mine are (1) you can
only retrieve one table at a time, and (2) the
download options are horrible. The simple csv
option to be opened in Excel does not exist. When
you select the xls option, you get a table which
has left-justified numbers and weird columns. You
can fix this, but it's a burden. If instead you
choose to get a csv table for use as a database,
the rows and columns transpose. This is fine if
you have a lot of geographic areas and a table
with few cells, but lousy otherwise. If you try
to transpose it back the "estimate" and "margin
of error" rows are interleaved. There simply are no good download options.
Patty Becker
At 03:29 PM 2/17/2012, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900"
Content-Language: en-us
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but
failed. Ill share this with the list serve
because it may be instructive to others. Im
probably missing something simple, but this may
help reveal the (multiple) fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as
you said in the message below: I typed in labor
force age sex. This was great. I got a long
list of 2010 ACS tables, but at least they
resembled what Im looking for. Then I typed in
2000 SF3 and got: No tables, files or
documents were found that match
blah blah
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling
through the multiple pages of results, I go
through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into
2009 ACS. How many dozens of pages must I scroll through to get Census 2000?
I also cant help but use this as commentary on
AFF2. Im a data user with years of experience
and training. If I cant easily find what I
need, what hope does the general public have?
Very little of Census 2000 is available in
printed form. Will it become the dark age Census, that nobody can get to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like
nothing more than to be able to make full use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found
t------=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900--
--===============4682139925125998441==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding:
7bit Content-Disposition: inline
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--===============4682139925125998441==--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034 pbecker(a)umich.edu
3:57 p.m.
Okay, I finally got what I was looking for. Many thanks to Nancy Gemignani -
you got me on the right track. I had to scroll through seven screens of ACS
2010, 2009, 2008, etc. to finally retrieve Census 2000 SF-3.
Does anyone know if there's a shortcut without all this scrolling? I
remember asking about this at the AFF2 training webinar in October, and I
don't think there was a good answer. Once ACS 2011, 2012, 2013, etc are up
there it may take 27 screens to get back to Census 2000.
Patty, I agree that the AFF2 downloads are also sometimes a mess. I have
designed a macro that takes out the MOE columns, which are reliably every
other column. It's scary to run, because it feels like taking a meat cleaver
to your data, but actually works well. You can save your data first just to
be safe.
I remain astonished that they took something that worked pretty well
("Legacy" FactFinder) and, rather than building on what was good, they
junked it, put on dunce caps, and came up with the resulting mess. I think
it's an "emperor with no clothes" situation, the typical product of
top-down
hierarchical bureaucracy in which underlings know there's a problem, but the
information isn't allowed to climb the command chain. But I digress.
Deep linking looks promising, but working for an MPO I'm wearing a lot of
hats, and haven't found time to go there yet.
Thanks everybody for the helpful tips. I'd still like another webinar on
advanced use of Data Ferret.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net]
On Behalf Of Patty Becker
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:18 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
The best way to get a specific data set is to select it by clicking on
topics, then dataset. Then all the tables you bring up are restricted to
those in that one dataset.
The ACS labor force/age/sex table is B23001. After selecting the dataset,
you can type the table number into the selection box and click go, and then
it will bring up the one table and you can click the box and "view." It's
still way too many clicks If you want 2000 data, select 2000 SF3 as a
dataset and then just type "labor force" in the box. You'll get an
assortment of tables and you can choose the one you want.
We all hate AFF2, although our lists of pet peeves may vary in content.
Mine are (1) you can only retrieve one table at a time, and (2) the download
options are horrible. The simple csv option to be opened in Excel does not
exist. When you select the xls option, you get a table which has
left-justified numbers and weird columns. You can fix this, but it's a
burden. If instead you choose to get a csv table for use as a database, the
rows and columns transpose. This is fine if you have a lot of geographic
areas and a table with few cells, but lousy otherwise. If you try to
transpose it back the "estimate" and "margin of error" rows are
interleaved.
There simply are no good download options.
Patty Becker
At 03:29 PM 2/17/2012, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900"
Content-Language: en-us
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but failed. I'll share this with the
list serve because it may be instructive to others. I'm probably missing
something simple, but this may help reveal the (multiple) fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as you said in the message
below: I typed in "labor force age sex." This was great. I got a long list
of 2010 ACS tables, but at least they resembled what I'm looking for. Then I
typed in "2000 SF3" and got: "No tables, files or documents were found
that
match . blah blah."
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling through the multiple pages
of results, I go through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into 2009 ACS.
How many dozens of pages must I scroll through to get Census 2000?
I also can't help but use this as commentary on AFF2. I'm a data user with
years of experience and training. If I can't easily find what I need, what
hope does the general public have? Very little of Census 2000 is available
in printed form. Will it become the "dark age" Census, that nobody can get
to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like nothing more than to be able
to make full use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [ mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net
<mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net> ] On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found
t------=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900--
--===============4682139925125998441== Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--===============4682139925125998441==--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034 pbecker(a)umich.edu
4:17 p.m.
Jonathan,
Yes, you can select the data set you want to search in but clicking on "Topics"
then select "Dataset" (the last item). From there you can pick the 2000 SF3
Sample data.
Not intuitive at all, but after I stumbled on that the first time, I now use it a lot to
avoid doing what you had to do .. scroll through all those pages of results.
-Jami
=============================
Jami Garrison
Maricopa Association of Governments
jgarrison@azmag.gov<mailto:jgarrison@mag.maricopa.gov>
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 2:57 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Okay, I finally got what I was looking for. Many thanks to Nancy Gemignani - you got me on
the right track. I had to scroll through seven screens of ACS 2010, 2009, 2008, etc. to
finally retrieve Census 2000 SF-3.
Does anyone know if there's a shortcut without all this scrolling? I remember asking
about this at the AFF2 training webinar in October, and I don't think there was a good
answer. Once ACS 2011, 2012, 2013, etc are up there it may take 27 screens to get back to
Census 2000.
Patty, I agree that the AFF2 downloads are also sometimes a mess. I have designed a macro
that takes out the MOE columns, which are reliably every other column. It's scary to
run, because it feels like taking a meat cleaver to your data, but actually works well.
You can save your data first just to be safe.
I remain astonished that they took something that worked pretty well ("Legacy"
FactFinder) and, rather than building on what was good, they junked it, put on dunce caps,
and came up with the resulting mess. I think it's an "emperor with no
clothes" situation, the typical product of top-down hierarchical bureaucracy in which
underlings know there's a problem, but the information isn't allowed to climb the
command chain. But I digress.
Deep linking looks promising, but working for an MPO I'm wearing a lot of hats, and
haven't found time to go there yet.
Thanks everybody for the helpful tips. I'd still like another webinar on advanced use
of Data Ferret.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Patty Becker
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:18 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
The best way to get a specific data set is to select it by clicking on topics, then
dataset. Then all the tables you bring up are restricted to those in that one dataset.
The ACS labor force/age/sex table is B23001. After selecting the dataset, you can type
the table number into the selection box and click go, and then it will bring up the one
table and you can click the box and "view." It's still way too many clicks
If you want 2000 data, select 2000 SF3 as a dataset and then just type "labor
force" in the box. You'll get an assortment of tables and you can choose the one
you want.
We all hate AFF2, although our lists of pet peeves may vary in content. Mine are (1) you
can only retrieve one table at a time, and (2) the download options are horrible. The
simple csv option to be opened in Excel does not exist. When you select the xls option,
you get a table which has left-justified numbers and weird columns. You can fix this, but
it's a burden. If instead you choose to get a csv table for use as a database, the
rows and columns transpose. This is fine if you have a lot of geographic areas and a table
with few cells, but lousy otherwise. If you try to transpose it back the
"estimate" and "margin of error" rows are interleaved. There simply
are no good download options.
Patty Becker
At 03:29 PM 2/17/2012, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900"
Content-Language: en-us
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but failed. I'll share this with the list
serve because it may be instructive to others. I'm probably missing something simple,
but this may help reveal the (multiple) fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as you said in the message below: I typed in
"labor force age sex." This was great. I got a long list of 2010 ACS tables, but
at least they resembled what I'm looking for. Then I typed in "2000 SF3" and
got: "No tables, files or documents were found that match ... blah blah..."
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling through the multiple pages of results, I
go through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into 2009 ACS. How many dozens of pages must
I scroll through to get Census 2000?
I also can't help but use this as commentary on AFF2. I'm a data user with years
of experience and training. If I can't easily find what I need, what hope does the
general public have? Very little of Census 2000 is available in printed form. Will it
become the "dark age" Census, that nobody can get to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like nothing more than to be able to make full
use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net> [
mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@chrispy.net>
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found t------=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900--
--===============4682139925125998441== Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________ ctpp-news
mailing list ctpp-news@ryoko.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@ryoko.chrispy.net>
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--===============4682139925125998441==--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034
pbecker@umich.edu<mailto:pbecker@umich.edu>
4:23 p.m.
Jonathan,
One of the search options in the "TOPICS" box on the left is
"DATASET".
A tip that has helped me is to drill down as far as I can using those
boxes on the left (geography, dataset, variable... I usually do it in
this order and have had good luck) and what I am looking for generally
arrives on the first page.
Another tip, be sure to clear your basket between searches. If you have
elements of a previous search it can get confusing and will lead to
frustrating messages about variables or geographies not being available.
Kendra Watkins
Senior Planner
Mid-Region Council of Governments
809 Copper NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
(505)724-3601
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 2:57 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Okay, I finally got what I was looking for. Many thanks to Nancy
Gemignani - you got me on the right track. I had to scroll through seven
screens of ACS 2010, 2009, 2008, etc. to finally retrieve Census 2000
SF-3.
Does anyone know if there's a shortcut without all this scrolling? I
remember asking about this at the AFF2 training webinar in October, and
I don't think there was a good answer. Once ACS 2011, 2012, 2013, etc
are up there it may take 27 screens to get back to Census 2000.
Patty, I agree that the AFF2 downloads are also sometimes a mess. I have
designed a macro that takes out the MOE columns, which are reliably
every other column. It's scary to run, because it feels like taking a
meat cleaver to your data, but actually works well. You can save your
data first just to be safe.
I remain astonished that they took something that worked pretty well
("Legacy" FactFinder) and, rather than building on what was good, they
junked it, put on dunce caps, and came up with the resulting mess. I
think it's an "emperor with no clothes" situation, the typical product
of top-down hierarchical bureaucracy in which underlings know there's a
problem, but the information isn't allowed to climb the command chain.
But I digress.
Deep linking looks promising, but working for an MPO I'm wearing a lot
of hats, and haven't found time to go there yet.
Thanks everybody for the helpful tips. I'd still like another webinar on
advanced use of Data Ferret.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Patty Becker
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:18 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
The best way to get a specific data set is to select it by clicking on
topics, then dataset. Then all the tables you bring up are restricted
to those in that one dataset.
The ACS labor force/age/sex table is B23001. After selecting the
dataset, you can type the table number into the selection box and click
go, and then it will bring up the one table and you can click the box
and "view." It's still way too many clicks If you want 2000 data,
select 2000 SF3 as a dataset and then just type "labor force" in the
box. You'll get an assortment of tables and you can choose the one you
want.
We all hate AFF2, although our lists of pet peeves may vary in content.
Mine are (1) you can only retrieve one table at a time, and (2) the
download options are horrible. The simple csv option to be opened in
Excel does not exist. When you select the xls option, you get a table
which has left-justified numbers and weird columns. You can fix this,
but it's a burden. If instead you choose to get a csv table for use as a
database, the rows and columns transpose. This is fine if you have a lot
of geographic areas and a table with few cells, but lousy otherwise. If
you try to transpose it back the "estimate" and "margin of error"
rows
are interleaved. There simply are no good download options.
Patty Becker
At 03:29 PM 2/17/2012, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900"
Content-Language: en-us
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but failed. I'll share this with
the list serve because it may be instructive to others. I'm probably
missing something simple, but this may help reveal the (multiple)
fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as you said in the message
below: I typed in "labor force age sex." This was great. I got a long
list of 2010 ACS tables, but at least they resembled what I'm looking
for. Then I typed in "2000 SF3" and got: "No tables, files or documents
were found that match ... blah blah..."
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling through the multiple
pages of results, I go through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into
2009 ACS. How many dozens of pages must I scroll through to get Census
2000?
I also can't help but use this as commentary on AFF2. I'm a data user
with years of experience and training. If I can't easily find what I
need, what hope does the general public have? Very little of Census 2000
is available in printed form. Will it become the "dark age" Census, that
nobody can get to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like nothing more than to be
able to make full use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [
mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net
<mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net> ] On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found
t------=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900--
--===============4682139925125998441== Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
_______________________________________________ ctpp-news mailing list
ctpp-news(a)ryoko.chrispy.net
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--===============4682139925125998441==--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034 pbecker(a)umich.edu
5:09 p.m.
Jonathan,
On the Main page, select Topics, select Datasets, then you will find the various Census
and ACS sets available, then select 2000 SF3 Sample Data, almost at the end of your
scrolling. Sounds easy, but this is AFF2 so anything can happen...
Manny Trillo
From: ctpp-news-bounces(a)chrispy.net [mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lupton
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:57 PM
To: ctpp-news(a)chrispy.net
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Okay, I finally got what I was looking for. Many thanks to Nancy Gemignani - you got me on
the right track. I had to scroll through seven screens of ACS 2010, 2009, 2008, etc. to
finally retrieve Census 2000 SF-3.
Does anyone know if there's a shortcut without all this scrolling? I remember asking
about this at the AFF2 training webinar in October, and I don't think there was a good
answer. Once ACS 2011, 2012, 2013, etc are up there it may take 27 screens to get back to
Census 2000.
Patty, I agree that the AFF2 downloads are also sometimes a mess. I have designed a macro
that takes out the MOE columns, which are reliably every other column. It's scary to
run, because it feels like taking a meat cleaver to your data, but actually works well.
You can save your data first just to be safe.
I remain astonished that they took something that worked pretty well ("Legacy"
FactFinder) and, rather than building on what was good, they junked it, put on dunce caps,
and came up with the resulting mess. I think it's an "emperor with no
clothes" situation, the typical product of top-down hierarchical bureaucracy in which
underlings know there's a problem, but the information isn't allowed to climb the
command chain. But I digress.
Deep linking looks promising, but working for an MPO I'm wearing a lot of hats, and
haven't found time to go there yet.
Thanks everybody for the helpful tips. I'd still like another webinar on advanced use
of Data Ferret.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net>
[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net]<mailto:[mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net]>
On Behalf Of Patty Becker
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 3:18 PM
To: ctpp-news@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@chrispy.net>
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
The best way to get a specific data set is to select it by clicking on topics, then
dataset. Then all the tables you bring up are restricted to those in that one dataset.
The ACS labor force/age/sex table is B23001. After selecting the dataset, you can type
the table number into the selection box and click go, and then it will bring up the one
table and you can click the box and "view." It's still way too many clicks
If you want 2000 data, select 2000 SF3 as a dataset and then just type "labor
force" in the box. You'll get an assortment of tables and you can choose the one
you want.
We all hate AFF2, although our lists of pet peeves may vary in content. Mine are (1) you
can only retrieve one table at a time, and (2) the download options are horrible. The
simple csv option to be opened in Excel does not exist. When you select the xls option,
you get a table which has left-justified numbers and weird columns. You can fix this, but
it's a burden. If instead you choose to get a csv table for use as a database, the
rows and columns transpose. This is fine if you have a lot of geographic areas and a table
with few cells, but lousy otherwise. If you try to transpose it back the
"estimate" and "margin of error" rows are interleaved. There simply
are no good download options.
Patty Becker
At 03:29 PM 2/17/2012, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900"
Content-Language: en-us
Ms. Gemignani:
Thanks for the tips with AFF2. I tried, but failed. I'll share this with the list
serve because it may be instructive to others. I'm probably missing something simple,
but this may help reveal the (multiple) fallacies of AFF2.
After selecting the county geography, I did as you said in the message below: I typed in
"labor force age sex." This was great. I got a long list of 2010 ACS tables, but
at least they resembled what I'm looking for. Then I typed in "2000 SF3" and
got: "No tables, files or documents were found that match ... blah blah..."
What am I doing wrong here? When I try scrolling through the multiple pages of results, I
go through two pages of 2010 ACS. Then I run into 2009 ACS. How many dozens of pages must
I scroll through to get Census 2000?
I also can't help but use this as commentary on AFF2. I'm a data user with years
of experience and training. If I can't easily find what I need, what hope does the
general public have? Very little of Census 2000 is available in printed form. Will it
become the "dark age" Census, that nobody can get to?
Again, thanks for taking the time. I would like nothing more than to be able to make full
use of AFF2.
Jonathan Lupton
From: ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net> [
mailto:ctpp-news-bounces@chrispy.net] On Behalf Of Gemignani, Nancy
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 1:22 PM
To: ctpp-news@chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@chrispy.net>
Subject: Re: [CTPP] Census/ACS data downloads
Jonathan, Sounds like you have found t------=_NextPart_000_0036_01CCED80.96637900--
--===============4682139925125998441== Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline _______________________________________________ ctpp-news
mailing list ctpp-news@ryoko.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@ryoko.chrispy.net>
http://ryoko.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/ctpp-news
--===============4682139925125998441==--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patricia C. (Patty) Becker 248/354-6520
APB Associates/SEMCC FAX 248/354-6645
28300 Franklin Road Home 248/355-2428
Southfield, MI 48034
pbecker@umich.edu<mailto:pbecker@umich.edu>
4647
days inactive
4647
days old
11 comments
10 participants
participants (10)
-
Elaine.Murakami＠dot.gov -
Gemignani, Nancy -
Howard Slavin -
Jami Garrison -
Jonathan Lupton -
Kendra Watkins -
Krishnan Viswanathan -
Manny Trillo -
Mike Harmon -
Patty Becker