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Maps of the Month in 2010

December 2010

The map of the month depicts some recent research conducted by the Brookings Institution and London School of Economics about how the world’s 150 largest metropolitan economies have fared during the “Great Recession”. The map shows that the metro regions in the U.S. and Europe took the brunt of the economic downtown, while those in Asia and other developing countries weathered the storm in much better shape.

November 2010

This month's map shows the number of daily individual trips to major employment centers around the Bay area, as well as the distances commuters are traveling to reach those destinations. The overall pattern shows that employees in the Bay area tend to live closer to their places of employment. Some areas, like Brentwood and Antioch, have a large number of commuters traveling a pretty significant distance by car in order to reach their places of employment. The major employment centers constitute the 25 largest employment centers in the Bay area based on the number of employees. The commute analysis was conducted at the TAZ level.

October 2010

This map illustrates the racial diversity of neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000. Each dot represents 100 people in four race categories: white (non-Hispanic), black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic/Latino, and Asian/Pacific Islander. Thus, the map also depicts population densities throughout the region.

While the rural/ suburban areas in the region have largely white populations, many urban/ densely populated areas in the region are racially diverse, with two or more ethnicities living in relatively non-segregated neighborhoods.

September 2010

The map of the month illustrates the existing Level II public vehicle charging station infrastructure in the nine county Bay Area region. The data was created by geocoding the address of the 91 charging stations, which was obtained from the U.S. Department of Energy.

July 2010

The map of the month shows the number of Essential Destinations (Schools, Food Stores, Health Services, Social Services, Banks, and Places of Worship) accessible from Bay Area locations within a 30-minute transit trip. These data are depicted at the TAZ level and are clipped to show urbanized areas. San Francisco shows the most significant access to essential destinations using transit, with some areas showing that over
1500 essential destinations are accessible within a 30 minute transit trip.

June 2010

The map of the month shows a transportation availability index which is comprised of measures of auto availability in 2000, transit service frequency in 2009, and walkability in 2006. Standard scores were developed for each measure by census block. The standard score is expressed as the number of standard deviations away from the mean or average. A standard score value greater than 0 is above the regional average and indicates greater access to a combination of automobiles, transit and walking as viable transportation options.

May 2010

The map of the month shows recession-related changes in frequency, or “headways”, for daily bus, rail and ferry service between 2006 and 2009. The blue areas indicate service reductions (headways decreased) and the red areas indicate service additions (headways increased). While the map certainly has too much blue reflecting longer headways and waiting times for transit patrons, it is noteworthy how many red areas show improved service during this economic recessionary period. However, 2010 has been a very tough year financially for transit operations so we expect more service reductions than shown on the map.

April 2010

The map of the month shows the overall walkability of the Bay Area based on proximity to points of interest (POIs). POI categories considered for the analysis included educational institutions and libraries, health services, parks, retail, dining and entertainment. The walkability index was then created based on how many POIs could be found within 1 mile of any given street intersection.

March 2010

The map of the month shows the historical boundaries of the Bay Area counties. On January 4, 1850, the California constitutional committee recommended the formation of 18 counties. They were Benicia, Butte, Fremont, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Mount Diablo, Oro, Redding, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Sutter. On April 22, the counties of Branciforte, Calaveras, Coloma, Colusi, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Trinity, and Yuba were added. Benicia was renamed Solano, Coloma to El Dorado, Fremont to Yolo, Mt. Diablo to Contra Costa, San Jose to Santa Clara, Oro to Tuolumne, and Redding to Shasta. One of the first state legislative acts regarding counties was to rename Branciforte County to Santa Cruz, Colusi to Colusa, and Yola to Yolo.

February 2010

The map of the month shows the total owner-occupied foreclosures within the Bay Area by census tract between July 2008 and June 2009. Foreclosure types considered for this analysis include lender owned and third-party owned foreclosures as well as foreclosed properties ready for auction. Contra Costa and Solano counties showed the highest foreclosure rates in the Bay Area during the first half of 2009 with up to 170 foreclosures per tract.

January 2010

The map of the month shows the weekday transit service frequency within the Bay Area urban footprint. The transit service frequency was generated based on the rail, ferry and bus service data in MTC's regional transit database (RTD). Headway information for rail, ferry and bus routes was assigned to relevant transit stops and stations. These point data were then interpolated to the frequency of service displayed in the map. As you can see, the region’s most frequent transit service is overwhelmingly concentrated in our three largest cities: San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland.

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