Data link roundup (week of May 3, 2013)

The week's top data analysis links...
... a geography lesson.

FREE (GIS) LUNCH

The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides, free of charge, aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2011.
Now you know what you'll be doing on your lunch-hour this week...


BEST CHART MAP OF THE WEEK

The United States may be divided by state, county, city, and township boundaries, but our patterns of social activity rarely follow political jurisdiction lines.

Dick Brockman tracked currency interactions (following the paths individually-tracked dollar bills on "Where's George") to see how Americans flow -- or at least how their currency does -- across the country. Dark blue lines represent "neighborhoods" in which people have close, in-person financial interactions with one another.

Source: NPR via Dick Brockman