I recently retired after UNM's Division of Government Research (DGR) was eliminated due to reorganization. DGR had always used the latest web based interactive mapping software available from ESRI such as ArcIMS and ArcGIS Server and also Google to make traffic crash plus census and demopgraphic data more accessible to governmental policy makers and the public. These interactive maps are far more useful than static PDF versions. They allow users to query the data and produce tables with actual values (not classified groupings). For instance, a certain size red dot would indicate a range of crashes at an intersection and after the user clicked on the dot a table of actual crash data values for the intersection would be produced. A similar informative table with multiple data items would be available for certain census geographies (county, tract, block, etc.) by just a simple mouse click.

It seems that the following server(dgrarc.unm.edu) that hosted ArcGIS services and flex demonstrations for recent years of New Mexico crash data and 2010 census data is no longer available. Another server (dgrmap.unm.edu) which had extensive ArcIMS web pages for older crash data and 2000 census data for download is also no longer available. Unfortunately I did not make any screen captures to illustrate these developments before my retirement which would have been useful since these servers have been shut down. However, with the advent of ArcGIS for Developers I can partially recreate some of these and make screen captures to show resonable examples. Because the New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau (NM TSB) does not readily release their data for public use I can not make interactive examples with recent data available. In the future, I hope to obtain these data as part of some planned research studies and will try to make it available as it was for many previous years.

You should contact Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) at UNM to see if there are any plans to make interactive maps of traffic crashes plus census and demographic data available in the future.

Because I believe in open government and public access to government data, I will try to recreate some of what DGR has done in the past on ArcGIS Online. For now, you can download a map package containing the ArcMap document (.mxd) and shapefiles used to create the 2010 census service that was previously available on DGR's now shut down server. Enter keywords "New Mexico Census" in the search box. It seems that I will need a fully functional (not limited developmental) organizational account to recrereate these service and develop new services using ArcGIS Online which I currently do not have. Hopefully I can work with another organization in the future that has this or that maintains their own ArcGIS server.

Recent Developments

As this work progresses I will continue to make results available on ArcGIS Online in several GIS formats (interactive web maps, map package, map services, map layers, and shapefiles). I will also make selected map PDFs available here once they have been prepared. Unfortunately, I did not make screen captures of the interactive crash and census maps prepared using ArcGIS Server before DGR's server ( dgrarc.unm.edu) was shut down. However, I began by posting the PDF instructions that help to illustrate this important development.

I have prepared some partially recreated examples of the interactive crash and census maps using ArcGIS for Developers. Although interactive crash maps that allowed users to view crash statistics by clicking on map locations were made available for many years by DGR, I will only show static screen captures of previously avaiable older data as examples. More recent data is not currently made available for public use by the New Mexico Department of Transportation, Traffic Safety Bureau (NMDOT, TSB). Please contact UNM's GPS or NMDOT TSB about any future planned availability of interactive crash maps and related datasets.

Update: I have not been involved in any traffic safety research since my retirement in 2012 and have been keeping very busy with other research projects. However, I happened to see this recent article Spatial pattern identification and crash severity of road traffic crash hot spots in Ohio that is a good example of the various types of GIS and statistical analysis that could be conducted in New Mexico. Also see the references as there are other useful examples of related studies.

Recently, the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) has taken the initiative and is currently preparing interactive web based maps using the newer versions of Arc GIS Server that provides more functionality and makes it easier to create web maps. These improvements have allowed them to make traffic crash information more accessible to the public (see MRCOG Safety Analysis and Reporting).

I also worked on a special project with UNM's Earth Data Analysis Center during the spring and summer of 2013 preparing an extensive intersection based dataset for New Mexico. This dataset used as sources both the New Mexico E911 county files combined with the intersections (GRNDB - Geographic Road Network Database) that DGR maintained for the New Mexico Traffic Safety Bureau (NM TSB). SAS was used to combine these files and derive a multitude of aliases for each intersection that were present in both sources throughout New Mexico. This resulted in a very comprehensive database that can be used for law enforcement and emergency computer aided dispatch, other georeferencing, plus various transportation applications such as traffic safety problem identification.

Esri has recently made individual non-commercial organizational accounts available for ArcGIS Online that are part of their ArcGIS for Personal Use program. Esri has also been encouraging government agencies to participate in their Open Data program. Hopefully more New Mexico government agencies will make their data available to the public in the future. Depending on future availability, I will use these open data resources to prepare more analytical examples of both New Mexico traffic crash and other spatial analysis applications that use census and demographic data (see my Open Data). I will be using both UNM's GPS and Esri Demographics as the source for population data estimates at the census tract and also the block group levels of geography. There some differences at the census tract level between both of these estimates (see ArcGIS Online Web Mapping Application - NM 2015 Census Tract Population Estimates) and only Esri provides estimates for block groups.

New Mexico Census Tract Population Estimates, 2015(ArcGIS Online Web Map)

Differences between ESRI Demographics and UNM GPS Estimates
(see Web Mapping Applications above for a better display)

Maps and Stuff:

Address and Contact Information

     Larry Spear, Sr. Research Scientist (Ret.) 
     Division of Government Research
     University of New Mexico 
     
     Home Phone: (505) 260-1810 
     Email: lspear@unm.edu  lspearnm@gmail.com 
     WWW: https://www.unm.edu/~lspear
     LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/larry-spear-93371970
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Last Revised: 1/18/2024 Larry Spear (lspear@unm.edu)