The American Hotspots Project

The American Hotspots Project is an on-going endeavor to map social vulnerabilities in the United States. A prototype was developed, in consultation with the Parson’s Institute for Information Mapping (PIIM) at The New School, to be used in a pandemic influenza scenario.

In addition to resources such as hospitals, up to 6 layers of social data can be overlayed to create an additive surface. The dual bi-directional threshold slider can filter out high or low values depending on the variables of interest. In addition to this feature, the weights of individual layers may be altered if the user would like to place less emphasis on certain social features. The user may then click on a specific block group and reveal a radar glyph, or star chart. The values and variables will correspond with the legend in the bottom left corner of the map. The legend will re-draw depending on the variables chosen. For more information on the design of this project please download PIIM’s article from the Parsons Journal for Information Mapping.

To begin, go to ‘Find Datasets’ > ‘Show All’ and select the layers of interest.