This repository hosts a free and open-source mapping tool that allows users to map socioeconomic vulnerability indicators in their community. Social vulnerability is a salient but complex topic, and there are many studies that have tried to assess and evaluate different indicator metrics for their appropriateness.
This tool is built to allow users to experiment with different indicators and their weighting mechanism to see how changing the weight of one metric affects the outcome on a map. For example, how well would a census tract "perform" if computer access became a more important consideration to weight? Would the tract be considered more or less vulnerable with increased focus on that metric?
The intended purpose of this tool is to:
- Demonstrate how many social vulnerability indicators co-vary with one another. In other words, the map results for some communities are not much different from each other when the weighting mechanism is modified.
- Quickly assess the geographic distribution of an indexed vulnerability indicator across a few metrics. For example, if a community organization wanted to prioritize areas that lacked computer access, the tool allows you to focus on computer access as a key metric and add in supplemental vulnerability metrics.
- Serve as an educational tool to understanding the geographic distribution of intersectional equity questions. How does race intersect with income? Or disability intersect with age?
- Allow analysts to break down the components of an indexed or composite indicator into its constituent parts to see how it impacts the index.
To run the app in your community, you will need a few pieces of software and libraries:
- R
- R Studio
- Kyle Walker's tidycensus package
- Census Bureau API key
- Shinyapps.io account (free with up to 5 web apps)