Draft 2: NS 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Sept 24, 2007
EM 9/25/07 with Elaine’s and Jonette’s notes
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AASHTO SCOP CENSUS DATA WORK GROUP
September 20, 2007, via teleconference
Next Meeting: TBD
Teleconference: Details will be e-mailed later.
Agenda
1.
Welcome
Jonette Kreideweis
Cost:
$8 per--person
2. Update on the AASHTO Consolidated Purchase Update -- Ron McCready,AASHTO
3. Overview of Census Bureau Issues: Products, Schedules for Data Releases, and Staffing - Celia Boertlein, Census Bureau
4. Overview of the Peer Exchange in Daytona Beach on Using ACS for Transportation
Planning Applications -- Elaine Murakami, FHWA
5. Summary of the Technical Group Meetings with US Census Bureau in August 2007 -- Ed
Christopher, FHWA
6. Round Robin – Group Discussion
7. Future Issues/Topics
SCOP Data Task Force Members Who Participated in the Call
States
Jonette Kreideweis, Minnesota
Ron McCready (AASHTO),
Andrea Ryan (AASHTO),
Donna Weaver (Connecticut),
Garth Banninga (Michigan),
HuiWei Shen (Florida),
Ken Shirokane (Hawaii DOT),
Nathan Erlbaum (New York),
Jonette Kreideweis (Minnesota),
Greg Miyata, Ayalew Adamu and Frank Law
(California),
Virginia Porter (Arkansas),
Charles Mark (Vermont),
Paul Agnello (Virginia),
Joel North (Georgia)
Phil Mescher (Iowa),
Federal Govt.
Ed Weiner (US DOT, OST),
Ed Christopher (FHWA),
Elaine Murakami (FHWA),
Jeremy Wu (US Census Bureau),
Celia Boertlein (US Census Bureau),
Lee Giesbrecht (BTS/RITA),
Nanda Srinivasan (Contractor, FHWA),
Fredrik Andersson, (US Census Bureau)
Michelle Jiles (US Census Bureau)
MPOs
Guy Rousseau, Atlanta Regional Commission,
Atlanta,
Robert J. Paddock, Metropolitan Council of
the Twin Cities Area (Minneapolis)
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1. Welcome -- Jonette Kreideweis
Jonette welcomed welcomed Census Work Group members to the teleconference meeting.
2. Update on the AASHTO Consolidated Purchase Update -- Ron
McCready, AASHTO
Ron M. reported that AASHTO is currently invoicing the states. Over half the states have
paid/or in the process of paying AASHTO. States have paid $3 million so far. Elaine
reported that 7 states are using the FHWA Pooled Fund mechanism (ID, IL, MN, MT, NY,
PA, WA). For California, Ron M. is working with CALCOG to try to invoice all the MPOs
together, rather than individually.
Ron M. is putting together a preliminary list of potential members for the AASHTO
Advisory Board for fiduciary and technical oversight of the project. He hopes to include 3-4
planning directors for the fiduciary oversight and add other advisors using technical staff
from MPOs and DOTs. Ron hopes to have the list of members for the CTPP Advisory Board
finalized by the end of the month.
Adam Ayalew suggested adding Greg Miyata from CA to the Advisory Board. He also
suggested having the final product in CDROM format in addition to a potential web-based
delivery system.
Elaine observed that FHWA currently employs Nanda at 50 percent of the time for CTPP
related activity. When the CTPP budget was designed, the AASHTO SCOP Workgroup
allocated some costs for training and technical support. Elaine hoped that the Advisory
Board will determine how those needs are going to be met.
ACTION 1. Ron M. and Andrea R. will continue to invoice and obtain funding from all
states.
2. Ron M. will continue to work on the establishment of the new AASHTO CTPP Advisory
Board.
3. Overview of Census Bureau Issues: Products, Schedules for Data
Releases, and Staffing -- Celia Boertlein, Census Bureau
3a. Data Release from 2006 ACS
Celia reported that on September 12, 2007, Census Bureau released socio-economic data
from 2006 ACS, including Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files. On September 27,
2007 iterated special profiles including those for Group Quarter population (GQ) were
released along with guidance on comparing these data to previous ACS and decennial census.
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Nathan would like an MS Excel version of the comparison document. Nathan would also like
a list of discussions posted on the CB website along with a FAQ on data comparison, and
access.
Celia stressed that GQ data are included in the 2006 ACS data release.. There are bound to
be differences in some areas, especially areas with large military bases. Other large GQ
groups included are prison population and dormitories. Celia asked data users to report data
issues or direct questions to the CB, Journey to Work migration branch (301-763-2454).
Elaine added that transportation related profiles using ACS 2005 data are posted at
http://ctpp.transportation.org, . There are currently no plans to re-do the profiles using the
2006 ACS data due to staff constraints. For 2006, Elaine asked Nandu to examine areas with
large GQ population. Nandu examined San Deigo City (CA) and Pierce County (WA). In
terms of mode-to-work, the addition of GQ population mostly means capturing additional
“walk to work” commuters who are mostly GQ workers. Andy Pickard (Hampton Roads)
and Kristen Rohanna (San Deigo) are examining the ACS 2006 data for their areas and will
post their observations to the CTPP listserve.
3b. Census Bureau Staffing Update
Celia reported that Ken Bryson retired from CB last month.
CB JTW Branch Chief: Bob K. will start interviewing candidates for the position next week.
Celia expects the position to be filled by October 1, 2007.
CTPP Liaison: Celia is drafting the position description for the CTPP Coordinator position.
She hopes it can be forwarded to Human Resources the end of the month.
POW Contract (aka Phil Salopek): For the POW research, Celia does not expect the contract
for Phil Salopek to be in place until October 2007.
4. Overview of the Peer Exchange in Daytona Beach on Using ACS for
Transportation Planning Applications -- Elaine Murakami, FHWA
Elaine reported on the proceedings of the peer exchange held in Daytona Beach, FL. She
conveyed the groups’ thanks to Jonette and HuiWei (the exchange benefited greatly from FL
DOT’s involvement). She also thanked Steve Polzin (CUTR, Florida), Elizabeth Machek
(VOLPE) and Nanda for pulling together the summary document. The document is now
available on several websites (including the FHWA Capacity Building website).
www.planning.dot.gov
http://www.planning.dot.gov/Peer/Daytona/daytona_2007.htm
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4a. Attendance
The peer exchange was attended by 40 Participants representing 9 states, 9 MPOs, 5
consultants, 3 universities, and 5 Federal agencies. There were keynote presentations and 7
case study discussions. Presentations are posted on a CS FTP site.
ftp://ftp.camsys.com/clientsupport/CTPPdata/Daytona_peer/
4b. Key findings
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There is strong support for transportation data products from ACS.
There continues to be some uncertainty regarding transportation data products from
ACS: We are in the early stages of understanding period estimates from ACS
compared to point-in-time data.
ACS will be the source of Zone-to-Zone Flow Data (TAZ-TAZ) flows. There was
some discussion on the potential to combine LED and CTPP.
Use for transit applications: Because transit mode share is small, the sampling in ACS
also is small, until we accumulate multiple years of data, we are not going to have
reliable data. There was a lot of discussion on usual mode on a weekday versus
actual mode on the travel day. Speakers noted that there is more “disloyalty” for
modes such as transit than for “drove alone” when “usual weekday” results are
compared to “actual travel day” mode.
4c. Administrative Issues
Issues that were raised are:
 Developing the AASHTO CTPP oversight board.
 Developing capacity building
 Developing an informed user community
 Developing webinars and new technology as mechanisms to deliver training
4d. Summary
Peer Exchange participants agreed that ACS is a key part for transportation planning. They
believe the CTPP cost is a bargain particularly given how important this data source remains
to transportation planning. The costs for these data are increasingly modest in contrast to
infrastructure costs that have risen dramatically. There is more need for data for well
informed decisions in an era of tight resources.
Elaine observed that attendees really valued the sharing of data applications during the peer
exchange. We need to continue to find effective ways to share application and use successes,
issues and best practices.
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5. Summary of the Technical Group Meetings with US Census Bureau in
August 2007 -- Ed Christopher, FHWA
In the last week of August 2007, three meetings were scheduled between US DOT and the
US Census Bureau.
5a. US DOT – Census Bureau (CB) meeting on Disclosure Issues, August 23 2007,
10:00 a.m.
Ed C. reported that a big part of the agenda for the meetings with the CB was to introduce
Ron M. to the CB staff. Ron provided the CB staff with the philosophy of the pooled fund
and the presence of a larger group overseeing the project. The meeting with the CB
Disclosure Review Board (DRB) was convivial. Ed C. felt that although the DRB left us
without a clear understanding of the rules for ACS special products, they seemed on-board
with the notion of synthetic data and were very interested with the research US DOT is
currently conducting at the Census Bureau.
Elaine reported that Susan Schechter invited Ed and Elaine to a meeting on November 14,
2007 to talk about ACS 3-year products. Elaine said this would be a good opportunity to
reinforce the concept that 3-year accumulated tabulations do not need to be treated the same
as point-in-time for the purposes of disclosure avoidance. Ed said the CNSTAT
recommendations should be used to reiterate the need for CB research.
The transportation community’s preference is to obtain ACS tabulations for CTPP without
rounding and thresholds, but that Nanda is working on different approaches to synthetic data,
both for FHWA, and soon as part of NCHRP 08-36 project.
5b. Meeting with Geography Division, August 23 2007, 1:00 p.m.
Two issues were discussed:
1. Development of software to define TAZs into TIGER/Line for the next suite of CTPP
products from ACS.
2. Census Bureau staff time for supporting the process of defining TAZs.
Software for TAZ definition: The group discussed TAZ definition. The Census Bureau’s
contractor (M-CUBED) submitted a cost proposal that was prohibitively priced at $500,000.
Other alternatives include:
1. Modifying the software provided by M-CUBED by using:
a. In-House CB staff and/or
b. Contractors fluent in Maptitude’s programming language.
2. Working with other vendors to develop alternate software
CB Geography Division Support: Once TAZs are defined, the CB staff must get them
incorporated into TIGER. The labor costs for this was originally at $500,000, which seemed
high, and the CB is going to get back to us about revised estimates.
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Timing and other issues: States and MPOs could expect to start to define TAZs in the
beginning of 2009.
Elaine observed that there are a small number of areas with very small TAZs. She hopes that
planners will understand that sampling for ACS is lower, and the response rate is lower,
therefore, the actual sample size is close to 60 percent of long form over a 5 year
accumulation. Although the modeling community is moving toward smaller zone sizes, it
will be harder to provide meaningful cross tabulations for such small TAZs. She stressed
that the TAZs for CTPP need not be same as model TAZs. We might have to combine two
or more model TAZs to get Census TAZs.
With this concept in mind, the CTPP Technical Group proposed for 3 tiers of TAZs:
 Large TAZs with potentially no data suppression that could also be used for three
year data products.
 Medium TAZs at the size of tract.
 Small TAZs for one way tables.
Jonette observed that given the importance of geography to the success of the next CTPP, the
Work Group may want another meeting to discuss methods for combining TAZs, and best
practices for avoiding the impacts of suppression. The group suggested meeting on a
webinar to discuss geography issues.
5c. Meeting with ACSO, August 24 2007, 9:00 a.m.
This meeting focused on the research for extended place of work allocation system for ACS,
and the timeframe for the first 3-year ACS accumulation for CTPP.
Extended Place of Work Allocation: About 25 percent of the workers report addresses that
are not geocodable to the block level. The extended POW allocation system focuses on using
other variables to impute a workplace block. There are 4 key variables used in workplace
allocation:
 Means of Transportation,
 Travel Time,
 Industry, and
 Occupation
This meeting was an opportunity to familiarize the ACSO staff with the research project, as
they will need to operationalize the results.
CTPP 3-year and 5-year products
Doug Hillmer at Census Bureau recommended that we submit a table list and variable
categories for the 3-year tabulation as soon as possible. It is clear that the Part 3 Flow tables
are of the highest interest. Doug wants ACSO to create a flow table for practice. Doug
would like the table specifications finalized by winter of 2007.
Doug H. would like TAZs to be in place by mid-2011 for the 5-year tabulation.
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Two possible new variables were also discussed (for the 5-year product):
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Income: Using regional income quintiles, instead of fixed income dollar classes,
because of the disparity between places like San Francisco and Des Moines.
Distance to work: Ed C. felt that distance to work can be potentially based on home
and work locations for un-imputed “geocoded records.”
Jonette observed that the most important table CTPP FLOW data. We need to get the
specifications as quickly as possible to the CB for DRB approval. Jonette suggested having a
small subgroup of volunteers to help examine these tables, and make a list of priority tables.
Members who volunteered were Jonette, Guy R., Nathan, Joel N., Greg M., Elaine, Nanda
and Ed C.
6. Round Robin – Group Discussion
Nathan Erlbaum: BEA seems to be contracting with Census Bureau for County-county
work flows using LEHD. This raises several issues because of the nature of the “universes”
used for ACS and LEHD. Nathan believes that using numbers from LEHD raises all sorts of
issues and we need to discuss how to deal with the two databases. Jonette tasked Nathan and
Nanda to discuss and present the work group with a bullet list of issues and possible
solutions.
Donna Weaver (CT) : Donna noted difficulties in obtaining small area data showing
distribution of households by main language spoken. Celia B. offered to help Donna W. by
putting her in touch with the subject matter experts at the CB.
Greg Miyata (CA): Greg M. enquired about the time table for defining urban and rural
areas. Ed C. mentioned that these are defined sometime after the decennial census data are
released (April 2012).
Paul Agnello (VA): Paul A. enquired if CB will be responding individually to responses
received for the PSAP program. Celia B. said that all responses might receive a general
“thank you” note, but the decision will be based on collective weight of the responses
received. CB Geography Division has not decided on sizes for BG and Tract yet.
Elaine Murakami (FHWA): Elaine noted that FHWA will be responding to the CB Federal
Register Notice on 3-year products from ACS. Elaine said that the response will include
requests from Nathan for one-way tabulation of industry by POW, and from Alan Pisarki
regarding “principal city”. Elaine will share the FHWA draft letter to the FR notice with
members of the SCOP Census Workgroup.
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7. Future Topics/Issues
Three topics for future discussion are:
a. Discussion on table definition for 3-year and 5-year products. (Lead – Elaine + subgroup)
b. Discussion on Geography issues. (Lead – Ed C.)
c. Discussion on LEHD and ACS flows. (Lead – Nathan)
Elaine wants to invite Heather Contrino (NHTS Program Manager) for an update on the 2008
NHTS at the next SCOP AASHTO Census Workgroup Meeting.