{93820472-AA30-4787-BBA5-3E2E278391E2} eng; USA utf8 dataset EnviroAtlas Coordinator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, EnviroAtlas Geospatial Data Owner (919) 541-3832 109 T.W. Alexander Drive Research Triangle Park NC 27709 EnviroAtlas@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas pointOfContact 2025-07-23 ISO 19115 Geographic Information - Metadata ISO 19115:2003/Cor.1:2006(E) EnviroAtlas - Commute Modes and Working from Home by Block Group for the Conterminous United States 2015-06-09 publication US EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) - National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Research Triangle Park NC publisher US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) originator This EnviroAtlas dataset portrays the percent of workers who commute to work using various modes, and the percent who work from home within each Census Block Group (CBG) during 2008-2012. Data were compiled from the Census ACS (American Community Survey) 5-year Summary Data. The commute modes are the travel methods workers use to get from home to work. The commute modes mapped include private vehicle use (drive alone or carpooling), public transit, bicycling, and walking. Workers who work from home were also reported. This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets). In recent decades, car-oriented commuting has generated a number of environmental and mobility problems worldwide, which highlight the need to develop and encourage more environmentally sustainable modes of transportation. Although bicycling and walking make up a relatively small portion of commuting activity in the United States, these non-motorized travel modes might play important roles within many of the nation's local transportation systems (ACS, 2014). The promotion of non-motorized modes of transport, like bicycles and walking, is increasingly being recognized as an effective way of addressing these urban transport and related public health problems (Rietveld and Daniel, 2004). In particular, a shift from car to bicycle could reduce road congestion and traffic-related air pollution since cycling has low space requirements and is a non-polluting transport mode (Chapman, 2007; Beckx et al., 2009). It also reduces noise, vibration, road accidents, infrastructure costs (e.g. less road maintenance) as well as the dependence of the economy upon fossil fuels. Furthermore, cycling is a cheap way of being physically active and preventing the health risks of a sedentary lifestyle (Pucher et al., 1999; WHO, 2002; de Geus, 2007). Therefore, understanding the current transport patterns and encouraging more sustainable transportation systems are very important for community development and human health. This data layer presents the modes of travel to work for workers as well as the population who work from home. This information could support evaluating the sustainability and health of communities, especially the communities' transport system. It could also be used to guide future improvements to community transportation. The overall goal of EnviroAtlas is to employ and develop the best available science to map indicators of ecosystem services production, demand, and drivers for the nation. completed EnviroAtlas Coordinator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, EnviroAtlas Geospatial Data Owner (919) 541-3832 109 T.W. Alexander Drive Research Triangle Park NC 27709 EnviroAtlas@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas pointOfContact asNeeded Ecosystem Environment theme EPA GIS Keyword Thesaurus Census Block Groups Ecosystem Services EnviroAtlas Environment Environmental Atlas Human Human Well-being Indicator Society Sustainability Transportation theme EnviroAtlas Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas United States Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington DC West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming place None https://edg.epa.gov/EPA_Data_License.htm otherRestrictions Use Constraints: None. Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currency and other available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata. Acknowledgement of the EPA would be appreciated. otherRestrictions Access Constraints: None. PUBLIC https://project-open-data.github.io/schema/#accessLevel Standard Technical Controls vector eng; USA environment -128.02839229 -65.20336449 22.7348894 51.6773602 2008-01-01 2012-01-01 true Entity and Attribute Information Entity and Attribute Overview: This dataset portrays the means of transportation to work, including working from home, within each Census Block Group (CBG) during 2008-2012. Data were compiled from the Census American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year Summary Data. The commute modes are the travel methods workers use to get from home to work. The commute modes mapped include private vehicle use (drive alone or carpooling), public transit, bicycling, and walking. Workers who work from home were also reported. The list below shows which columns from Table B08301 were included in each metric: *Drive: Car, truck, or van: Drove alone, In 2-person carpool, in 3-person carpool, in 4-person carpool, in 5- or 6-person carpool, in 7-or-more-person carpool (columns 158 to 165). *Public: Public transportation: Bus or trolley bus, Streetcar or trolley car, Subway or elevated, Railroad, Ferryboat (columns 166 to 171). *Bicycle: Bicycle: Bicycle (column 174). *Walk: Walk: Walk (column 175). *Home: Work at home: work at home (columns 166 to 171). *Other: Other means: Taxicab, Motorcycle, Other means (columns 172, 173, and 176). *DriveAlone: Car, truck, or van: Drove alone *Carpool: Car, truck, or van: In 2-person carpool, in 3-person carpool, in 4-person carpool, in 5- or 6-person carpool, in 7-or-more-person carpool. *BikeWalk: Walk: Walk (column 175), *Bicycle: Bicycle (column 174). The percentages of workers using a specific travel mean is obtained by dividing the number of the workers in that category by the population of total workers (column 157). Works cited: * American Community Survey. (2014). American Community Survey Reports: ACS Modes Less Traveled—Bicycling and Walking to Work in the United States: 2008-2012. * Beckx, C., Int Panis, L., Arentze, T., Janssens, D., Torfs, R., Broekx, S., & Wets, G. (2009). A dynamic activity-based population modelling approach to evaluate exposure to air pollution: methods and application to a Dutch urban area. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 29(3), 179-185. * Chapman, L. (2007). Transport and climate change: a review. Journal of transport geography, 15(5), 354-367. * Pucher, J., Komanoff, C., & Schimek, P. (1999). Bicycling renaissance in North America?: Recent trends and alternative policies to promote bicycling. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 33(7), 625-654. * Rietveld, P., & Daniel, V. (2004). Determinants of bicycle use: do municipal policies matter?. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 38(7), 531-550. * WHO (World Health Organization). (2002). A physically active life through everyday transport, with a special focus on children and older people, and examples and approaches from Europe. Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen. A comprehensive list of metric creation steps is included in the Processing Steps. For more information about EnviroAtlas data, go to https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets. Entity and Attribute Detail Citation: https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets/index.html EnviroAtlas Coordinator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, EnviroAtlas Geospatial Data Owner (919) 541-3832 109 T.W. Alexander Drive Research Triangle Park NC 27709 EnviroAtlas@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas distributor https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/download/CONUS_metrics_FGDB.zip download Download The URL providing direct access to the downloadable dataset. download https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/download/CONUS_metrics_CSV.zip ESRI:ArcGIS API The endpoint of a web service to access the dataset (REST endpoint, WMS GetCapabilities URL, or a SOAP WSDL endpoint). webMapService https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-data information Documentation URL for accessing related documents such as data dictionary, technical information about a dataset, developer documentation, etc. information https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas information Home Page Alternative landing page used to redirect user to a contextual, Agency-hosted "homepage" for the Dataset or API information dataset Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report Data were collected using methods that have unknown accuracy (EPA National Geospatial Data Policy [NGDP] Accuracy Tier 10). For more information, please see EPA's NGDP at https://www.epa.gov/geospatial/geospatial-policies-and-standards Features represented have not been tested for completeness Features represented have not been tested for completeness Tests for integrity have not been performed. This lineage was generated by the FGDC CSDGM to 19139 transformation Obtained the American Community Survey 2008-2012 5-year summary file dataset, Table B08301 (MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION TO WORK. Universe: Workers 16 and over) from www2.census.gov using the Summary File Data Retrieval Tool. 2014-09-25T00:00:00 We reclassified the table into six categories: Driving by car, truck, or van; Public transportation; Bicycle; Walk; Work at home; and Other means. See the overview for details on how the table was reclassified. 2014-10-01T00:00:00 The percentages of workers using a specific travel mean is obtained by dividing the number of the workers in that category by the total population of workers (column 157). The percent who drive alone was initially calculated as a percent of drivers rather than a percent of total workers. 2014-10-01T00:00:00 Calculated the percentages of workers who carpool and the percentages of workers who drive alone. Calculated the percent of workers who drive alone by multiplying the percent of drivers who drive alone by the percent of commuters who drive and dividing by 100. Subtracted this percentage from the percent of commuters who drive to get the percent of workers who carpool. 2015-06-01T00:00:00 Combined the percentage who walk and the percentage who bicycle into a single metric, BikeWalk. 2015-06-01T00:00:00 unknown 2029-07-23 This metadata was automatically generated from the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata standard (version FGDC-STD-001-1998) using the 2024-02-09T11:11:00 version of the FGDC CSDGM to ISO 19139 transform. EnviroAtlas Coordinator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development-Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, EnviroAtlas Geospatial Data Owner (919) 541-3832 109 T.W. Alexander Drive Research Triangle Park NC 27709 EnviroAtlas@epa.gov https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas pointOfContact