MAPPING NEW YORK CITY'S DIGITAL DIVIDE

Access to high speed internet has become a crucial resource in the 21st century, decisive for access to jobs and economic mobility, information and education, and participation in the social and political spheres. Yet, as with access to other types of infrastructure such as the public transit system, streets, school, or parks, access to the Internet, too, is characterized by socio-spatial disparities. Access to high-speed internet is differentiated based on geographies, class, race, and ethnicity, perpetuationg existing forms of exlusion. But since the physical infrastructures that the internet relies on remain hidden in our everyday lives, buried below our feet, so do the inequities in its access. This map aims to uncover the digital divide in 21st century New York by mapping the "invisible" internet infrastructure that is required for access to the internet and relating it to demographic and internet use data. Due to the limited available data, the map is only a first step in doing so. However, I hope that it contributes to ongoing efforts of making visible the invisible (such as the crowdsourced New Cloud Atlas). How to use this map? The map lets you compare and look for relationships among the various data layers by un/selecting them in the checkboxes next to the legend. This map combines a multitude of data sets relating to the following three themes: 1 PHYSICAL INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE Information on the physical internet infrastructure includes all free available WiFi hotspots (using data from NYC's Open Data Portal) and available broadband internet connections in commercial buildings throuhgout NYC (using data from NYC's Broadband Map). 2 COMPUTER AND INTERNET USE Information on access to and use of computers and the internet includes the percentage of households without computers at home per congressional district (using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015) and the percentage of fixed residential internet connections with at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream capacity per census tract (using data from the Federal Communications Commission 2015). 3 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS And finally, the first two data layers can be compared to demographic information, including the median household incomes at the census tract level in US$ and a race-dot layer showing the ethnic and racial composition of NYC with 1 dot representing 100 people (both data sets from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015).

MAPPING NEW YORK CITY'S DIGITAL DIVIDE

Access to high speed internet has become a crucial resource in the 21st century, decisive for access to jobs and economic mobility, information and education, and participation in the social and political spheres. Yet, as with access to other types of infrastructure such as the public transit system, streets, school, or parks, access to the Internet, too, is characterized by socio-spatial disparities. Access to high-speed internet is differentiated based on geographies, class, race, and ethnicity, perpetuationg existing forms of exlusion. But since the physical infrastructures that the internet relies on remain hidden in our everyday lives, buried below our feet, so do the inequities in its access. This map aims to uncover the digital divide in 21st century New York by mapping the "invisible" internet infrastructure that is required for access to the internet and relating it to demographic and internet use data. Due to the limited available data, the map is only a first step in doing so. However, I hope that it contributes to ongoing efforts of making visible the invisible (such as the crowdsourced New Cloud Atlas). How to use this map? The map lets you compare and look for relationships among the various data layers by un/selecting them in the checkboxes next to the legend. This map combines a multitude of data sets relating to the following three themes: 1 PHYSICAL INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE Information on the physical internet infrastructure includes all free available WiFi hotspots (using data from NYC's Open Data Portal) and available broadband internet connections in commercial buildings throuhgout NYC (using data from NYC's Broadband Map). 2 COMPUTER AND INTERNET USE Information on access to and use of computers and the internet includes the percentage of households without computers at home per congressional district (using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015) and the percentage of fixed residential internet connections with at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream capacity per census tract (using data from the Federal Communications Commission 2015). 3 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS And finally, the first two data layers can be compared to demographic information, including the median household incomes at the census tract level in US$ and a race-dot layer showing the ethnic and racial composition of NYC with 1 dot representing 100 people (both data sets from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015).

WiFi Hotspots

Commercial Broadband

Computer Availability

Broadband Access

Race-Dot Map

Median Household Income

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MAPPING NEW YORK CITY'S DIGITAL DIVIDE

Access to high speed internet has become a crucial resource in the 21st century, decisive for access to jobs and economic mobility, information and education, and participation in the social and political spheres. Yet, as with access to other types of infrastructure such as the public transit system, streets, school, or parks, access to the Internet, too, is characterized by socio-spatial disparities. Access to high-speed internet is differentiated based on geographies, class, race, and ethnicity, perpetuationg existing forms of exlusion. But since the physical infrastructures that the internet relies on remain hidden in our everyday lives, buried below our feet, so do the inequities in its access.

This map aims to uncover the digital divide in 21st century New York by mapping the "invisible" internet infrastructure that is required for access to the internet and relating it to demographic and internet use data. Due to the limited available data, the map is only a first step in doing so. However, I hope that it contributes to ongoing efforts of making visible the invisible (such as the crowdsourced New Cloud Atlas).

How to use this map? The map lets you compare and look for relationships among the various data layers by un/selecting them in the checkboxes next to the legend. This map combines a multitude of data sets relating to the following three themes:

1 PHYSICAL INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE Information on the physical internet infrastructure includes all free available WiFi hotspots (using data from NYC's Open Data Portal) and available broadband internet connections in commercial buildings throuhgout NYC (using data from NYC's Broadband Map).

2 COMPUTER AND INTERNET USE Information on access to and use of computers and the internet includes the percentage of households without computers at home per congressional district (using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015) and the percentage of fixed residential internet connections with at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream capacity per census tract (using data from the Federal Communications Commission 2015).

3 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS And finally, the first two data layers can be compared to demographic information, including the median household incomes at the census tract level in US$ and a race-dot layer showing the ethnic and racial composition of NYC with 1 dot representing 100 people (both data sets from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015).

UPDATED Invalid date

MAPPING NEW YORK CITY'S DIGITAL DIVIDE

Access to high speed internet has become a crucial resource in the 21st century, decisive for access to jobs and economic mobility, information and education, and participation in the social and political spheres. Yet, as with access to other types of infrastructure such as the public transit system, streets, school, or parks, access to the Internet, too, is characterized by socio-spatial disparities. Access to high-speed internet is differentiated based on geographies, class, race, and ethnicity, perpetuationg existing forms of exlusion. But since the physical infrastructures that the internet relies on remain hidden in our everyday lives, buried below our feet, so do the inequities in its access.

This map aims to uncover the digital divide in 21st century New York by mapping the "invisible" internet infrastructure that is required for access to the internet and relating it to demographic and internet use data. Due to the limited available data, the map is only a first step in doing so. However, I hope that it contributes to ongoing efforts of making visible the invisible (such as the crowdsourced New Cloud Atlas).

How to use this map? The map lets you compare and look for relationships among the various data layers by un/selecting them in the checkboxes next to the legend. This map combines a multitude of data sets relating to the following three themes:

1 PHYSICAL INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE Information on the physical internet infrastructure includes all free available WiFi hotspots (using data from NYC's Open Data Portal) and available broadband internet connections in commercial buildings throuhgout NYC (using data from NYC's Broadband Map).

2 COMPUTER AND INTERNET USE Information on access to and use of computers and the internet includes the percentage of households without computers at home per congressional district (using the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015) and the percentage of fixed residential internet connections with at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream capacity per census tract (using data from the Federal Communications Commission 2015).

3 SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS And finally, the first two data layers can be compared to demographic information, including the median household incomes at the census tract level in US$ and a race-dot layer showing the ethnic and racial composition of NYC with 1 dot representing 100 people (both data sets from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2015).

WiFi Hotspots

Commercial Broadband

Computer Availability

Broadband Access

Race-Dot Map

Median Household Income