LI Index unveils redesigned online map with local data

The Long Island Index is unveiling a redesigned online map that provides information on everything from schools and local governments to neighborhood-level population profiles.

The interactive map, at longislandindexmaps.org, has been updated with new information and overhauled to make it more user-friendly, according to the Index, a project of the Garden City-based Rauch Foundation, which funds research on planning and the environment, among other activities.

“You can get a good overview of what’s going on across Long Island,” said Ann Golob, director of the Long Island Index. “Then, if you want to focus in on your particular community, you can get a lot of detail about what’s going on there.”

The website can generate color-coded maps with census data on population density, income, age and other characteristics. The information is broken out by census block groups, which can be as small as a few square blocks.

The Long Island Index’s interactive map has been used by local researchers for years, but the redesigned website is much more accessible to casual users, Golob said. It also includes new information about local bodies of water, and available census figures through 2015.

It is intended for use by elected officials, civic organizations, researchers and students, but it also contains a wealth of information for homeowners and home buyers, Golob said. “It supports different levels of research and inquiry on one set of maps,” she said.

Users can get detailed maps showing enrollment increases and declines in school districts; rental housing near train stations; environmental problems in local bodies of water; and train, bus and bicycle routes, among other information.

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For instance, the map shows that the share of residents who are school-aged ranges from 2.5 percent or less in sections of Bridgehampton, Calverton and Lake Ronkonkoma, to more than 40 percent in certain neighborhoods in Oyster Bay and Merrick.

The map also shows boundaries of special taxing districts for services such as garbage, sewers and emergency services, along with election dates for those districts.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.