Part 3 - Where to enrich? (what are Named Statistical Areas?)

Table of Contents

Exploring Named Statistical Areas

Each country has several named statistical areas in a hierarchy of geography levels (such as states, counties, zip codes, etc). The Country class can be used to discover the data collections, sub-geographies and available reports for a country. When working with a particular country, you will find it convenient to get a reference to it using the Country.get() method. This method accepts the country name or its 2 letter abbreviation or ISO3 code and returns an instance of that country.

Let's look into some countries and explore their subgeographies.

Explore subgeographies (State, County, Tract and Zip Code) for U.S.

Geographic level: Country

Now that we have a country, let's look at different levels of geographies available for U.S.

We can see various levels of subgeographies for the U.S. such as states, counties, cities, places being returned as a dictionary object, and the key-value pair of the dictionary includes id, name, adminLevel etc.

The subgeographies property of a country can be used to discover these standard geographic/statistical areas within that country.

This information is available through a heirarchy of dynamic properties (like states, counties, tracts, zip-codes,...). Each such dynamic property reflects the geographical levels within that country, with subgeographies grouped logically under the higher levels of geographies. The properties are dictionaries containing the names of the standard geographic places and their values are instances of NamedArea class. The NamedArea objects can be used as study areas in the enrich() method.

Note: Setting the `IPCompleter.greedy=True` configuration option in Jupyter notebook enables you to dynamically discover the various levels of subgeographies using intellisense, as in the example below:

Geographic level: State

usa.subgeographies.states returns a dictionary of different state names along with their details. To view all states and their details you may use usa.subgeographies.states in the code cell. We will only look at the first few records.

We see that various states are listed along with the "NamedArea" object that contains different properties such as name, area_id, level etc. Let's select a state and further explore its subgeographies.

Visualize on a map

Geographic level: County

Let's look at different counties in California. Following a similar pattern as above, we will look at the first few counties. To look at all counties you may use usa.subgeographies.states['California'].counties.

Let's select a county in California. Notice how a county can be selected using its key i.e. Alameda_County or San_Bernardino_County.

Visualize on a map

Geographic level: Tract

Let's select a county and look at different tracts in the county. We will look at the first few tracts in San Bernardino county. To look at all tracts you may use usa.subgeographies.states['California'].counties['San_Bernardino_County'].tracts.

Now, let's select a particular tract using its key.

Geographic level: Cities and Towns

Cities and Towns in a state can be accessed using Places subgeography. We will look at the first few places in California. To view all places, you may use usa.subgeographies.states['California'].places.

A particular city or town can be selected using its key. So we can use census Acalanes_Ridge_CDP key to get the details.

CDP here stands for census designated places. Census designated places (CDPs) are statistical geographic entities representing closely settled, unincorporated communities that are locally recognized and identified by name. They are the statistical equivalents of incorporated places, with the primary differences being the lack of a legally defined boundary and an active, functioning governmental structure.

Geographic level: Zip Code

Zip codes can be accessed at both the state and county levels. zip5 is used to select a zip code subgeography. Let's look at how zip codes can be selected.

Let's view a few zip codes for California and then select one.

Visualize on a map

Now let's view a few zip codes for San Bernardino county and then select one.

Explore subgeographies for another country

The subgeography levels and their hierarchies are different for each country, and can also be different for the different datasets (which can be set using the Country.dataset property).

Geographic level: Country

Look at the different levels of subgeographies for India

Here we see that subgeographies in India are different from those in U.S. India has districts and sub-districts instead of counties and tracts. Let's inspect a few states. Following a similar pattern of exploration as above, all states can be viewed using india.subgeographies.states.

Geographic level: State

We see that various states are listed along with their properties such as name, area_id, level etc. Let's select a state and further explore its subgeographies.

Geographic level: District

Let's look at different districts in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Following a similar pattern as above, we will look at the first few districts. To look at all districts you may use usa.subgeographies.states['Uttar_Pradesh'].districts.

Visualize on a map

Geographic level: Subdistrict

Let's select a district and look at different subdistricts in it. We will look at the first few subdistricts in Baghpat district. To look at all subdistricts you may use india.subgeographies.states['Uttar_Pradesh'].districts['Ghaziabad'].subdistricts.

Now, let's select a particular subdistrict.

Searching for named areas within a country

Named statistical areas can also be searched within a country. Let's search for areas named Riverside in the U.S.

The named areas can also be drawn on a map, as they include a geometry property

For instance, you can make a map of all the riversides in the US

img: riversides in the us

Conclusion

In this part of the arcgis.geoenrichment module guide series, you explored several named statistical areas in a hierarchy of geography levels. You saw, in detail, how different geography levels can be queried so it can then be used for enrichment. You were introduced to Country class and Country.get() method which can be used to discover sub-geographies, data collections and available reports for a country.

In the subsequent pages, you will learn about Data Collections and GeoEnrichment coverage, Generating Reports and Standard Geography Queries.