APDU Weekly

Feature

Announcing APDU Conference, Data Viz Training, Webinar, Biz Mtg
APDU is pleased to announce a new webinar on the Census Bureau?s Center for Administrative Records Research and Applications (CARRA) on December 13, our Annual Business Meeting on December 12, our Annual Conference to be held in Arlington, VA on July 17 – 18, 2018, and a data visualization training from February 27 – March 1, 2018 in Arlington, VA. Be sure to check out each event and register today!

(NOTE: Conference registration is not yet open, but you can save the date at the link above)

News

Realizing the Vision of Evidence-Based Policymaking

Congress should act quickly to pass new Ryan-Murray legislation. Recently, amid the political turmoil over tax reform and other controversial issues, Congress set aside partisan differences to convey an important message to the American public: Better use of evidence in our policymaking process is necessary and possible.

Most Don’t Know What Open Data Is or How to Use It

Survey respondents from around the world say that government should improve civic engagement efforts and data accessibility.

It’s All in the Data

The University System of Maryland?s campuses boast diverse student bodies in terms of race, income and college preparedness. Officials believe new data collection standards will improve retention and graduation rates.

Data is Key to the Fight Against the Opioid Epidemic

With the help of data, statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs are aiding the opioid crisis.

Survey: Using R for Census Data

Over the next six months APDU Member Ari Lamstein will be helping Census develop courses on using R to work with Census Data. These courses will be free and open to the public. He is trying to learn more about how people use R with Census Data; please fill out this survey if you have any experience with this.

New & Updated Data Sources

New App Maps Overdose Epidemic in Real Time

In the summer of 2016, drug overdose deaths in Baltimore were exploding and health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen told federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials the city needed real-time data to better manage its public health response. Four months later, the DEA?s Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) team had developed a smart phone application that could be used by first responders to record the time and location of overdoses and transmit the information to a regional mapping database. Now, that tool, known as ODMAP, is used by more than 250 law enforcement, first responder and public health agencies in 27 states.

Visualization of the Week

U.S. Electric System Operating Data

The U.S. Electric System Operating Data tool provides hourly electricity operating data?including actual and forecast demand, net generation, and the power flowing between electric systems?and features analysis and visualizations of hourly, daily, and weekly electricity supply and demand on a national and regional level for the entire U.S. electric grid. It provides an unprecedented view into the operations of the national power system and represents a paradigm shift in the technology, speed, and utility of data delivery at EIA. The tool?and its underlying data collection system?represent the first and only real-time collection and display of statistical data conducted by the federal government. The tool was recently recognized with a ?digIT? award from Government Computer News in the category of Data Analytics and Visualization.