Talk to me in numbers

Here's another sweet interactive data visualization tool:


Food Environment Atlas


Basically, this map helps show that "food environment factors"—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. Maybe that's a "duh" statement, but it's a good first step in a super complex problem. The USDA qualifies that more research is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions. 


There are 13 indicators you can choose from and within each of those, another set of more detailed choices. Whatever you choose gets mapped and shown on the atlas. I love to visualize, and this is an excellent first step in visualizing what factors cause food insecurity. 


For example, you could click on one indictor and get a map that shows where the price ratio of green, leafy veggies compared to starchy veggies is high. Or you could find out the percentage of recreation and fitness facilities per 1,000 people across the country. Is spinach way more expensive than potatoes, and there aren't any gyms nearby? That's going to add up to more obesity and more health problems.


You can even get up close and personal with your map. Try clicking on your county. In my home county - Portage, Ohio - there were 1,386 households in 2006 that owned no car and would have to travel more than a mile to a grocery store (not a convenience store). In 2008, there were 79 stores where you could use food stamps, and 88 in 2009. Unfortunately, the county level is a close as you can get. Challenges and solutions tend to be most effective when viewed on the most local level possible, so I hope they get even more down and dirty in the next iteration.


I'll admit the map's a little slow. I'd love to see these folks work with Google to come up with an awesome map that's even more user-friendly (though this ain't bad). Google - do it!