dis-datagen

This project contains the code used to generate an interactive map of Diversity and Integration in the United States.

For more about this map, see this essay about it.

To use this project to build the data and site, first we need to clone and enter the repository using

git clone https://github.com/vengroff/dis-datagen.git
cd dis-datagen

Next, we use poetry to create a virtual environment containing all of our dependencies. If you don't have poetry you will need to install it before proceeding. Details can be found here.

Once poetry itself is installed, you can use it to install all of our dependencies. Do this with the shell command

poetry install

Finally, we need to run gmake in the virtual environment with all of our dependencies. To do this, run

poetry run gmake -j 4

I use -j 4 because that way data from four states at a time will be downloaded and processed in parallel. You can adjust this number up or down depending on how many cores you have available to devote to this.

Once you have done this, you should have a new directory dist containing the full static web site, map tiles and data.

A Note on Census Keys

Given the volume of data downloaded in a short time, the U.S. Census API may cut you off if you don't have a key. You can request a key here. Once you have received the key by email, put it in a one-line text file at ~/.censusdis/api_key.txt. Once you have done this, the censusdis API that we use will use that key in all requests to the U.S. Census servers and you should have no further problems with access.