Katrina Mapping System:

Welcome to the Katrina mapping system. These maps were developed by the American Communities Project at Brown University. For similar maps of census tract data for the entire nation (1940-2010), see the MapUSA webpage: http://s4.ad.brown.edu/Projects/mapusa.

On its opening map, this system shows the Gulf Coast states where we have studied hurricane damage and impacts.

• Zoom in or out with your mouse or the +/- tool. Type a street address or place name, even a landmark, in the box to go directly to that location.
• By default you will be shown a street map. You can change it to satellite imagery or a light gray canvas by clicking on "Select a Base Map".
• To visualize population data from the census, click on the symbol in the upper left corner. This opens a box in which you can choose a category of variables and then a specific variable. You can also drag the slider to choose a different year (the default is 1970). (You can then close this box or reopen it to see the legend.)
• You can also add other layers of information to the map. These include high resolution aerial photos of the post-Katrina flooding, a visualization of all areas with wind or water damage, the boundaries of neighborhood areas in New Orleans (combinations of census tracts), and the FEMA-designated relief area. To view aerial photos, you must zoom in far enough to see the green dots that represent each photo, Select the "identify photo" tool and then click on a dot.
• The selected variable will be displayed. If you are zoomed out to show a very large area, the data will be for counties. If you zoom in, census tracts will be shown. Click on a county or census tract to see its exact value on the variable that is displayed.
• A tool is available along the top border to print the map as displayed. Other tools allow you to select an area using your mouse (click on points to identify the outline of the area, double click at the end to close the polygon). "Download" provides the data for the selected area in a new window.

Click here to enter the Katrina maps.