Professor Delmont mentioned the USDA map that shows food access last week, but I wanted to write a bit about it, because I think it's a really great resource in a lot of ways. Of course, there is no way to truly understand what it would be like to live without the ability to get to a grocery store or supermarket unless that was really the case. You can get somewhat of a feeling for it if you've ever been in a low-income neighborhood with none of those resources around--but only a feeling. What the map does, unlike any other tool I can think of, is provide a way to see the overall size of the problem, because it's a big one.
The map itself has a lot of information that you can get from it. Users can see census tracts using 1/2-mile and 1-mile demarcations to the nearest supermarket for urban areas, 10-mile and 20-mile demarcations to the nearest supermarket for rural areas, and vehicle availability (a very important factor) for all tracts. There's a lot written attached to the map about how to use it, how they gathered the information, etc. But to me, even before you delve into the details, there is something powerful about seeing the colored-in areas across the country. There is so much color.
Maps are an effective tool because they simultaneously allow for details (the kinds of details that other resources, like written documents or articles also allow for), as well as the broader picture.
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