Posts categorized as:

Maps

Map of bills filed by the 88th Texas Legislature (2023)

By Jeff Reichman / November 22, 2022

The next meeting of the Texas legislature starts in January, and House and Senate members just started the process of filing new bills. Over the next few months, these bills will be refined in committees, emerge for a vote, and potentially signed into law. But right now, they are the raw materials for the next…

Read More
harris county justice of the peace boundaries, redrawn by january advisors

Redrawing Houston’s Eviction Courts: Any Map is Better Than What We Have Now

By David McClendon / November 11, 2022

Every Monday morning, Judge Israel Garcia, Jr., who serves as Harris County Justice of the Peace for Precinct 5, stares down a punishing docket of eviction, debt collection, and traffic cases for the week. His courtroom has a line out the door of parents and children, desperate to resolve a dispute with their landlord or…

Read More

Map of Bills Filed by the 87th Texas Legislature (2021)

By Jeff Reichman / November 9, 2020

The Texas Legislature doesn’t meet very often. When it does, a lot can happen in a short period of time. We have to live with the results. It’s a policy pressure cooker. Today, members of the Texas House and Senate began filing bills. The lege website makes it easy to see the bills filed every…

Read More
say yes to the census murals houston lenox barbeque

YES! to the Census Mural Tour

By Shannon Carter / October 7, 2020

Have you filled out your census? Houston lags behind the national average, with 58.4% of residents responding, compared to 66.3% nationally. Use our tool to check out how your City Council District is performing. Most importantly, make sure you and your neighbors have responded. You only have until the end of October to get counted! …

Read More

Map of Bills Filed by the 86th Texas Legislature (2019)

By Jeff Reichman / November 20, 2018

The elections are over, but things are just getting started in Texas. The 86th Texas Legislature convenes in the beginning of 2019, and newly-elected House and Senate members are already filing legislation. Two years ago, we built a map of bills filed for the 85th session. This year, you’ll notice the maps got an upgrade.…

Read More

Making Maps Is Easy Using These Free Tools

By Jeff Reichman / April 4, 2016

Making maps is a great way to visualize data. Building them is easier than ever. In the past, you had to have enterprise software licenses and a lot of GIS knowledge. But if you’re just getting started with making maps, you probably don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars for software. Maybe you’re at a…

Read More

Mapping Houston's Capital Improvement Projects By Location and Budget

By Jeff Reichman / June 26, 2016

Every year, the City of Houston goes through a capital planning process where they allocate about $8 billion over five years. I wanted to know where these projects are, and how much we’re spending on them. I became curious about this process after last year’s discussion about equitable distribution. So I extracted a bunch of data from the…

Read More
houston broadband accessibility map

How Houston (and Texas) Can Improve Broadband Competition

By Jeff Reichman / January 8, 2018

Last week, I published an article outlining what the City of Houston can do to promote broadband competition. I was responding to a group of citizens who came to Houston’s city council public comment session and asked our elected officials to do something about net neutrality. While the City of Houston can’t do much about…

Read More

Three Hurricane Harvey Maps: Damage, Response, and Debris

By Jeff Reichman / December 15, 2017

This is the story of how we helped the City of Houston visualize and communicate the impact of Hurricane Harvey. You may have already seen these maps on Harvey by the Numbers. This isn’t a story about designing the maps and choosing the colors (although that was a lot of fun). This is a story…

Read More
child care desert map for texas

Mapping Child Care Deserts in Texas

By Jeff Reichman / December 11, 2017

Over the summer, we worked with Children at Risk to develop a map of child care deserts in Texas. The map shows where there aren’t enough child care providers, as well as where there is a lack of subsidized seats or high quality providers. Then, using the map as a jumping off point, Children at…

Read More