Areal Interpolation of Population Counts Using Pre-Classified Land Cover Data

Michael Reibel, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Aditya Agrawal, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The need to combine spatial data representing socio-demographic information across various and incompatible spatial units is a common problem for demographers. A particular concern is computing small area trends when aggregation zone boundaries change during the trend interval. To combine population counts across incompatible tract geographies corresponding to successive census enumerations, the authors propose dasymetric areal interpolation using a pre-classified urban land cover data layer. This solution is preferable to traditional re-aggregation techniques. A test of the interpolation technique using the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) shows significant error reduction over area weighted interpolation of the same data. The NLCD compares favorably with other common techniques when considered on the basis of accuracy, precision and ease of use.