EnviroAtlas - Commute Modes and Working from Home by Block Group for the Conterminous United States
Dataset Identification:
Resource Abstract:
This EnviroAtlas dataset portrays the percent of workers who commute to work using various modes, and the percent who work
from home within each Census Block Group (CBG) during 2008-2012. Data were compiled from the Census ACS (American Community
Survey) 5-year Summary Data. The commute modes are the travel methods workers use to get from home to work. The commute modes
mapped include private vehicle use (drive alone or carpooling), public transit, bicycling, and walking. Workers who work from
home were also reported. This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related
to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping
application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as
downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive
information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets).
Citation
Title EnviroAtlas - Commute Modes and Working from Home by Block Group for the Conterminous United States
publication Date
2015-06-09
cited responsible party
-
publisher
organisation Name
US EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) - National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL)
Contact information
Address
, Research Triangle Park, NC
cited responsible party
-
originator
organisation Name
US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA)
In recent decades, car-oriented commuting has generated a number of environmental and mobility problems worldwide, which highlight
the need to develop and encourage more environmentally sustainable modes of transportation. Although bicycling and walking
make up a relatively small portion of commuting activity in the United States, these non-motorized travel modes might play
important roles within many of the nation's local transportation systems (ACS, 2014). The promotion of non-motorized modes
of transport, like bicycles and walking, is increasingly being recognized as an effective way of addressing these urban transport
and related public health problems (Rietveld and Daniel, 2004). In particular, a shift from car to bicycle could reduce road
congestion and traffic-related air pollution since cycling has low space requirements and is a non-polluting transport mode
(Chapman, 2007; Beckx et al., 2009). It also reduces noise, vibration, road accidents, infrastructure costs (e.g. less road
maintenance) as well as the dependence of the economy upon fossil fuels. Furthermore, cycling is a cheap way of being physically
active and preventing the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle (Pucher et al., 1999; WHO, 2002; de Geus, 2007). Therefore,
understanding the current transport patterns and encouraging more sustainable transportation systems are very important for
community development and human health. This data layer presents the modes of travel to work for workers as well as the population
who work from home. This information could support evaluating the sustainability and health of communities, especially the
communities' transport system. It could also be used to guide future improvements to community transportation. The overall
goal of EnviroAtlas is to employ and develop the best available science to map indicators of ecosystem services production,
demand, and drivers for the nation.
Resource language:
eng; USA
Resource progress code:
completed
Resource Maintenance Information
maintenance or update frequency:
asNeeded
Constraints on resource usage:
Constraints
Use limitation statement:
https://edg.epa.gov/EPA_Data_License.htm
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
use constraint:
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
Use Constraints: None. Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currency and other available information. Please confirm that
you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata. Acknowledgement of the EPA would be appreciated.
Constraints on resource usage:
Legal Constraints
Access Constraints
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
Access Constraints: None.
Constraints on resource usage:
Security Constraints
Classification
PUBLIC
Classification
System https://project-open-data.github.io/schema/#accessLevel
Handling
Description Standard Technical Controls
Spatial representation type code:
vector
Resource extent
Geographic Extent
Geographic Bounding Box
westBoundLongitude
-128.02839229
eastBoundLongitude
-65.20336449
northBoundLatitude
51.6773602
southBoundLatitude
22.7348894
Temporal Extent
2008-01-01
2012-01-01
point of contact
-
pointOfContact
individual Name EnviroAtlas Coordinator
organisation Name
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program,
EnviroAtlas
position Name Geospatial Data Owner
Contact information
Telephone
Voice (919) 541-3832
Address
109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709
descriptor Census block group identifier; a concatenation of 2010 Census state Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) code,
county FIPS code, census tract code, and block group number
sequence Identifier
name bgrp
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who drive to their workplace
sequence Identifier
name Drive
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who use public transportation to commute to their workplace
sequence Identifier
name Public
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who bike to their workplace
sequence Identifier
name Bicycle
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who walk to their workplace
sequence Identifier
name Walk
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who used other modes, such as motorcycle, to commute to their workplace
sequence Identifier
name Other
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who work at home
sequence Identifier
name Home
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who drive to their workplace alone
sequence Identifier
name Drivealone
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who commute to their workplace by carpool
sequence Identifier
name Carpool
Band
descriptor Percentage of workers who commute to their workplace by biking or walking
name Of Measure Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report
evaluation Method Description
Data were collected using methods that have unknown accuracy (EPA National Geospatial Data Policy [NGDP] Accuracy Tier 10).
For more information, please see EPA's NGDP at https://www.epa.gov/geospatial/geospatial-policies-and-standards
Completeness Commission
evaluation Method Description
Features represented have not been tested for completeness
Completeness Omission
evaluation Method Description
Features represented have not been tested for completeness
ConceptualConsistency
measure Description
Tests for integrity have not been performed.
organisation Name
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program,
EnviroAtlas
position Name Geospatial Data Owner
Contact information
Telephone
Voice (919) 541-3832
Address
109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709
notes: This metadata was automatically generated from the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata standard (version
FGDC-STD-001-1998) using the 2012-06-20T17:21:00 version of the FGDC RSE to ISO 19115-2 transform.
Metadata contact
-
pointOfContact
individual Name EnviroAtlas Coordinator
organisation Name
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program,
EnviroAtlas
position Name Geospatial Data Owner
Contact information
Telephone
Voice (919) 541-3832
Address
109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709