{"id":396161,"date":"2021-01-20T08:43:54","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T16:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=396161"},"modified":"2021-01-20T12:30:35","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T20:30:35","slug":"in-an-unprecedented-year-us-completes-census-count-with-help-from-gis","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/in-an-unprecedented-year-us-completes-census-count-with-help-from-gis","title":{"rendered":"In an Unprecedented Year, US Completes Census Count with Help from GIS"},"author":6921,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[407892,400982,275952],"tags":[320072,430851,11272,295152,341422],"arcnews_issues":[472041],"class_list":["post-396161","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-field-operations","category-location-technology","category-technology","tag-census-data","tag-covid-19","tag-demographics","tag-map-viewer","tag-us-census","arcnews_issues-winter-2021","arcnews_sections-news"],"acf":{"short_description":"The Census Bureau collaborated with Esri, weaving geospatial capabilities into every operational component of its 2020 Census.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Once per decade, the United States Census Bureau sets out to count every person in the country, just once, and in the right place. The bureau spent 10 years preparing for the 2020 Census by modernizing its systems and building apps. It has successfully replaced paper-based processes with new technologies that have significantly improved data collection and workflows.\r\n\r\nThroughout its preparation for the decennial event, the Census Bureau collaborated with Esri, weaving geospatial capabilities into every operational component. The bureau was ready to do the count, but unforeseen challenges lay ahead.\r\n\r\nBy Census Day on April 1, 2020, most households in the United States had received their invitation to participate in the census. Unfortunately, by this time the first wave of COVID-19 had swept across the nation. While wreaking havoc on public and personal health all over the world, COVID-19 also impacted 2020 Census operations.\r\n\r\nThe pandemic stalled the launch of the bureau\u2019s nonresponse follow-up (NRFU) operations, in which enumerators visit the addresses of people who did not respond to invitations. Initially, the Census Bureau scheduled NRFU operations to begin May 13, but the risk of infection delayed the launch. On July 16, the bureau resumed follow-up operations in select areas.\r\n\r\nWhen it was deemed safe, thousands of masked enumerators, equipped with iPhones, began knocking on doors. From a safe distance, they asked residents census questions and recorded their answers digitally on their phones. The bureau continued to monitor the impacts of COVID-19 on operations and adapted assignments as needed to keep everyone safe.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe modernizations that we put into place far exceeded our expectations,\u201d explained Deirdre Dalpiaz Bishop, chief of the Census Bureau\u2019s Geography Division. \u201cGeographic information and associated technologies played a role in the transformation of the four main components of conducting the census.\u201d\r\n\r\nThose components for the 2020 Census are\r\n