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Building a School District GeoDemographic Information System -- a step-by-step tutorial
The PDF version of this document is recommended. 
Build a SDGIS and view maps such as the one at the right showing a school district
(black boundary), census tracts (green boundary), streets (gray lines), places (yellow/green fill patterns),
and schools (red markers). Create maps for your area of interest, anywhere in the U.S.
Zoom into areas of interest and view schools in the context of streets and other features.
Label schools, streets and other geography/objects to best convey your information.
Flexibly merge multi-sourced geography and data.
Using the SDGIS you can:
• interactively and flexibly view maps of the school district. • view the school district boundary in context of city, county, statistical, and other geography. • view locations of schools in context of neighborhoods. • label schools, streets, and other geographic objects for use in collaboration and planning. • view demographic patterns of neighborhoods. • have a GIS foundation for assessing school and student performance. • perform queries and find geographies that meet certain conditions. • add attendance zones, tax parcel areas, and geocoded student data to extend analyses With CV running, use the File>GetWebGeodata to acquire the required data. An Internet connection is required for these operations, where you will transfer data from the server to your computer. Later, you can follow similar steps to develop a SDGIS for your areas of interest. Get the U.S. by State shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Texas Counties shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Texas Unified School Districts shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Texas Places shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Harris County edge shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Galveston County edge shapefile; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Get the Harris and Galveston County water feature shapefiles; save to c:\cv\sdgis\
 Build Initial Project Close WebGeodata form.
Use File>Open
Available shapefiles
 Open the us_state shapefile.
Zoom-in to Houston area.
File>Save and save the project as c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis1.gpr.
On the main form, use the + button to AddLayers.
Add all remaining shapefiles listed in the above dialog form.
-- this will take a few minutes due to some file sizes
Check off the two edge layers shown in the legend panel in the following view.
-- this will accelerate speed and the edge layers are presently not required.
Navigate using the pan, drag, zoom tools to the following view.
Place Layer Settings. Using the Layer Editor with the place layer, set a section/query for PLACEFP='41980' (League City) and set the fill pattern to solid and color to light green; set a second section/query for PLACEFP<>'41980' and set the fill pattern to solid and color to light yellow.
School District Layer Settings. Using the Layer Editor with the school district layer, set a section/query for UNSDLEA='14280' (Clear Creek School District). With this setting, no other school districts appear. Optionally include others.
 Rearrange layers (click on a layer name, hold key down and drag up or down) so they appear as shown in the legend in the next graphic. Using the Layer Editor (double-click the layer name to open Layer Editor) with the two edge shapefiles, set the query/section to:
(MTFCC like 'S11%') or (MTFCC like 'S12%') or (MTFCC like 'S14%')
The edge shapefile now shows streets and highways:
 Save the project as c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis1.gpr.
Expanding the Initial Project -- Adding Schools
Start CV and File>Open c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis1.gpr. Use File>SaveProjectAs and save the project as c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis2.gpr. In the next set of steps we will modify the project file c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis2.gpr and sdgis1.gpr will be preserved in the above state.
Schools. In the next sequence of steps, school locations will be added to the project. These steps illustrate combining the Census sourced TIGER/Line shapefiles with other shapefiles. In this example the State of Texas schools shapefile data are used. Alternatives to using state sourced school shapefiles, which do not always exist and are never in a standardized structure, is to use the Proximity national scope school shapefile. The Texas Department of Education school shapefile is located here http://www.tea.state.tx.us/SDL/schools2007.zip. However, that shapefile is in a custom projection. We have converted the projection to geographic non-projected format so the shapefile can be integrated with th TIGER/Line shapefiles. Download the Texas schools shapefile http://proximityone.com/cv/sdgis/txschools2007.zip and expand the zip file to c:\cv\sdgis.
Add the School Shapefile to the Project. Use the + Add Layers button on the CV toolbar and open the c:\cv\sdgis\schools2007.shp shapefile. The view now appears as shown below.
 Make the schools2007.shp layer active (click on it in the legend) and set the Section/query to include only regular schools (using the data as provided in the schools2007 shapefile):
 Zoom into the area south of the larger water body in the school district. With the schools layer active, click on the Clear Creek HS using the Identify tool. A mini profile appears as shown below.
 Use File>SaveProject and save the project so the changes made with schools can be recalled (when the project c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis2.gpr is opened). There are now two projects, the initial project sdgis1.gpr and the new, expanded sdgis2.gpr.
Examining School Data in Spreadsheet Format. With the sdgis2.gpr project open, use the CV Database>dBrowser to view school data in a spreadsheet form. When the dBrowser form appears, click the Open button and open the file c:\cv\sdgis\schools2007.dbf.
Enter a query/filter to view only the Clear Creek school district schools:
 After display of the selected schools, click the FLM button to modify the view of the columns/fields:
 Click Sort button and key in fieldname CAMPNAME to view a sorted list of schools by school name:
 Close the dBrowse form. No changes have been made to the schools dataset.
Expanding the Project -- Adding Census Tracts
Census Tracts. In the next sequence of steps, census tracts will be added to the project. These steps illustrate how you can add small area demographics to a project. Tracts are uniquely numbered within a county and do not cross county boundaries. Tracts are small geographic areas intended to be approximately 4,000 population.
Start CV and File>Open c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis2.gpr. Use File>SaveProjectAs and save the project as c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis3.gpr. In the next set of steps we will modify the project file c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis3.gpr and sdgis2.gpr will be preserved in the above state.
Use the File>GetWebGeodata to download the census tract boundary files for counties 48201 and 48167. Add the two census tract shapefiles to the project. Use the + Add Layers button on the CV toolbar and open the c:\cv\sdgis\fe_2007_?????_tract00.shp shapefiles. Using the Layer Editor, make the outline/border width 2.5 and color it dark green. Label the tracts with field TRACTCE00 (center position and uncheck Avoid Overlap). Make the school layer marker labels non visible (uncheck Visible using LE). A zoom out view now appears as shown below.
 Use File>SaveProject c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis3.gpr (an "intermediate" save).
Expanding the Project -- Examining Census Tract/Neighborhood Patterns
Census Tract Demographics. In the next sequence of steps, demographic data will be acquired and integrated into the census tract shapefile. This process is illustrated for Galveston County (48167).
TIGER/Line shapefiles include no subject matter data. To view/analyze demographics, the data are acquired from the Census Bureau FactFinder (for this example). Follow these steps:
With CV running use File>Open to open c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis3.gpr (unless already open).
Choose Dataset (left column) then Decennial Census.
Select radio button for Census 2000 Summary File 3
(we will use median household income data though any other data could be selected)
Select Detailed Tables (link at right)
Click geo within geo
Select Census Tracts
Select County
Select Texas
Select Galveston
Select All Census Tracts
Click Add
Click Next
Scroll to P53
Click Add
Click Show result
Under Print/Download, click Download
When the form appears click Microsoft Excel radio button then click OK
Unzip the file to the folder c:\cv\sdgis
Done with FactFinder, optionally close the browser.
Using CV, click the Galveston tracts layer (making it active; it turns blue)
Choose Database>TractDemographics:
 At the Open XLS file dialog, open the FactFinder sourced file:
 At the match key prompt, click OK. The required match key is preset for this application.
 Set three section intervals for this layer using the Layer Editor. Make the fill pattern solid and select colors to enable this thematic pattern view.
 To "view through" the thematic pattern, use the Layer Editor and set the transparency to 60.
 Now you can still see the color patterns and other attributes "looking through the layer."
 In the above view, the Galveston County (48167) tracts layer is the active layer (blue highlight). The identify tool is selected. Clicking on tract 721400, a mini profile appears. The median household income (field P053001) has value 93011 ($93,011).
Conclusions. This example illustrates use of a single subject matter item, median household income (MHI). By associating color patterns with values of MHI by census tract, it is easy to see how and where different levels of economic prosperity exist in a region. Patterns of student academic performance could be similarly assessed by geocoding student addresses, representing students as markers (point shapefile), integrating student data into the student shapefile and then setting marker attributes (size, style, color, etc.) to explore possible patterns based on grade, neighborhood, school, etc. From this information collaborative developments might lead to improved opportunities for students by providing focused, improved educational programs. These tools provide us with a way to see what exists, who needs what and assess how change has occurred.
Three GIS Projects Available for Future Use. Use File>SaveProject and save sdgis3.gpr so the changes made with tract demographics can be recalled (when the project c:\cv\sdgis\sdgis3.gpr is opened). There are now three projects available for future use: the initial project sdgis1.gpr, sdgis2.gpr (expansions on sdgis1.gpr to include schools) and sdgis3.gpr (expansions on sdgis2.gpr to include tract demographics.
Next Steps. One next step is to apply what you have learned to develop a SDGIS for your areas of interest. Proximity can help you augment your SDGIS in several ways: adding attendance area shapefiles and demographics, providing custom demographic estimates and projections by attendance area and district, geocoding student data so students may be viewed as markers in the maps, augmenting the student data point shapefile with demographics about the student, integrating other key data such as voter registration data and tax parcel data, providing assistance with analyses. |
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