The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) produces Flood Insurance Rate maps and identifies Special Flood Hazard Areas as part of the National Flood Insurance Program's floodplain management. Special Flood Hazard Areas have regulations that include the mandatory purchase of flood insurance for holders of federally regulated mortgages. In addition, in the USA, this layer can help planners and firms avoid areas of flood risk and also avoid additional cost to carry insurance for certain planned activities.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Flood Hazard AreasUnits: NoneCell Sizes: 10 meters (default), 30 meters, and 90 metersSource Type: ThematicPixel Type: Unsigned integerData Coordinate System: USA Contiguous Albers Equal Area Conic USGS version (contiguous US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands), WGS 1984 Albers (Alaska), Hawaii Albers Equal Area Conic (Hawaii), Western Pacific Albers Equal Area Conic (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa)Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtents: Contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)Publication Date: June 27, 2024ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape11.arcgis.com/arcgis/This layer is derived from the June 27, 2024 version Flood Insurance Rate Map feature class S_FLD_HAZ_AR. The vector data were then flagged with an index of 88 classes, representing a unique combination of values displayed by three renderers. (In three resolutions the three renderers make nine processing templates.) Repair Geometry was run on the set of features, then the features were rasterized using the 88 class index at a resolutions of 10, 30, and 90 meters, using the Polygon to Raster tool and the "MAXIMUM_COMBINED_AREA" option. Not every part of the United States is covered by flood rate maps. This layer compiles all the flood insurance maps available at the time of publication. To make analysis easier, areas that were NOT mapped by FEMA for flood insurance rates no longer are served as NODATA but are filled in with a value of 250, representing any unmapped areas which appear in the US Census' boundary of the USA states and territories. The attribute table corresponding to value 250 will indicate that the area was not mapped.What can you do with this Layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "flood hazard areas" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "flood hazard areas" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.Processing TemplatesCartographic Renderer - The default. These are meaningful classes grouped by FEMA which group its own Flood Zone Type and Subtype fields. This renderer uses FEMA's own cartographic interpretations of its flood zone and zone subtype fields to help you identify and assess risk. Flood Zone Type Renderer - Specifically renders FEMA FLD_ZONE (flood zone) attribute, which distinguishes the original, broadest categories of flood zones. This renderer displays high level categories of flood zones, and is less nuanced than the Cartographic Renderer. For example, a fld_zone value of X can either have moderate or low risk depending on location. This renderer will simply render fld_zone X as its own color without identifying "500 year" flood zones within that category.Flood Insurance Requirement Renderer - Shows Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) true-false status. This may be helpful if you want to show just the places where flood insurance is required. A value of True means flood insurance is mandatory in a majority of the area covered by each 10m pixel.Each of these three renderers have templates at three different raster resolutions depending on your analysis needs. To include the layer in web maps to serve maps and queries, the 10 meter renderers are the preferred option. These are served with overviews and render at all resolutions. However, when doing analysis of larger areas, we now offer two coarser resolutions of 30 and 90 meters in processing templates for added convenience and time savings.

This layer shows which parts of the United States and Puerto Rico fall within ten minutes' walk of one or more grocery stores. It is estimated that 20% of U.S. population live within a 10 minute walk of a grocery store, and 92% of the population live within a 10 minute drive of a grocery store. The layer is suitable for looking at access at a neighborhood scale.When you add this layer to your web map, along with the drivable access layer and the SafeGraph grocery store layer, it becomes easier to spot grocery stores that sit within a highly populated area, and grocery stores that sit in a shopping center far away from populated areas. Add the Census block points layer to show a popup with the count of stores within 10 minutes' walk and drive. This view of a city begins to hint at the question: how many people have each type of access to grocery stores? And, what if they are unable to walk a mile regularly, or don't own a car?How to Use This Layer in a Web MapUse this layer in a web map to introduce the concepts of access to grocery stores in your city or town. This is the kind of map where people will want to look up their home or work address to validate what the map is saying. See this example web map which you can use in your projects, storymaps, apps and dashboards.The layer was built with that use in mind. Many maps of access use straight-line, as-the-crow-flies distance, which ignores real-world barriers to walkability like rivers, lakes, interstates and other characteristics of the built environment. Block analysis using a network data set and Origin-Destination analysis factors these barriers in, resulting in a more realistic depiction of access.Lastly, this layer can serve as backdrop to other community resources, like food banks, farmers markets (example), and transit (example). Add a transit layer to immediately gauge its impact on the population's grocery access. You can also use this map to see how it relates to communities of concern. Add a layer of any block group or tract demographics, such as Percent Senior Population (examples), or Percent of Households with Access to 0 Vehicles (examples).The layer is a useful visual resource for helping community leaders, business and government leaders see their town from the perspective of its residents, and begin asking questions about how their community could be improved.Data sourcesPopulation data is from the 2010 U.S. Census blocks. Each census block has a count of stores within a 10 minute walk, and a count of stores within a ten minute drive. Census blocks known to be unpopulated are given a score of 0. The layer is available as a hosted feature layer.Grocery store locations are from SafeGraph, reflecting what was in the data as of October 2020. Access to the layer was obtained from the SafeGraph offering in ArcGIS Marketplace. For this project, ArcGIS StreetMap Premium was used for the street network in the origin-destination analysis work, because it already has the necessary attributes on each street segment to identify which streets are considered walkable, and supports a wide variety of driving parameters.The walkable access layer and drivable access layers are rasters, whose colors were chosen to allow the drivable access layer to serve as backdrop to the walkable access layer. Alternative versions of these layers are available. These pairs use different colors but are otherwise identical in content.Data PreparationArcGIS Network Analyst was used to set up a network street layer for analysis. ArcGIS StreetMap Premium was installed to a local hard drive and selected in the Origin-Destination workflow as the network data source. This allows the origins (Census block centroids) and destinations (SafeGraph grocery stores) to be connected to that network, to allow origin-destination analysis.The Census blocks layer contains the centroid of each Census block. The data allows a simple popup to be created. This layer's block figures can be summarized further, to tract, county and state levels.The SafeGraph grocery store locations were created by querying the SafeGraph source layer based on primary NAICS code. After connecting to the layer in ArcGIS Pro, a definition query was set to only show records with NAICS code 445110 as an initial screening. The layer was exported to a local disk drive for further definition query refinement, to eliminate any records that were obviously not grocery stores. The final layer used in the analysis had approximately 53,600 records. In this map, this layer is included as a vector tile layer.MethodologyEvery census block in the U.S. was assigned two access scores, whose numbers are simply how many grocery stores are within a 10 minute walk and a 10 minute drive of that census block. Every census block has a score of 0 (no stores), 1, 2 or more stores. The count of accessible stores was determined using Origin-Destination Analysis in ArcGIS Network Analyst, in ArcGIS Pro. A set of Tools in this ArcGIS Pro package allow a similar analysis to be conducted for any city or other area. The Tools step through the data prep and analysis steps. Download the Pro package, open it and substitute your own layers for Origins and Destinations. Parcel centroids are a suggested option for Origins, for example. Origin-Destination analysis was configured, using ArcGIS StreetMap Premium as the network data source. Census block centroids with population greater than zero were used as the Origins, and grocery store locations were used as the Destinations. A cutoff of 10 minutes was used with the Walk Time option. Only one restriction was applied to the street network: Walkable, which means Interstates and other non-walkable street segments were treated appropriately. You see the results in the map: wherever freeway overpasses and underpasses are present near a grocery store, the walkable area extends across/through that pass, but not along the freeway.A cutoff of 10 minutes was used with the Drive Time option. The default restrictions were applied to the street network, which means a typical vehicle's access to all types of roads was factored in.The results for each analysis were captured in the Lines layer, which shows which origins are within the cutoff of each destination over the street network, given the assumptions about that network (walking, or driving a vehicle).The Lines layer was then summarized by census block ID to capture the Maximum value of the Destination_Rank field. A census block within 10 minutes of 3 stores would have 3 records in the Lines layer, but only one value in the summarized table, with a MAX_Destination_Rank field value of 3. This is the number of stores accessible to that census block in the 10 minutes measured, for walking and driving. These data were joined to the block centroids layer and given unique names. At this point, all blocks with zero population or null values in the MAX_Destination_Rank fields were given a store count of 0, to help the next step.Walkable and Drivable areas are calculated into a raster layer, using Nearest Neighbor geoprocessing tool on the count of stores within a 10 minute walk, and a count of stores within a ten minute drive, respectively. This tool uses a 200 meter grid and interpolates the values between each census block. A census tracts layer containing all water polygons "erased" from the census tract boundaries was used as an environment setting, to help constrain interpolation into/across bodies of water. The same layer use used to "shoreline" the Nearest Neighbor results, to eliminate any interpolation into the ocean or Great Lakes. This helped but was not perfect.Notes and LimitationsThe map provides a baseline for discussing access to grocery stores in a city. It does not presume local population has the desire or means to walk or drive to obtain groceries. It does not take elevation gain or loss into account. It does not factor time of day nor weather, seasons, or other variables that affect a person's commute choices. Walking and driving are just two ways people get to a grocery store. Some people ride a bike, others take public transit, have groceries delivered, or rely on a friend with a vehicle. Thank you to Melinda Morang on the Network Analyst team for guidance and suggestions at key moments along the way; to Emily Meriam for reviewing the previous version of this map and creating new color palettes and marker symbols specific to this project. Additional ReadingThe methods by which access to food is measured and reported have improved in the past decade or so, as has the uses of such measurements. Some relevant papers and articles are provided below as a starting point.Measuring Food Insecurity Using the Food Abundance Index: Implications for Economic, Health and Social Well-BeingHow to Identify Food Deserts: Measuring Physical and Economic Access to Supermarkets in King County, WashingtonAccess to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their ConsequencesDifferent Measures of Food Access Inform Different SolutionsThe time cost of access to food – Distance to the grocery store as measured in minutes

This layer shows which parts of the United States and Puerto Rico fall within ten minutes' walk of one or more grocery stores. It is estimated that 20% of U.S. population live within a 10 minute walk of a grocery store, and 92% of the population live within a 10 minute drive of a grocery store. The layer is suitable for looking at access at a neighborhood scale.When you add this layer to your web map, along with the drivable access layer and the SafeGraph grocery store layer, it becomes easier to spot grocery stores that sit within a highly populated area, and grocery stores that sit in a shopping center far away from populated areas. Add the Census block points layer to show a popup with the count of stores within 10 minutes' walk and drive. This view of a city begins to hint at the question: how many people have each type of access to grocery stores? And, what if they are unable to walk a mile regularly, or don't own a car?How to Use This Layer in a Web MapUse this layer in a web map to introduce the concepts of access to grocery stores in your city or town. This is the kind of map where people will want to look up their home or work address to validate what the map is saying. See this example web map which you can use in your projects, storymaps, apps and dashboards.The layer was built with that use in mind. Many maps of access use straight-line, as-the-crow-flies distance, which ignores real-world barriers to walkability like rivers, lakes, interstates and other characteristics of the built environment. Block analysis using a network data set and Origin-Destination analysis factors these barriers in, resulting in a more realistic depiction of access.Lastly, this layer can serve as backdrop to other community resources, like food banks, farmers markets (example), and transit (example). Add a transit layer to immediately gauge its impact on the population's grocery access. You can also use this map to see how it relates to communities of concern. Add a layer of any block group or tract demographics, such as Percent Senior Population (examples), or Percent of Households with Access to 0 Vehicles (examples).The layer is a useful visual resource for helping community leaders, business and government leaders see their town from the perspective of its residents, and begin asking questions about how their community could be improved.Data sourcesPopulation data is from the 2010 U.S. Census blocks. Each census block has a count of stores within a 10 minute walk, and a count of stores within a ten minute drive. Census blocks known to be unpopulated are given a score of 0. The layer is available as a hosted feature layer.Grocery store locations are from SafeGraph, reflecting what was in the data as of October 2020. Access to the layer was obtained from the SafeGraph offering in ArcGIS Marketplace. For this project, ArcGIS StreetMap Premium was used for the street network in the origin-destination analysis work, because it already has the necessary attributes on each street segment to identify which streets are considered walkable, and supports a wide variety of driving parameters.The walkable access layer and drivable access layers are rasters, whose colors were chosen to allow the drivable access layer to serve as backdrop to the walkable access layer. Alternative versions of these layers are available. These pairs use different colors but are otherwise identical in content.Data PreparationArcGIS Network Analyst was used to set up a network street layer for analysis. ArcGIS StreetMap Premium was installed to a local hard drive and selected in the Origin-Destination workflow as the network data source. This allows the origins (Census block centroids) and destinations (SafeGraph grocery stores) to be connected to that network, to allow origin-destination analysis.The Census blocks layer contains the centroid of each Census block. The data allows a simple popup to be created. This layer's block figures can be summarized further, to tract, county and state levels.The SafeGraph grocery store locations were created by querying the SafeGraph source layer based on primary NAICS code. After connecting to the layer in ArcGIS Pro, a definition query was set to only show records with NAICS code 445110 as an initial screening. The layer was exported to a local disk drive for further definition query refinement, to eliminate any records that were obviously not grocery stores. The final layer used in the analysis had approximately 53,600 records. In this map, this layer is included as a vector tile layer.MethodologyEvery census block in the U.S. was assigned two access scores, whose numbers are simply how many grocery stores are within a 10 minute walk and a 10 minute drive of that census block. Every census block has a score of 0 (no stores), 1, 2 or more stores. The count of accessible stores was determined using Origin-Destination Analysis in ArcGIS Network Analyst, in ArcGIS Pro. A set of Tools in this ArcGIS Pro package allow a similar analysis to be conducted for any city or other area. The Tools step through the data prep and analysis steps. Download the Pro package, open it and substitute your own layers for Origins and Destinations. Parcel centroids are a suggested option for Origins, for example. Origin-Destination analysis was configured, using ArcGIS StreetMap Premium as the network data source. Census block centroids with population greater than zero were used as the Origins, and grocery store locations were used as the Destinations. A cutoff of 10 minutes was used with the Walk Time option. Only one restriction was applied to the street network: Walkable, which means Interstates and other non-walkable street segments were treated appropriately. You see the results in the map: wherever freeway overpasses and underpasses are present near a grocery store, the walkable area extends across/through that pass, but not along the freeway.A cutoff of 10 minutes was used with the Drive Time option. The default restrictions were applied to the street network, which means a typical vehicle's access to all types of roads was factored in.The results for each analysis were captured in the Lines layer, which shows which origins are within the cutoff of each destination over the street network, given the assumptions about that network (walking, or driving a vehicle).The Lines layer was then summarized by census block ID to capture the Maximum value of the Destination_Rank field. A census block within 10 minutes of 3 stores would have 3 records in the Lines layer, but only one value in the summarized table, with a MAX_Destination_Rank field value of 3. This is the number of stores accessible to that census block in the 10 minutes measured, for walking and driving. These data were joined to the block centroids layer and given unique names. At this point, all blocks with zero population or null values in the MAX_Destination_Rank fields were given a store count of 0, to help the next step.Walkable and Drivable areas are calculated into a raster layer, using Nearest Neighbor geoprocessing tool on the count of stores within a 10 minute walk, and a count of stores within a ten minute drive, respectively. This tool uses a 200 meter grid and interpolates the values between each census block. A census tracts layer containing all water polygons "erased" from the census tract boundaries was used as an environment setting, to help constrain interpolation into/across bodies of water. The same layer use used to "shoreline" the Nearest Neighbor results, to eliminate any interpolation into the ocean or Great Lakes. This helped but was not perfect.Notes and LimitationsThe map provides a baseline for discussing access to grocery stores in a city. It does not presume local population has the desire or means to walk or drive to obtain groceries. It does not take elevation gain or loss into account. It does not factor time of day nor weather, seasons, or other variables that affect a person's commute choices. Walking and driving are just two ways people get to a grocery store. Some people ride a bike, others take public transit, have groceries delivered, or rely on a friend with a vehicle. Thank you to Melinda Morang on the Network Analyst team for guidance and suggestions at key moments along the way; to Emily Meriam for reviewing the previous version of this map and creating new color palettes and marker symbols specific to this project. Additional ReadingThe methods by which access to food is measured and reported have improved in the past decade or so, as has the uses of such measurements. Some relevant papers and articles are provided below as a starting point.Measuring Food Insecurity Using the Food Abundance Index: Implications for Economic, Health and Social Well-BeingHow to Identify Food Deserts: Measuring Physical and Economic Access to Supermarkets in King County, WashingtonAccess to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their ConsequencesDifferent Measures of Food Access Inform Different SolutionsThe time cost of access to food – Distance to the grocery store as measured in minutes