My ArcGIS StoryMap is centered around The Green Book, an annual travel guide that allowed African Americans to travel safely during the height of the Jim Crow Era in the United States. More specifically, The Green Book listed establishments, such as hotels and restaurants, that would openly accept and welcome black customers into their businesses. As someone who is interested in the intersection between STEM and the humanities, I wanted to utilize The Science of Where to formulate a project that would reveal important historical implications to the public. Therefore, my overarching goal was to map each location in The Green Book in order to draw significant conclusions regarding racial segregation in one of the largest cities in the entire world.Although a more detailed methodology of my work can be found in the project itself, the following is a step by step walkthrough of my overall scientific process:Develop a question in relation to The Green Book to be solved through the completion of the project.Perform background research on The Green Book to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.Formulate a hypothesis that answers the proposed question based on the background research.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the hotel listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the restaurants listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1966 publications of The Green Book. In total, there should be eight unique database files (1940 New York City Hotels, 1940 New York City Restaurants, 1950 New York City Hotels, 1950 New York City Restaurants, 1960 New York City Hotels, 1960 New York City Restaurants, 1966 New York City Hotels, and 1966 New York City Restaurants.)Construct an address locator that references a New York City street base map to plot the information from the databases in Step 6 as points on a map.Manually plot locations that the address locator did not automatically match on the map.Repeat Steps 7 and 8 for all eight database files.Find and match the point locations for each listing in The Green Book with historical photographs.Generate a map tour using the geotagged images for each point from Step 10.Create a point density heat map for the locations in all eight database files.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate racial demographic data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Generate a hot spot map of the black population percentage using the demographic data.Analyze any geospatial trends between the point density heat maps for The Green Book and the black population percentage hot spot maps from the demographic data.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate redlining data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Overlay the points from The Green Book listings from Step 9 on top of the redlining shapefile.Count the number of point features completely located within each redlining zone ranking utilizing the spatial join tool.Plot the data recorded from Step 18 in the form of graphs.Analyze any geospatial trends between the listings for The Green Book and its location relative to the redlining ranking zones.Draw conclusions from the analyses in Steps 15 and 20 to present a justifiable rationale for the results._Student Generated Maps:New York City Pin Location Maphttps://arcg.is/15i4nj1940 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/WuXeq1940 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/L4aqq1950 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1CvTGj1950 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/0iSG4r1960 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1DOzeT1960 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1rWKTj1966 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/4PjOK1966 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1zyDTv11930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Enumeration District Maphttps://arcg.is/1rKSzz1930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Hot Spot Map (Same as Previous)https://arcg.is/1rKSzz1940 Hotels Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/jD1Ki1940 Restaurants Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/1aKbTS1940 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/8b10y1940 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/9WrXv1950 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/ruGiP1950 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0qzfvC01960 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/1KTHLK01960 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0jiu9q1966 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/PXKn41966 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/uCD05_Bibliography:Image Credits (In Order of Appearance)Header/Thumbnail Image:Student Generated Collage (Created Using Pictures from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-green-book#/?tab=about.)Mob Violence Image:Kelley, Robert W. “A Mob Rocks an out of State Car Passing.” Life Magazine, www.life.com/history/school-integration-clinton-history, The Green Book Example Image:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library Digital Collections, https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=5207583&t=w. 1940s Borough of Manhattan Hotels and Restaurants Photographs:“Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos.” NYC Municipal Archives Collections, The New York City Department of Records & Information Services, https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/NYCMA~5~5?cic=NYCMA~5~5.Figure 1:Student Generated GraphFigure 2:Student Generated GraphFigure 3:Student Generated GraphGIS DataThe Green Book Database:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Listings Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Point Density Heat Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Road Trip Map:Student GeneratedLION New York City Single Line Street Base Map:https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/dwn-lion.page 1930s Manhattan Census Data:https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm Mapping Inequality Redlining Data:https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/40.794/-74.072&city=manhattan-ny&text=downloads 1940 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1940, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc858e50-83d3-0132-2266-58d385a7b928. 1950 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1950" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1950, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/283a7180-87c6-0132-13e6-58d385a7b928. 1960 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Travelers' Green Book: 1960" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1960, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a7bf74e0-9427-0132-17bf-58d385a7b928. 1966 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "Travelers' Green Book: 1966-67 International Edition" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1966, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/27516920-8308-0132-5063-58d385a7bbd0. Hyperlink Credits (In Order of Appearance)Referenced Hyperlink #1: Coen, Ross. “Sundown Towns.” Black Past, 23 Aug. 2020, blackpast.org/african-american-history/sundown-towns.Referenced Hyperlink #2: Foster, Mark S. “In the Face of ‘Jim Crow’: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 84, no. 2, 1999, pp. 130–149., doi:10.2307/2649043. Referenced Hyperlink #3:Driskell, Jay. “An Atlas of Self-Reliance: The Negro Motorist's Green Book (1937-1964).” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 30 July 2015, americanhistory.si.edu/blog/negro-motorists-green-book. Referenced Hyperlink #4:Kahn, Eve M. “The 'Green Book' Legacy, a Beacon for Black Travelers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Aug. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/arts/design/the-green-book-legacy-a-beacon-for-black-travelers.html. Referenced Hyperlink #5:Giorgis, Hannah. “The Documentary Highlighting the Real 'Green Book'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Feb. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/real-green-book-preserving-stories-of-jim-crow-era-travel/583294/. Referenced Hyperlink #6:Staples, Brent. “Traveling While Black: The Green Book's Black History.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/opinion/green-book-black-travel.html. Referenced Hyperlink #7:Pollak, Michael. “How Official Is Official?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/nyregion/17fyi.html. Referenced Hyperlink #8:“New Name: Avenue Becomes a Boulevard.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Oct. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/nyregion/new-name-avenue-becomes-a-boulevard.html. Referenced Hyperlink #9:Norris, Frank. “Racial Dynamism in Los Angeles, 1900–1964.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 99, no. 3, 2017, pp. 251–289., doi:10.1525/scq.2017.99.3.251. Referenced Hyperlink #10:Shertzer, Allison, et al. Urban Transition Historical GIS Project, 2016, https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm. Referenced Hyperlink #11:Mitchell, Bruce. “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure Of Segregation And Economic Inequality.” National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 20 Mar. 2018,
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Summary: This repository contains spatial data files representing the density of vegetation cover within a 200 meter radius of points on a grid across the land area of New York City (NYC), New York, USA based on 2017 six-inch resolution land cover data, as well as SQL code used to carry out the analysis. The 200 meter radius was selected based on a study led by researchers at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which found that for a given point in the city, cooling benefits of vegetation only begin to accrue once the vegetation cover within a 200 meter radius is at least 32% (Johnson et al. 2020). The grid spacing of 100 feet in north/south and east/west directions was intended to provide granular enough detail to offer useful insights at a local scale (e.g., within a neighborhood) while keeping the amount of data needed to be processed for this manageable. The contained files were developed by the NY Cities Program of The Nature Conservancy and the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance through the Just Nature NYC Partnership. Additional context and interpretation of this work is available in a blog post.
References: Johnson, S., Z. Ross, I. Kheirbek, and K. Ito. 2020. Characterization of intra-urban spatial variation in observed summer ambient temperature from the New York City Community Air Survey. Urban Climate 31:100583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2020.100583
Files in this Repository: Spatial Data (all data are in the New York State Plane Coordinate System - Long Island Zone, North American Datum 1983, EPSG 2263): Points with unique identifiers (fid) and data on proportion tree canopy cover (prop_canopy), proportion grass/shrub cover (prop_grassshrub), and proportion total vegetation cover (prop_veg) within a 200 meter radius (same data made available in two commonly used formats, Esri File GeoDatabase and GeoPackage): nyc_propveg2017_200mbuffer_100ftgrid_nowater.gdb.zip nyc_propveg2017_200mbuffer_100ftgrid_nowater.gpkg Raster Data with the proportion total vegetation within a 200 meter radius of the center of each cell (pixel centers align with the spatial point data) nyc_propveg2017_200mbuffer_100ftgrid_nowater.tif Computer Code: Code for generating the point data in PostgreSQL/PostGIS, assuming the data sources listed below are already in a PostGIS database. nyc_point_buffer_vegetation_overlay.sql
Data Sources and Methods: We used two openly available datasets from the City of New York for this analysis: Borough Boundaries (Clipped to Shoreline) for NYC, from the NYC Department of City Planning, available at https://www.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/districts-download-metadata.page Six-inch resolution land cover data for New York City as of 2017, available at https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Environment/Land-Cover-Raster-Data-2017-6in-Resolution/he6d-2qns All data were used in the New York State Plane Coordinate System, Long Island Zone (EPSG 2263). Land cover data were used in a polygonized form for these analyses. The general steps for developing the data available in this repository were as follows: Create a grid of points across the city, based on the full extent of the Borough Boundaries dataset, with points 100 feet from one another in east/west and north/south directions Delete any points that do not overlap the areas in the Borough Boundaries dataset. Create circles centered at each point, with a radius of 200 meters (656.168 feet) in line with the aforementioned paper (Johnson et al. 2020). Overlay the circles with the land cover data, and calculate the proportion of the land cover that was grass/shrub and tree canopy land cover types. Note, because the land cover data consistently ended at the boundaries of NYC, for points within 200 meters of Nassau and Westchester Counties, the area with land cover data was smaller than the area of the circles. Relate the results from the overlay analysis back to the associated points. Create a raster data layer from the point data, with 100 foot by 100 foot resolution, where the center of each pixel is at the location of the respective points. Areas between the Borough Boundary polygons (open water of NY Harbor) are coded as "no data." All steps except for the creation of the raster dataset were conducted in PostgreSQL/PostGIS, as documented in nyc_point_buffer_vegetation_overlay.sql. The conversion of the results to a raster dataset was done in QGIS (version 3.28), ultimately using the gdal_rasterize function.
A Lower Density Growth Management Area (LDGMA) is an area designated in the Zoning Resolution where new developments must provide more off-street parking, larger yards and more open space than would otherwise be required in the applicable zoning districts In Staten Island and Bronx Community District 10.
LDGMA only applies to zoning lots containing buildings accessed by private roads in R4 (other than R4A and R4-1) and all R5 districts.
In Bronx Community District 10; R6, R7, C1 and C2 are for applying the parking provisions of Article II, Chapter 5, and Article III, Chapter 6 only
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My ArcGIS StoryMap is centered around The Green Book, an annual travel guide that allowed African Americans to travel safely during the height of the Jim Crow Era in the United States. More specifically, The Green Book listed establishments, such as hotels and restaurants, that would openly accept and welcome black customers into their businesses. As someone who is interested in the intersection between STEM and the humanities, I wanted to utilize The Science of Where to formulate a project that would reveal important historical implications to the public. Therefore, my overarching goal was to map each location in The Green Book in order to draw significant conclusions regarding racial segregation in one of the largest cities in the entire world.Although a more detailed methodology of my work can be found in the project itself, the following is a step by step walkthrough of my overall scientific process:Develop a question in relation to The Green Book to be solved through the completion of the project.Perform background research on The Green Book to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.Formulate a hypothesis that answers the proposed question based on the background research.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the hotel listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Transcribe names and addresses for each of the restaurants listings in The Green Book into a comma separated values file.Repeat Steps 4 and 5 for the 1940, 1950, 1960, and 1966 publications of The Green Book. In total, there should be eight unique database files (1940 New York City Hotels, 1940 New York City Restaurants, 1950 New York City Hotels, 1950 New York City Restaurants, 1960 New York City Hotels, 1960 New York City Restaurants, 1966 New York City Hotels, and 1966 New York City Restaurants.)Construct an address locator that references a New York City street base map to plot the information from the databases in Step 6 as points on a map.Manually plot locations that the address locator did not automatically match on the map.Repeat Steps 7 and 8 for all eight database files.Find and match the point locations for each listing in The Green Book with historical photographs.Generate a map tour using the geotagged images for each point from Step 10.Create a point density heat map for the locations in all eight database files.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate racial demographic data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Generate a hot spot map of the black population percentage using the demographic data.Analyze any geospatial trends between the point density heat maps for The Green Book and the black population percentage hot spot maps from the demographic data.Research and obtain professional and historically accurate redlining data for New York City during the same time period as when The Green Book was published.Overlay the points from The Green Book listings from Step 9 on top of the redlining shapefile.Count the number of point features completely located within each redlining zone ranking utilizing the spatial join tool.Plot the data recorded from Step 18 in the form of graphs.Analyze any geospatial trends between the listings for The Green Book and its location relative to the redlining ranking zones.Draw conclusions from the analyses in Steps 15 and 20 to present a justifiable rationale for the results._Student Generated Maps:New York City Pin Location Maphttps://arcg.is/15i4nj1940 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/WuXeq1940 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/L4aqq1950 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1CvTGj1950 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/0iSG4r1960 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/1DOzeT1960 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1rWKTj1966 New York City Hotels Maphttps://arcg.is/4PjOK1966 New York City Restaurants Maphttps://arcg.is/1zyDTv11930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Enumeration District Maphttps://arcg.is/1rKSzz1930s Manhattan Black Population Percentage Hot Spot Map (Same as Previous)https://arcg.is/1rKSzz1940 Hotels Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/jD1Ki1940 Restaurants Point Density Heat Maphttps://arcg.is/1aKbTS1940 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/8b10y1940 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/9WrXv1950 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/ruGiP1950 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0qzfvC01960 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/1KTHLK01960 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/0jiu9q1966 Hotels Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/PXKn41966 Restaurants Redlining Maphttps://arcg.is/uCD05_Bibliography:Image Credits (In Order of Appearance)Header/Thumbnail Image:Student Generated Collage (Created Using Pictures from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-green-book#/?tab=about.)Mob Violence Image:Kelley, Robert W. “A Mob Rocks an out of State Car Passing.” Life Magazine, www.life.com/history/school-integration-clinton-history, The Green Book Example Image:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library Digital Collections, https://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=5207583&t=w. 1940s Borough of Manhattan Hotels and Restaurants Photographs:“Manhattan 1940s Tax Photos.” NYC Municipal Archives Collections, The New York City Department of Records & Information Services, https://nycma.lunaimaging.com/luna/servlet/NYCMA~5~5?cic=NYCMA~5~5.Figure 1:Student Generated GraphFigure 2:Student Generated GraphFigure 3:Student Generated GraphGIS DataThe Green Book Database:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Listings Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Point Density Heat Maps:Student Generated (See Above)The Green Book Road Trip Map:Student GeneratedLION New York City Single Line Street Base Map:https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/dwn-lion.page 1930s Manhattan Census Data:https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm Mapping Inequality Redlining Data:https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=12/40.794/-74.072&city=manhattan-ny&text=downloads 1940 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1940" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1940, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/dc858e50-83d3-0132-2266-58d385a7b928. 1950 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Negro Motorist Green-Book: 1950" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1950, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/283a7180-87c6-0132-13e6-58d385a7b928. 1960 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "The Travelers' Green Book: 1960" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1960, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/a7bf74e0-9427-0132-17bf-58d385a7b928. 1966 The Green Book Document:Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. "Travelers' Green Book: 1966-67 International Edition" The New York Public Library Digital Collections, 1966, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/27516920-8308-0132-5063-58d385a7bbd0. Hyperlink Credits (In Order of Appearance)Referenced Hyperlink #1: Coen, Ross. “Sundown Towns.” Black Past, 23 Aug. 2020, blackpast.org/african-american-history/sundown-towns.Referenced Hyperlink #2: Foster, Mark S. “In the Face of ‘Jim Crow’: Prosperous Blacks and Vacations, Travel and Outdoor Leisure, 1890-1945.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 84, no. 2, 1999, pp. 130–149., doi:10.2307/2649043. Referenced Hyperlink #3:Driskell, Jay. “An Atlas of Self-Reliance: The Negro Motorist's Green Book (1937-1964).” National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 30 July 2015, americanhistory.si.edu/blog/negro-motorists-green-book. Referenced Hyperlink #4:Kahn, Eve M. “The 'Green Book' Legacy, a Beacon for Black Travelers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Aug. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/07/arts/design/the-green-book-legacy-a-beacon-for-black-travelers.html. Referenced Hyperlink #5:Giorgis, Hannah. “The Documentary Highlighting the Real 'Green Book'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Feb. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/real-green-book-preserving-stories-of-jim-crow-era-travel/583294/. Referenced Hyperlink #6:Staples, Brent. “Traveling While Black: The Green Book's Black History.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Jan. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/01/25/opinion/green-book-black-travel.html. Referenced Hyperlink #7:Pollak, Michael. “How Official Is Official?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Oct. 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/nyregion/17fyi.html. Referenced Hyperlink #8:“New Name: Avenue Becomes a Boulevard.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Oct. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/10/22/nyregion/new-name-avenue-becomes-a-boulevard.html. Referenced Hyperlink #9:Norris, Frank. “Racial Dynamism in Los Angeles, 1900–1964.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 99, no. 3, 2017, pp. 251–289., doi:10.1525/scq.2017.99.3.251. Referenced Hyperlink #10:Shertzer, Allison, et al. Urban Transition Historical GIS Project, 2016, https://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/UTP2/ncities.htm. Referenced Hyperlink #11:Mitchell, Bruce. “HOLC ‘Redlining’ Maps: The Persistent Structure Of Segregation And Economic Inequality.” National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 20 Mar. 2018,