|
All demographic and ethographic information is ultimately tied to geography. Even a
national average ties a piece of information to the population that resides within the
bounds (geography) of the entire United States. Geography is divided into units. Units of
geography are shaped and formed for various reasons, usually to address a particular
question. Common units of geography include zip codes, census tracts, county boundaries,
states, cities, blocks etc. Zip codes are formed to assist the post office in the
effective distribution of mail. Census tracts are formed to support legislative and
political concerns. |
|
|
Occasionally, custom units of geography are created to serve specific
purposes. PERCEPT creates many study area reports based upon a client-requested radius or
client designated polygon. |
|
|
Radius: The distance from the middle of a circle to
any point on the outer edge of the circle. Usually expressed in miles. Can be converted to
a diameter by multiplying by two. For instance, a circle with a 5 mile-radius has a
diameter of 10 miles. |
|
|
Polygon: A custom multi-sided area defined by at least
three points. Can be any shape, but none of the edges can overlap one another. |
|
|
PERCEPT has also created three geographic units specifically
designed to assist strategic planning efforts for church and social services agencies. |
|
|
ImagineArea: An ImagineArea provides a standard planning unit
(same size) that is strategically located (optimized) by population centers. In other
words, ImagineAreas are designed to encompass as much population as possible in the fewest
number of study areas. The primary purpose of an ImagineArea is to support strategic
planning efforts for a region. ImagineAreas generally range from three to seven miles in
radius. PERCEPT also has developed a national system using 15 mile radii which are
referred to as RegionAreas. |
|
|
FocusArea: Basically smaller ImagineAreas that are used to
provide additional detail for certain planning efforts that are larger than a single
ImagineArea, but not so large as to require a full ImagineArea Analysis. These are
typically created with a 1 to 2 mile radius. |
|
|
NeighborArea: The NeighborArea is a sub-unit of geography based
upon an ImagineArea. When general planning decisions have targeted particular ImagineAreas
for further planning and development, a NeighborArea study is completed for each targeted
ImagineArea. A NeighborArea provides detail data on an ImagineArea by creating a group of
small population centers within it. NeighborAreas generally range from .5 to 1 mile in
radius. |
|
|
|
|
