Cox Crow

Government Information Services, or the Lack Thereof

I was looking for the boundaries of New York's school districts. While New York State doesn't seem to provide a map, I did find some raw data. To make use of this, I need a password, and GIS software. Since ESRI doesn't want to price things within reach of mortals, I went looking and found GRASS, which is an open-source GIS, and MapServer.

This looks like it will be a time-consuming project.

Meanwhile, Paul Shane pointed out the National Center for Education Statistics, which, despite not having maps, does have some interesting summary statistics.

I did eventually find the maps I was looking for, at the Census Bureau's American Factfinder.

3:39:07 PM # Google It!
categories: Place

Sprawl, Classified by its Various Shapes and Sizes

PLANetizen points to a Boston Globe review and excerpt from Dolores Hayden's A Field Guide to Sprawl. The pictures, perhaps inadvertently, show suburbs as Very Large Scale Sculptures. Personally, I prefer something a bit more cozy.

12:11:41 PM # Google It!
categories: Place

Like a Good Neighbor

The American Museum of the Moving Image has an exhibit of all extant presidential candidate television advertisements. This commercial, in which a housewife says why she likes Ike, is more than a little apropros. The themes rarely change, though the faces do.

10:42:01 AM # Google It!
categories: Politics