[R-pkgs] acs package version 1.1: download and analyze census data from the ACS

[Ezra Haber Glenn]

We are pleased to announce that version 1.1 of the acs package is now
available on CRAN.  The package allows users to automatically
download, analyze, and present data from the U.S. Census American
Community Survey.

Major improvements in versions 1.0 and 1.1 include:

  * A single "acs.fetch()" function allows users to downloading data
    directly from the new Census American Community Survey API and
    import it into R (with proper statistical treatment of estimates
    and error, variable and geographic relabeling, and more);

  * A new "geo.make()" function allows users to create their own
    custom geographies from the existing census hierarchy to organize
    and download data.  The function accepts over 20 different
    geographic options (state, county, tract, congressional district,
    zip code, metropolitan statistical area, different types of state
    school and legislative districts, and more), which may be set to
    create and endlessly-combine 25 different summary levels for easy
    downloading from the Census; and

  * Two special lookup tools help users filter Census geographies
    (with the "geo.lookup()" function) and statistical tables (with
    the "acs.lookup()" function) to find exactly what they want.

The package is well documented via the manual on CRAN, as well as a
User Guide available at
<http://eglenn.scripts.mit.edu/citystate/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/wpid-working_with_acs_R3.pdf>.
Additional support, worked examples, and more can be found on the
CityState blog (<http://eglenn.scripts.mit.edu/citystate>), as well as
through the acs.R user group mailing list -- visit
<http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/acs-r> to subscribe and view
archives.

--
Ezra Haber Glenn, AICP
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 7-337
Cambridge, MA 02139
eglenn at mit.edu 
http://dusp.mit.edu/faculty/ezra-glenn | http://eglenn.scripts.mit.edu/citystate/
617.253.2024 (w)
617.721.7131 (c)