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a Note on using zipcodes for geospatial analysis #1

Open clhenrick opened 7 years ago

clhenrick commented 7 years ago

Hey, this looks like an awesome project! You should be wary of using zipcodes for geospatial analysis or conclusions, they typically don't accurately reflect demographics of geographic areas that well. For example, using ZCTAs for geospatial analysis hid the water quality crisis in Flint, Michigan to government officials. I would encourage you to use a geography other than ZCTA, such as census tracts.

clhenrick commented 7 years ago

Here is the blog post which relates to the story above that explains more in depth why using ZCTAs for geospatial analysis aren't a good idea: https://theconversation.com/how-zip-codes-nearly-masked-the-lead-problem-in-flint-65626