I am looking for the ability to draw an arbitrary polygon on a map and get the enclosed area size in sq. miles and the population estimate from census data. I would prefer a free website with with this capability, but I can entertain reasonable paid software.
Thanks,
CT
That may be somewhat difficult, as while what you are requesting sounds simple, it is a somewhat complex task as the application has to:
1. Extract the population data from inside the polygon (which for the US Census, can be split down to the Census Block Group level - though normally the level above that - Census Tracts - is used as, for privacy reasons, that level is the lowest one that contains the complete Census data set.)
2. Compensate for partial Census data (areas that fall both in - and - out of the drawn polygon.)
3. And finally, add all the requested population data together & output the data in whatever format the user requested.
While there are GIS programs that can accomplish what you are requesting, they tend to have significant learning curves.
One of the most popular is ESRI's ArcGIS. However, as nota stated, it is not cheap - the lowest price for a commercial license of the latest desktop version (
ArcGIS Pro) is in the four figures (there is a "
Home" version, though, that is licensed for non-commercial purposes - like non-profits or those who want to practice their skills at home - whose license is only $100 / yr.) The company also has a
online version, but I am not familiar with that version.
Another popular GIS program is
QGIS. Unlike ArcGIS, this is a free program, and there are versions that can run native on Windows, Macs, and Linux (ArcGIS is Windows only, but it can run on Macs via
Boot Camp.) Also while the original program is pretty basic, users have written several hundred
"plug-in" modules that can be added to customize the software. However just like ArcGIS, there is a learning curve one has to go through in order to become proficient with it.
