from - Andy Arthur.org

Why I Don’t Really Mind of Paying for Parking in Albany

Andy | March 29, 2012

For many years I have worked downtown and ridden the bus downtown most days. Some days when I have to work late or are planning on heading out of town I drive downtown to work. It’s not a particularly common thing, maybe two or three times a month.

I used to park on the street, but now I park in an Albany Parking Authority lot. Why park in a lot, when one can park on the street? Simple: I don’t want my new truck, “Big Red”, to get hit or damaged, and I figure the back corner of a parking lot is a lot safer. Big Red is also a bitch to park on the street, being so long, even though I am pretty talented at parallel parking it.

It also is a powerful discouragement against car commuting. Somehow it’s more difficult to visualize $4 one burns driving in and out of work, or the wear and tear it means to your car, compared to paying the $3 for the parking lot — a top of the gas and wear and tear.

It makes me pause and think, do I really need to drive into the city? Can avoid it, and all of the pain of driving in the city. I really don’t like the kind of driving that involves stop lights and traffic. I have much to short of a fuse to enjoy such an activity. But so be it.

So at the end of day, I don’t really mind pay for parking, the few times I actually drive downtown. It just another good reminder that driving into the city rarely pays or is necessary with public transit..

Does the US Senate or US House Represent Rural Folks More?

Andy | March 18, 2012

That’s an interesting thought. The United States Senate has two senators for each state, while the US House is propotionally represented. While an urban state like New York State recieves 29 representives, we only get two senators, a rural state like Vermont recieves only 1 representive and 2 senators.

In theory, that would mean a rural state like Vermont, Wyoming, North Dakota, or even Iowa would have have a disproptionate impact on the legislation through the US Senate. While it’s true that such states have more of a voice in the US Senate, it’s not clear rural residents get more representation in the US Senate.

Why not? For one thing, US Senate districts are larger. Much larger, typically covering whole states. The problem is that by representing complete states, every senator represents both urban and rural areas, and in most states, urban populations outnumber rural portions of states.

If any thing, urban consituencies have more power in the US Senate then the US House. There are representives in US House Districts that are predominately rural, in contrast to even rural states, where population is dominated by urban centers — such as Burlington, Vermont.

How To Make Maps from Redistricting Block Lists

Andy | February 20, 2012

When a city council, county legislature, or state legislature redistricts itself to reflect changing population, they usually release data in two formats:

Census Block Equivalency – A list of census blocks in each district, generated by the commerical GIS program (such as Mapitude) used for redistricting.
Metes and Bounds – A legal description of each district, used in resolving court disputes over district boundaries, and assisting board of elections on where to put voters whose property might be crossed by a Census block

If you planning on making a map, Metes and Bounds won’t be particularly useful. Computers don’t understand english very well, they need numbers and lists. In contrast, the Census Block Equivalency is very useful for mapping things.

Every year, the Census Bureau puts out series of ERSI Shapefiles known as TIGER/Line. You can download TIGER/Line for any state and county in the United States from their website. They provide many different shapefiles and layers such as a Highway, Faces, Edges, and County Subdivision layers, however the one you will be most interested for making district maps is the Tabulation Block (tabblock) layer.

You can use these files in the free program known as Quantum GIS or QGIS. While this tutorial will not explain the ins and outs of QGIS, this should get you started on making redistricting maps.

The Tabulation Block Layer is the file containing all of the Census Blocks for a particular county. A Census Block is the smallest unit of population gathered by Census Block, and consists of all bordering features (bounds) — roads, rivers, shorelines, along with all imaginary lines (metes) — town lines, village lines, other lines drawn for statisitical purposes.

Each Census Block has a number, that is a subdivision of the Census Block, County ID, and State ID that it resides within. For example, the Governor’s Mansion in Albany is located in Census Block 2000 in Census Track 23.00 (zero padded to 002300) in Albany County (Federal Information Processing Standard — FIPS ID: 01) which is in NY State (FIPS ID: 36). County subdivisions are not applied to Census Tract Numbers, as they may in some cases cross county subdivisions, as is the case of smaller districts.

You put those numbers together to get the GEOID — which is the key used for redistricting block lists and most other block-level census data. The Governor’s Mansion is located at a block with a GEOID 360010023002000.

State ID	County ID	Zero Padded Census Tract Number	Census Block Number
36	001	002300	2000

The block list you get from a redistricting commission typically is in Database Exchange Format (.DBF) or Comma Deliminated Format (.CSV) which are both openable by common spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice Spreadsheet and GIS programs like ArcGIS or Quantum GIS.

This is taken from the LATFOR State Senate Proposed Districts (January 2012) DBF file. It shows you that the Governor resides in Proposed Senate District 44. Across the river in Census Block 4010, Census Tract 524.03, in Rensselear County (FIPS ID 83), NY State (FIPS ID: 36) is located in Proposed Senate District 43.

360010023002000	SD44
360010021002008	SD44
360010021002004	SD44
360010021002001	SD44
360830524034017	SD43
360830524034010	SD43

Download the TIGER/line “Tabulation Block” Shpaefile file for the district you are interested in. You will want the 2010 version. You can download a state-wide tabulation block file, however that is not recommended as the next step will be impossibly slow on most computers. You may also want to open the .CSV or .DBF file in your spreadsheet program and cut out the county you want to speed things up.

You will then want to open up the file in Quantum GIS. You will get a nice map of the county you downloaded, showing all of the Census Blocks.

From there, go to the Vector -> Join Attributes submenu.
Make sure that the Target vector layer matches the Tabulation Block Shapefile you wish to join against, then set Target join field to GEOID10 .
Select click Join dbf table and select the DBF or CSV file you wish to join.
Change the Join field to BLOCK or whatever the GEOID is titled in your redistricting block file.
Enter in a location to save the Output Shapefile
Click okay.

Then wait. A typical county will take 10-40 minutes to join on my 5 year old laptop; your computer may be quicker. If you have a dual processor machine, go on to doing other work in other programs. You will end up with a map that looks like this (stylized for your enjoyment). Each block will be assigned a Senate District (in this example).

Halfway there. Now you need to “dissolve” each Census Block into it’s larger political district. Go to Vector -> Geoprocessing Tools -> Dissolve . Set the Input vector layer to the file you previously joined. Then set the Dissolve field to the field containing the district number — such as DISTRICTID or whatever it is named. Enter a name to safe the file. Click Dissolve.

Outputed will be a Shapefile containing all the political districts in the county you joined and dissolved. This will take 5-20 minutes on my laptop. Other data may exist in that file, such as Census Block number, however at this point that data will be invalid, as only the district number is accurately preserved in such a join. All other data will be picked at random, so delete those columns.

I hope this is helpful. If you just want the Proposed State Senate or State Assembly Districts you can download them from Center for Urban Research. These are the same data, joined using the above process by somebody with a much faster computer. I have also made up a Shapefile containing the Albany County Legislative Districts using this process.

What Does 100 Miles from the Rapp Road Landfill Look Like?

Andy | January 18, 2012

About a year ago, in the Capital Region Solid Waste Plan, the City of Albany proposed creating a mega-solid waste authority to manage the Solid Waste for most of the Eastern Half of New York State. The plan specifically called for creating a regional authority — to service up to nine counties, and cover an area of 100 miles from the center point of the Rapp Road Landfill.

So I decided to make a map, and run some numbers…

100 square miles equals roughly 30,500 square miles, with 21,500 sq miles in New York State and 9,000 sq miles out of State — primarily Southern Vermont, but also most of Western Massachussets, roughly 3/4th of Connecicut, and part of Pennsylvania in the Poconos.

In contrast to 30,500 square miles, Adirondack Park “Blue Line” covers roughly 9,100 sq miles in NY State and the Catskill Park “Blue Line” covers roughly 1,100 sq miles. That includes all land within those parks, publicly and privately owned.

That area, within NY State, covers an area were 2,957,993 persons reported residing in the 2010 census.

That is 2.95 million people, or almost 3 million people, a population greater then Manhattan at 1.5 million persons, and even Brooklyn at 2.5 million.

While no one town or city in the proposed in Authorty is particularly large — the City of Albany is the largest population center at 97,856 followed by Colonie at 81,591, the reality is those numbers add up, when you include the 406 towns and cities in NY State that fall within the 100 mile distance from the Rapp Road Landfill.

Large Cities and Towns in Proposed Authority.

Town /City	Population
Albany city	97,856
Colonie town	81,591
Schenectady city	66,135
Utica city	62,235
Troy city	50,129
Poughkeepsie town	43,341
Cortlandt town	41,592
Monroe town	39,912
Clifton Park town	36,705
Yorktown town	36,081
Guilderland town	35,303
Carmel town	34,305
Rome city	33,725
Bethlehem town	33,656
Poughkeepsie city	32,736
Warwick town	32,065
Newburgh town	29,801
Glenville town	29,480
Rotterdam town	29,094

All Towns and Cities in NY State within 100 miles of Rapp Road Landfill.

Here is entire list of towns partially or wholely contained in the proposed jurisdiction of the Albany Solid Waste Authority (including large cities and towns listed above)…

Town /City	Population	Area (sq mi)	Pop sq/mi
Albany city	97,856	21	4659.8
Colonie town	81,591	57	1431.4
Schenectady city	66,135	10	6613.5
Utica city	62,235	16	3889.7
Troy city	50,129	11	4557.2
Poughkeepsie town	43,341	31	1398.1
Cortlandt town	41,592	49	848.8
Monroe town	39,912	21	1900.6
Clifton Park town	36,705	50	734.1
Yorktown town	36,081	39	925.2
Guilderland town	35,303	58	608.7
Carmel town	34,305	40	857.6
Rome city	33,725	75	449.7
Bethlehem town	33,656	50	673.1
Poughkeepsie city	32,736	5	6547.2
Warwick town	32,065	105	305.4
Newburgh town	29,801	46	647.8
Glenville town	29,480	50	589.6
Rotterdam town	29,094	36	808.2
East Fishkill town	29,029	57	509.3
Newburgh city	28,866	4	7216.5
Middletown city	28,086	5	5617.2
Queensbury town	27,901	64	436.0
Wallkill town	27,426	62	442.4
Wappinger town	27,048	28	966.0
Saratoga Springs city	26,586	28	949.5
New Windsor town	25,244	36	701.2
Kingston city	23,893	8	2986.6
Peekskill city	23,583	5	4716.6
Montgomery town	22,606	51	443.3
New Hartford town	22,166	25	886.6
Fishkill town	22,107	32	690.8
Niskayuna town	21,781	15	1452.1
Hyde Park town	21,571	39	553.1
Halfmoon town	21,535	33	652.6
Somers town	20,434	32	638.6
Saugerties town	19,482	67	290.8
Whitestown town	18,667	27	691.4
Amsterdam city	18,620	6	3103.3
Milton town	18,575	35	530.7
Southeast town	18,404	34	541.3
Blooming Grove town	18,028	35	515.1
East Greenbush town	16,473	24	686.4
Wilton town	16,173	35	462.1
Cohoes city	16,168	4	4042.0
La Grange town	15,730	40	393.3
Gloversville city	15,665	5	3133.0
Beacon city	15,541	4	3885.3
Thompson town	15,308	87	176.0
Stony Point town	15,059	31	485.8
Malta town	14,765	31	476.3
Moreau town	14,728	43	342.5
Glens Falls city	14,700	3	4900.0
Beekman town	14,621	30	487.4
Shawangunk town	14,332	56	255.9
New Paltz town	14,003	34	411.9
Oneonta city	13,901	4	3475.3
Goshen town	13,687	44	311.1
Kent town	13,507	43	314.1
German Flatts town	13,258	34	389.9
Wawarsing town	13,157	133	98.9
Fallsburg town	12,870	79	162.9
Schodack town	12,794	63	203.1
Kingsbury town	12,671	40	316.8
Cornwall town	12,646	28	451.6
Highlands town	12,492	33	378.5
Lewisboro town	12,411	29	428.0
Ulster town	12,327	28	440.3
Mamakating town	12,085	98	123.3
North Greenbush town	12,075	18	670.8
Patterson town	12,023	32	375.7
Chester town	11,981	87	137.7
Chester town	11,981	25	479.2
Brunswick town	11,941	44	271.4
Putnam Valley town	11,809	42	281.2
Catskill town	11,775	64	184.0
Oneida city	11,393	22	517.9
Woodbury town	11,353	37	306.8
Red Hook town	11,319	40	283.0
Lloyd town	10,863	33	329.2
Plattekill town	10,499	35	300.0
Kirkland town	10,315	33	312.6
Watervliet city	10,254	1	10254.0
Herkimer town	10,175	32	318.0
Liberty town	9,885	80	123.6
Ballston town	9,776	30	325.9
Pleasant Valley town	9,672	33	293.1
Philipstown town	9,662	51	189.5
Rensselaer city	9,392	3	3130.7
Crawford town	9,316	40	232.9
Lenox town	9,122	36	253.4
Esopus town	9,041	41	220.5
Marcy town	8,982	33	272.2
North Elba town	8,957	156	57.4
Coxsackie town	8,918	38	234.7
Marlborough town	8,808	26	338.8
Johnstown city	8,743	4	2185.8
Dover town	8,699	56	155.3
New Scotland town	8,648	57	151.7
Sand Lake town	8,530	36	236.9
Kinderhook town	8,498	32	265.6
Pawling town	8,463	45	188.1
Waterford town	8,423	7	1203.3
Stillwater town	8,287	43	192.7
Deerpark town	7,901	67	117.9
Greenfield town	7,775	67	116.0
Schaghticoke town	7,679	51	150.6
Frankfort town	7,636	36	212.1
Rhinebeck town	7,548	39	193.5
Coeymans town	7,418	53	140.0
Rochester town	7,313	89	82.2
Wawayanda town	7,266	35	207.6
Norwich city	7,190	2	3595.0
Johnstown town	7,098	71	100.0
Mount Hope town	7,018	25	280.7
Hoosick town	6,924	63	109.9
Hudson city	6,713	2	3356.5
Hamilton town	6,690	41	163.2
Cairo town	6,670	60	111.2
Granville town	6,669	56	119.1
Cobleskill town	6,625	30	220.8
Corinth town	6,531	58	112.6
Mayfield town	6,495	64	101.5
Lee town	6,486	45	144.1
Fort Edward town	6,371	27	236.0
Hurley town	6,314	35	180.4
Verona town	6,293	69	91.2
Windsor town	6,274	93	67.5
Fort Ann town	6,190	111	55.8
Westmoreland town	6,138	43	142.7
Duanesburg town	6,122	71	86.2
Rosendale town	6,075	20	303.8
Claverack town	6,021	47	128.1
Woodstock town	5,884	67	87.8
Sidney town	5,774	50	115.5
Pittstown town	5,735	64	89.6
Gardiner town	5,713	43	132.9
Saratoga town	5,674	42	135.1
Marbletown town	5,607	55	101.9
Greene town	5,604	75	74.7
Walton town	5,576	97	57.5
Amsterdam town	5,566	30	185.5
Hamptonburgh town	5,561	26	213.9
Vienna town	5,440	95	57.3
Vernon town	5,408	37	146.2
Ghent town	5,402	45	120.0
Broadalbin town	5,260	39	134.9
Eaton town	5,255	45	116.8
Colesville town	5,232	79	66.2
Oneonta town	5,229	33	158.5
Mechanicville city	5,196	0
Delhi town	5,117	64	80.0
North Salem town	5,104	22	232.0
Northumberland town	5,087	32	159.0
Ticonderoga town	5,042	88	57.3
Little Falls city	4,946	3	1648.7
Greenwich town	4,942	44	112.3
Union Vale town	4,877	37	131.8
Moriah town	4,798	71	67.6
Nassau town	4,789	45	106.4
Washington town	4,741	58	81.7
Boonville town	4,555	72	63.3
Poestenkill town	4,530	32	141.6
Trenton town	4,498	43	104.6
Minisink town	4,490	23	195.2
Amenia town	4,436	43	103.2
Olive town	4,419	65	68.0
Paris town	4,411	31	142.3
Unadilla town	4,392	46	95.5
Minden town	4,297	51	84.3
Deerfield town	4,273	33	129.5
Bethel town	4,255	90	47.3
Greenport town	4,165	20	208.3
Charlton town	4,133	32	129.2
Chatham town	4,128	53	77.9
Warrensburg town	4,094	64	64.0
Athens town	4,089	28	146.0
Sherburne town	4,048	43	94.1
Whitehall town	4,042	58	69.7
Norwich town	3,998	42	95.2
Oxford town	3,901	60	65.0
Otsego town	3,900	59	66.1
Mohawk town	3,844	35	109.8
Stanford town	3,823	50	76.5
Floyd town	3,819	34	112.3
Argyle town	3,782	57	66.4
Rockland town	3,775	95	39.7
Middletown town	3,750	97	38.7
Middleburgh town	3,746	49	76.4
Greenville town	3,739	39	95.9
Greenville town	3,739	30	124.6
Canajoharie town	3,730	43	86.7
Livingston town	3,646	38	95.9
Perth town	3,646	26	140.2
Tuxedo town	3,624	49	74.0
Copake town	3,615	42	86.1
Neversink town	3,557	86	41.4
Galway town	3,545	45	78.8
Lake George town	3,515	32	109.8
Schuyler town	3,420	40	85.5
New Baltimore town	3,370	43	78.4
Westerlo town	3,361	58	57.9
White Creek town	3,356	48	69.9
Lake Luzerne town	3,347	54	62.0
Manheim town	3,334	29	115.0
Bainbridge town	3,308	34	97.3
Palatine town	3,240	41	79.0
Hancock town	3,224	161	20.0
Schoharie town	3,205	29	110.5
Otego town	3,115	45	69.2
Shandaken town	3,085	120	25.7
Sherrill city	3,071	2	1535.5
Callicoon town	3,057	48	63.7
Milford town	3,044	47	64.8
North East town	3,031	43	70.5
Annsville town	3,012	60	50.2
Madison town	3,008	41	73.4
Davenport town	2,965	52	57.0
Guilford town	2,922	61	47.9
Stephentown town	2,903	58	50.1
Afton town	2,851	46	62.0
Stockport town	2,815	13	216.5
Berne town	2,794	64	43.7
Hunter town	2,732	90	30.4
Durham town	2,725	49	55.6
Salem town	2,715	52	52.2
Florida town	2,696	51	52.9
Knox town	2,692	41	65.7
New Berlin town	2,682	46	58.3
Delaware town	2,670	35	76.3
Northampton town	2,670	34	78.5
St. Johnsville town	2,631	17	154.8
Green Island town	2,620	0
Richmondville town	2,610	30	87.0
Russia town	2,587	60	43.1
Sangerfield town	2,561	30	85.4
Brookfield town	2,545	78	32.6
Highland town	2,530	52	48.7
Glen town	2,507	39	64.3
Roxbury town	2,502	87	28.8
Pine Plains town	2,473	31	79.8
Lumberland town	2,468	49	50.4
Laurens town	2,424	42	57.7
Franklin town	2,411	81	29.8
Sanford town	2,407	91	26.5
Johnsburg town	2,395	206	11.6
Richfield town	2,388	32	74.6
Milan town	2,370	36	65.8
Easton town	2,336	63	37.1
Bolton town	2,326	90	25.8
New Lebanon town	2,305	35	65.9
Newport town	2,302	32	71.9
Hartford town	2,269	43	52.8
Stamford town	2,267	48	47.2
Worcester town	2,220	46	48.3
Marshall town	2,131	32	66.6
Grafton town	2,130	45	47.3
Princetown town	2,115	24	88.1
Middlefield town	2,114	63	33.6
Hartwick town	2,110	40	52.8
Stockbridge town	2,103	31	67.8
Winfield town	2,086	23	90.7
Colchester town	2,077	142	14.6
Esperance town	2,076	20	103.8
Hadley town	2,048	41	50.0
Stuyvesant town	2,027	26	78.0
Crown Point town	2,024	81	25.0
Cambridge town	2,021	36	56.1
Augusta town	2,020	27	74.8
Lincoln town	2,012	25	80.5
Providence town	1,995	45	44.3
Nelson town	1,980	44	45.0
Clermont town	1,965	19	103.4
Salisbury town	1,958	108	18.1
Germantown town	1,954	13	150.3
Western town	1,951	54	36.1
Carlisle town	1,948	34	57.3
Remsen town	1,929	36	53.6
Hillsdale town	1,927	48	40.1
Oppenheim town	1,924	56	34.4
Maryland town	1,897	51	37.2
Watson town	1,881	116	16.2
Berlin town	1,880	59	31.9
Morris town	1,878	39	48.2
Hebron town	1,853	56	33.1
Sharon town	1,846	39	47.3
Rensselaerville town	1,843	62	29.7
Edmeston town	1,826	44	41.5
Webb town	1,807	484	3.7
Plymouth town	1,804	42	43.0
Jackson town	1,800	37	48.6
Butternuts town	1,786	53	33.7
Leyden town	1,785	33	54.1
North Norwich town	1,783	28	63.7
Seward town	1,763	36	49.0
Fenner town	1,726	31	55.7
Root town	1,715	51	33.6
Deposit town	1,712	44	38.9
Canaan town	1,710	36	47.5
Windham town	1,703	45	37.8
Ashland town	1,695	25	67.8
Ephratah town	1,682	39	43.1
Kortright town	1,675	62	27.0
Gallatin town	1,668	39	42.8
Coventry town	1,655	48	34.5
Schroon town	1,654	141	11.7
Austerlitz town	1,654	48	34.5
Fairfield town	1,627	41	39.7
DeRuyter town	1,589	31	51.3
Little Falls town	1,587	22	72.1
Columbia town	1,580	35	45.1
Harpersfield town	1,577	42	37.5
Ancram town	1,573	42	37.5
Wright town	1,539	28	55.0
Forestport town	1,535	78	19.7
Meredith town	1,529	58	26.4
Petersburgh town	1,525	41	37.2
West Turin town	1,524	102	14.9
Bridgewater town	1,522	23	66.2
Tusten town	1,515	48	31.6
Litchfield town	1,513	30	50.4
Fulton town	1,442	65	22.2
Jefferson town	1,410	43	32.8
Horicon town	1,389	71	19.6
Lewis town	1,382	65	21.3
Charleston town	1,373	42	32.7
Cochecton town	1,372	37	37.1
Pittsfield town	1,366	38	35.9
Springfield town	1,358	45	30.2
Indian Lake town	1,352	266	5.1
Lebanon town	1,332	43	31.0
Smithville town	1,330	50	26.6
Hamden town	1,323	60	22.1
Masonville town	1,320	54	24.4
Westport town	1,312	66	19.9
Taghkanic town	1,310	40	32.8
Gilboa town	1,307	59	22.2
Andes town	1,301	112	11.6
Smithfield town	1,288	24	53.7
Smyrna town	1,280	42	30.5
Tompkins town	1,247	104	12.0
Lyonsdale town	1,227	70	17.5
Cherry Valley town	1,223	40	30.6
Thurman town	1,219	92	13.3
Edinburg town	1,214	67	18.1
Caroga town	1,205	54	22.3
Greig town	1,199	94	12.8
Elizabethtown town	1,163	83	14.0
Summit town	1,148	37	31.0
Warren town	1,143	38	30.1
Burlington town	1,140	45	25.3
New Lisbon town	1,114	44	25.3
Keene town	1,105	156	7.1
Steuben town	1,100	42	26.2
Otselic town	1,054	38	27.7
Preston town	1,044	35	29.8
Danube town	1,039	29	35.8
Fremont town	1,008	51	19.8
Ohio town	1,002	307	3.3
Exeter town	987	32	30.8
Columbus town	975	37	26.4
Georgetown town	974	40	24.4
Broome town	973	48	20.3
Jewett town	953	50	19.1
Hampton town	938	22	42.6
Plainfield town	915	29	31.6
Kingston town	889	7	127.0
McDonough town	886	39	22.7
Westford town	868	33	26.3
Day town	856	69	12.4
Forestburgh town	819	56	14.6
Minerva town	809	160	5.1
Lexington town	805	79	10.2
Pitcher town	803	28	28.7
Lake Pleasant town	781	198	3.9
Stony Creek town	767	83	9.2
Norway town	762	35	21.8
Stark town	757	31	24.4
Clinton town	737	38	19.4
Conesville town	734	40	18.4
Long Lake town	711	449	1.6
Roseboom town	711	33	21.5
Prattsville town	700	19	36.8
Hague town	699	80	8.7
Ava town	676	37	18.3
Wells town	674	177	3.8
Dresden town	652	54	12.1
Bovina town	633	44	14.4
Stratford town	610	76	8.0
Putnam town	609	35	17.4
Pharsalia town	593	39	15.2
Denning town	551	105	5.2
Bleecker town	533	59	9.0
Newcomb town	436	233	1.9
Hope town	403	41	9.8
Lincklaen town	396	26	15.2
Blenheim town	377	34	11.1
Decatur town	353	20	17.7
Inlet town	333	66	5.0
Arietta town	304	329	0.9
Halcott town	258	23	11.2
North Hudson town	240	185	1.3
Hardenburgh town	238	80	3.0
Benson town	192	83	2.3
Morehouse town	86	194	0.4
Total	2,957,993	21,462	386.0

State Land Acreage By Classification

Andy | January 13, 2012

All figures are in acres except where noted. Table updated April 2011. Reprinted from the DEC Website.

Land Classification		Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4	Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8	Region 9	Catskill Park Total	Adirondack Park Total	State Total	Percent of Total State Land and Conservation Easements
State Forest		16,056	758	31,763	102,248	58,354	221,924	200,419	55,581	99,121	–	16,264 **	786,224	17%
Forest Preserve	Wilderness	–	–	89,352	53,482	954,601	206,151	–	–	–	142,834	1,160,752	1,303,586	28%
	Wild Forest	–	–	75,588	60,368	938,664 **	367,123	–	–	–	135,956	1,305,787	1,441,743	31%
	Primitive	–	–	–	–	31,309	15,704	–	–	–	–	47,013	47,013	1%
	Primitive Bicycle Corridor	–	–	15	283	–	–	–	–	–	298	–	298	0.006%
	Canoe	–	–	–	–	18,989	–	–	–	–	–	18,989	18,989	0.4%
	Intensive Use	–	–	4,104	1,542	21,591	1,828	–	–	–	5,646	23,419	29,065	0.6%
	Administrative	–	–	392	0 ***	384	7	–	–	–	392	391	783	0.02%
	Historic	–	–	–	–	531	–	–	–	–	–	531	531	0.01%
	Pending Classification	–	–	–	–	259	111	–	–	–	–	370	370	0.007%
	Under Water* (Unclassified)	–	–	–	–	17,395	6,534	–	–	–	–	23,929	23,929	0.5%
	Detached Parcel	–	–	1,382	4,141	1,441	4,318	–	–	–	–	–	11,282	0.2%
	Total Forest Preserve	–	–	170,833	119,816	2,001,313	601,776	–	–	–	285,126	2,597,267	2,893,738	61%
Wildlife Management Area		6,007	–	12,021	18,518	6,524 **	46,371	49,562	41,462	17,178	407 ***	2,755 **	197,643	4%
Conservation Easement		108	21	7,264	7,286	488,463	336,783	436	–	10	9,437	769,579	840,371	18%
TOTALS:		22,171	779	221,881	247,868	2,554,654	1,206,854	250,417	97,043	116,309	294,970	3,385,865	4,717,976	100%

Notes from the DEC.

* Certain lake beds are considered Forest Preserve, despite some level of private ownership adjacent to the lakes. These underwater lands are not classified. For the purposes of this table, however, lakes and ponds that are completely surrounded by Forest Preserve have been classified the same as the adjacent land.

** Where State Forests and Wildlife Management Areas exist within the Adirondack Park, the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan also classifies these lands as Wild Forest. However, since these lands are not Forest Preserve, State Forest and Wildlife Management Area acreages within the Adirondack Park were NOT included in the Wild Forest category.

*** Where Wildlife Management Areas exist within the Catskill Park, the Catskill Park State Land Master Plan also classifies these lands as Administrative. For calculation purposes in this table, however, Wildlife Management Area acreage within the Catskill Park was NOT also included in the Administrative category.

2011 Pictures of the Year

Andy | December 29, 2011

January.

After a fresh snow fall it was a winter wonderland in the Albany Pine Barriens, a forever wild ecosystem on the outskirts of the city. It felt like one was walking through a marshmallow forest.

A cold winters day at my parents house in late January, after a long cold spell that never seemed to want to end.

February.

A icy sheen shown on the snow at Partridge Run, as I went for an afternoon walk with the dogs up there in the middle of the month.

Snowshoeing back down Bennett Hill in late February.

March.

A recently logged section of Cole Hill provided breath-taking views of Irish Hill and the Fox Kill Valley down in Berne.

What a clear spring day up at Horseshoe Clove at Thacher Park. Warmer, nicer days can’t be far way.

April.

April 9th was the first day I got out camping in 2011. Spent the day exploring Rogers Environmental Center, camped at Moscow Hill Horse Assembly Area.

It may start to warm up earlier in lower elevations, but winter is still very much a force in late April in the Adirondacks. The East Sacanadaga River on this morning looks icy and cold.

May.

There’s Albany! From my kayak. I kayaked up to Downtown Troy from the Corning Preserve.

Spring finally comes to Adirondacks by late May. Paddling around Cheney Pond, looking towards Sand Mountain in the distance, on the other side of Hoffman Notch.

June.

Kayak camping on Stockmans Island in the middle of the Hudson River. What an adventure, one I picked on a night when they had fireworks up at the Coxscake Town Park.

Oswegatchie River up in Watson’s Triangle in Adirondacks. There are few places as remote as this that you can drive on largely unmarked and rarely traversed back country roads. Watson’s Triangle is a place far of the beaten path.

July.

A dramatically cloudy day, looking down towards Tupper Lake from Mount Arab.

Cooling off at the Potholers on an oppressively humid summer’s day.

August.

Exploring Beaver Creek at the Brookfield Railroad State Forest in Brookfield, NY.

Watching the fog burn off Beaver Creek at Brookfield Railroad State Forest on a summer morning..

September.

A beautiful late summer morning at North Lake in Adirondacks. North Lake is such a jewel, especially as you head farther north on the largely undeveloped portion of the lake.

Fall was well underway, and even past peak at Moose River Plains by September 20th.

October.

Second week of October, I went up to the North Country for some leaf peeping, hiking, and kayaking. The colors may be faded in Central Adirondacks, but still were good in lower elevation parts of the Northern Adirondacks.

And later in October, I drove up to Snake Mountain in Vermont, overlooking the Champlain Valley and the Adirondacks. Colors lasted the longest

And by October 30th, we had snow, actually several inches, as seen up at Lake Taghkanic State Park.

November.

In November I visited Monreau Lake State Park for the first time, and checked out the Palmerstown Ridge above the Hudson River and Spier Falls. These power lines transfer power from Spier Falls Hydro Dam over to Corinth.

I also hiked up Windham High Peak. I hadn’t been there in many years, and it was interesting to look down at Preston Hollow and Medusa, far, far below.

December.

On Christmas Day, I hiked up Hadley Mountain. While cloudy and cold, it was very beautiful.

While the pond at Thacher Park was frozen, there still is very little snow locally.

Why I’ve Gotten Away from Using NYSDOT Topographic Maps

Andy | December 28, 2011

For the first year of doing topographic maps, I relied extensively on using NYSDOT topographic maps, I originally downloaded from the NYSGIS consortium website. The NYSDOT topographic maps have a lot of good information on them, an in many ways have the most accurate topography.

But what I’ve also found with those maps is they have several real limitations…

1) They Don’t Scale Well.

NYSDOT topographic maps are designed to viewed at 1:2400 feet ratio, as they are 7.5″ quads. You can get away with rendering them anywhere between 1:1800 to 1:2600, but beyond that the text looks too small, too crowded, or two pixelated. For smaller parks and larger areas, NYSDOT topographic maps do not work well.

2) Unneeded Information and Clutter.

DOT Topographic Maps try to suit the need of any user, and include information like town lines and other jurisdictional information that is unnecessarily for the average outdoors person.

3) Outdated Information.

Often topographic maps have dated information on man-made boundaries and buildings. The state often buys new land, demolishes existing buildings, and closes off trails. Old trails appear on topographic maps, as do labels such a “Restricted”, even though to this day such roads may be valid, despite the incorrect or outdated information on topographic maps.

4) Metric Scale; Differentiating Contour Scales.

Metric elevations are maddening for anyone trying to calculate their elevation from select DOT topo maps, and often when you load multiple topographic maps, they do not fit together seamlessly, as one will be using one unit for contours, while another will use another unit. Contour scales throughout the state very widely, which when put together can be confusing.

On the other hand, topos do have some benefits…

1) Most Accurate Shorelines.

The Census Water Area and Liner Water Shapefiles from TIGER/Line are pretty accurate, but they are not nearly as good as topographic maps.

2) Wetlands.

Currently I don’t have any good source of data or wetlands to add to my maps. I probably should do more research into this, as I know the state does have wetland maps available — but how much of a PITA are they to use?

3) Buildings.

Topographic maps have many of the buildings on them. While this information can be outdated, it does provide useful information to the viewer of such maps. TIGER/line has some features, like cemeteries and some buildings, but this data set is tiny compared to what’s on the NYSDOT topographic maps.