Empowerment Zones and Transportation: The Baltimore Example

BTS Productshttps://doi.org/10.21949/14038852001PDFMapUnited States. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Transportation StatisticsUnited States. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Transportation StatisticsBaltimore (Maryland)Geographic information systemsMapsPhysical distributionPopulation densityPopulation movementsTraffic relationshipsAnalysis(GIS)Baltimore (Maryland)Empowerment zonesGeographical analysisGeographical dataMaps and geographical analyses are key to understanding what transportation does for and to us. For this reason, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) has invested a significant share of its resources in the development of geographic information systems (GIS) and geographic data. GIS has been used by the Bureau for a wide range of purposes. A typical application occurred in 1996 when the Office of the Secretary of Transportation wanted to know the relationships between Empowerment Zones--areas supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for economic development--and major transportation facilities. BTS prepared a series of maps; the following map of Baltimore is one example. The map demonstrates both the utility and challenge of geographic data and GIS technology. Proximity of the Empowerment Zones to major highways, railroads, rail transit, and ports is clearly indicated. GIS software can easily calculate the population characteristics served by transportation in any part of this map using data from the Census Transportation Planning Package published by BTS. The map also shows anomalies in the transportation data. 2p.123