Diana Lavery

Oct 16, 2024 | esri.com | Diana Lavery

Sometimes what you need is not a map, but a number. Especially in order to answer a question for decisionmakers. Lots of decision support involves answering questions around median household income. Many analysts use it to gauge the overall economic conditions of an area. The median household income is a key economic indicator that represents the income level at which half of households earn more and half earn less.

Oct 14, 2024 | esri.com | Elif Bulut |Gemma Goodale-Sussen |Diana Lavery |David Dodge

Void analysis is a powerful tool that allows organizations and policymakers to identify gaps in services or resources in specific geographic areas. This method uses to compare a target area with a reference area to detect businesses, services, or amenities that are lacking. In practical terms, void analysis reveals what exists in one area but not in another, pinpointing which services are underrepresented.

Jul 1, 2024 | esri.com | Diana Lavery

At the heart of most GIS analysts’ work is helping and supporting communities to thrive. Local government, urban planners, utilities & healthcare organizations, transportation agencies, and nonprofits are just a few of the many actors who have a direct impact on our communities. A dataset often used to understand communities is the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Annual Data Release. As such, it’s been available in Living Atlas as a feature layer and in various maps for several years.

Jun 13, 2024 | esri.com | Diana Lavery

Generating data in social science research, particularly qualitative data, often involves directly engaging with participants who share their perspectives in interviews, focus groups, and surveys. In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of GIS tools that can help us combine these more traditional qualitative methods with GIS to generate new insights. For example, ArcGIS StoryMaps enable people with no previous GIS skills to tell their stories on topics where place is a key theme.

Apr 11, 2024 | esri.com | Diana Lavery

Regions are defined by many things. Among these are physical aspects (landforms, plants and animal habitat, precipitation), administrative aspects (state and county boundaries, school district boundaries), as well as cultural aspects (language and dialect, food, clothing and housing styles, and more.) Some of these cultural aspects are qualitative, and therefore not easy to measure with a ruler, thermometer, or protractor.