Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Services Frequently Asked Questions:
How do I use the CensusCD Neighborhood Change Database?

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Step by Step Instructions

The below instructions explain how to use the Census CD Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB) product to create tabular data and shapefiles. These instructions summarize the information provided in the movie above. The Neighborhood Change Database product is available in Davis Library Research and Instructional Services.

Before beginning, you may consider visiting the NCDB Documentation Page on the GeoLytics website, and make a list of the variables you want to extract. If you identify the variables first, you can use the search function to find the variables more quickly. Also you will avoid the temptation to extract more variables than you need.
The User Guide is a good source for documentation, and the Data Dictionary (Appendix E) provides information on each of the variables, including what census tables the variables came from.

1. Get the NCDB CD-ROM and load it. The Census CD products are installed on the E-docs machines 1, 2, and 3, which are located in the Electronic Documents section of Davis Library Research and Instructional Services. The NCDB CD is stored in the "By Title" cabinet. Keep the CD-ROM inside the caddy, and insert it in the computer's external CD-ROM drive.
2. Open the NCDB software. The icon for the NCDB software is in a folder on the computer's desktop entitled "Census of Population and Housing CD-ROMS" Inside that folder, Select the CensusCD Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB), and start the program.
3. From the Year drop-down menu, select the year(s) of interest. You can select 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 or all years normalized to 2000. The normalized option will provide data from earlier censuses, normalized to 2000 census boundaries so that comparisons may be made.
4. Select the Geographic Area. The NCDB provides data at the census tract level. Use the Area drop-down menu to select the area of interest. Once the area is selected, click done.
5. Select the counts. The counts are the tables, or variables you want to extract. Click the counts menu. The counts viewer will load. Scroll through or search to find the counts you want. Counts are listed by year. Select counts by clicking them, then click the "Add Selected Counts to Report" button. After selecting counts, click "Done".
6. Save the request. From the file menu, select Save As. Provide a name for the file (keep names short, do not use spaces or special characters).
7. Create a shapefile or a dbf file. This is done by either clicking one of the run buttons or by making the selection from the Run menu. If you create a .dbf, once it appears it finished and is saved on the hard drive at C:\NCDB\. If you create a map, it is necessary to export the map to a shapefile. Once the map viewer appears, select File -> Export -> to Arcview's Shape". When the export is complete, there will be a shapefile on the hard drive at C:\NCDB\.
8. Move the data. You can either burn the CD to disc, save it to a memory key, or SFTP it to the campus network. Do not save data on the C: drive of the E-Docs Machines. They are cleared daily and your data will be deleted.

If you need help, please ask at Research and Instructional Services.

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