Base Canvas Attributes
The Base Canvas includes attributes that describe land use, demographics, and development for each parcel or census block feature. Analyst's Base Canvas creation process incorporates a number of data sources to populate the attribute columns, including population and housing data from the decennial census and American Community Survey; employment data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program; point of interest data from various sources; and nationwide parcel data.
For a video overview that explains all the basics of the Base Canvas, you can also watch our webinar: What is the Base Canvas?
The Base Canvas attributes are summarized below.
Attribute Name | Column Key | Description |
---|---|---|
Geography ID | id | A unique identifier for the geographic feature. |
Land Use Summary (L1) | land_use_category_level_1 | The highest-level land use category, which includes bro classifications such as Residential, Commercial, and Mixed Use. All lower-level categories nest within higher-level categories. |
Land Use Summary (L2) | land_use_category_level_2 | Second-level land use category, which includes summary classifications such as Single-family and Multifamily. |
Land Use Category (L3) | land_use_category_level_3 | Most detailed land use category, which corresponds to specific land uses such as Single-family detached. |
Land Use Type (L4) (or Built Form Type) | built_form_key | Building Type or Place Type of the canvas geometry. |
Land Development Category | land_development_category | A broad categorization of land use patterns based on intersection density, housing density, and employment density. The categories include Urban, Compact, Standard (suburban), and Rural. |
Intersection Density | intersection_density | Density of roadway intersections per square mile, measured over a buffered area of the canvas geometry. |
Gross Area | area_gross | Gross area of the canvas geometry, in acres. |
Population | pop | Residential population associated with occupied dwelling units. This excludes people residing in group quarters. |
Households | hh | Households, equivalent to occupied dwelling units. |
Dwelling Units | du | Dwelling units, including occupied and unoccupied units |
All Detached Single-Family Dwelling Units | du_detsf | Total detached single family homes. |
Large Lot Detached Single-Family Dwelling Units | du_detsf_ll | Detached single family home on lots larger than 5,500 square feet. |
Small Lot Detached Single-Family Dwelling Units | du_detsf_sl | Detached single family home on lots smaller than 5,500 square feet. |
Attached Single-Family Dwelling Units (Townhomes) | du_attsf | Attached single family homes, including townhomes, rowhouses, and other units that share walls but are not stacked vertically. |
All Multifamily Dwelling Units | du_mf | Homes in buildings that contain at least two housing units that are adjacent vertically, or horizontally with shared utility systems. |
Multi-Family - 2 to 4 Dwelling Units | du_mf2to4 | Homes in buildings that contain two to four housing units that adjacent vertically, or horizontally with shared utility systems. Note that, while this column appropriately represents units in buildings of this size category in the Base Canvas new multifamily units are assigned to this category by default in scenarios. Scenario analysis does not differentiate between the multifamily building size categories. |
Multi-Family - 5 or More Dwelling Units | du_mf5p | Homes in buildings that contain more than five housing units are adjacent vertically, or horizontally with shared utility systems. Note that, while this column appropriately represents units in buildings of this size category in the Base Canvas, all new multifamily units are assigned to the du_mf2to4 category by default in scenarios. Scenario analysis does not differentiate between the multifamily building size categories |
Employment | emp | Total jobs across all employment categories. |
All Retail Employment | emp_ret | The Retail category includes all retail services, other services, restaurant, accommodation, and arts and entertainment employment. |
All Office Employment | emp_off | The Office category includes all office services and medical services employment. |
All Public Employment | emp_pub | The Public category includes all public administration and education employment. |
All Industrial Employment | emp_ind | The Industrial category includes all utilities, construction, manufacturing, wholesale, and transportation & warehousing employment. |
All Agriculture Employment | emp_ag | The Agriculture category includes all agriculture and extraction sector employment. |
Military Employment | emp_military | The Military category includes employment in the military sector. |
Retail Services Employment | emp_retail_services | The Retail Services category, a subsector of Retail, includes retail trade employment. |
Restaurant Employment | emp_restaurant | The Restaurant category, a subsector of Retail, includes restaurant and other food service employment. |
Accommodation Employment | emp_accommodation | The Accommodation category, a subsector of Retail, includes facilities such as hotels and motels. |
Arts & Entertainment Employment | emp_arts_entertainment | The Arts/Entertainment category, a subsector of Retail, includes arts, entertainment, and recreation employment. |
Other Retail Employment | emp_other_services | The Other Services category, a subsector of Retail, includes retail employment outside of trade, restaurant, accommodation, arts/entertainment/recreation, and wholesale employment. |
Office Services Employment | emp_office_services | The Office Services category, a subsector of Office, includes information, finance, and professional and business services employment. |
Public Administration Employment | emp_public_admin | The Public Administration category, a subsector of Public, includes public employment. |
Education Employment | emp_education | The Education category, a subsector of Public, includes primary, secondary, and higher education services employment. |
Medical Services Employment | emp_medical_services | The Medical Services category, a subsector of Office, includes health care employment. |
Manufacturing Employment | emp_manufacturing | The Manufacturing category, a subsector of Industrial, includes employment in the manufacturing sector. |
Wholesale Employment | emp_wholesale | The Wholesale category, a subsector of Industrial, includes wholesale retail employment. |
Transportation/Warehouses Employment | emp_transport_warehousing | The Transport/Warehousing category, a subsector of Industrial, includes transportation and warehousing employment. |
Utilities Employment | emp_utilities | The Utilities category, a subsector of Industrial, includes employment in the utilities sector. |
Construction Employment | emp_construction | The Construction category, a subsector of Industrial, includes employment associated with construction activities. |
Agriculture Employment | emp_agriculture | The Agriculture category, a subsector of (all) Agriculture, includes agricultural employment. |
Extraction Employment | emp_extraction | The Extraction category, a subsector of Agriculture, includes employment related to extraction. |
Small Lot Detached Single-Family Building Area | bldg_area_detsf_sl | Building area of small lot detached single-family homes, in square feet. |
Large Lot Detached Single-Family Building Area | bldg_area_detsf_ll | Building area of large lot detached single-family homes, in square feet. |
Attached Single-Family Building Area | bldg_area_attsf | Building area of attached single-family homes, in square feet. |
Multifamily Building Area | bldg_area_mf | Building area of multifamily homes, in square feet. |
Retail Services Building Area | bldg_area_retail_services | Building area associated with the retail trade sector, in square feet. |
Restaurants Building Area | bldg_area_restaurant | Building area associated with the restaurant and food service sector, in square feet. |
Accommodation Building Area | bldg_area_accommodation | Building area associated with facilities such as hotels and motels, in square feet. |
Arts & Entertainment Building Area | bldg_area_arts_entertainment | Building area associated with the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors, in square feet. |
Other Retail Building Area | bldg_area_other_services | Building area associated with the retail sector outside of trade, restaurant, accommodation, arts/entertainment/recreation, and wholesale employment, in square feet. |
Office Services Building Area | bldg_area_office_services | Building area associated with the information, finance, and professional and business services sector, in square feet. |
Public Administration Building Area | bldg_area_public_admin | Building area associated with the public sector, in square feet. |
Education Building Area | bldg_area_education | Building area associated with the primary, secondary, and higher education services sector, in square feet. |
Medical Services Building Area | bldg_area_medical_services | Building area associated with the health care sector, in square feet. |
Transportation/Warehouses Building Area | bldg_area_transport_warehousing | Building area associated with the transportation and warehousing sectors, in square feet. |
Wholesale Building Area | bldg_area_wholesale | Building area associated with the wholesale retail sector, in square feet. |
All Detached Single Family Parcel Area | area_parcel_res_detsf | Parcel area with detached single-family use, in acres. |
Small Lot Detached Single-Family Parcel Area | area_parcel_res_detsf_sl | Parcel area with small lot detached single-family use, in acres. |
Large Lot Detached Single-Family Parcel Area | area_parcel_res_detsf_ll | Parcel area with large lot detached single-family use, in acres. |
Attached Single-Family Parcel Area | area_parcel_res_attsf | Parcel area with attached single-family use, in acres. |
Multifamily Building Parcel Area | area_parcel_res_mf | Parcel area with multi-family use, in acres. |
All Retail Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_ret | Parcel area with retail employment use, in acres. |
All Office Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_off | Parcel area with office employment use, in acres. |
All Public Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_pub | Parcel area with public employment use, in acres. |
All Industrial Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_ind | Parcel area with industrial employment use, in acres. |
All Agriculture Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_ag | Parcel area with agricultural employment use, in acres. |
All Military Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp_military | Parcel area with military employment use, in acres. |
Residential Parcel Area | area_parcel_res | Total parcel area with residential use, in acres. |
Employment Parcel Area | area_parcel_emp | Total parcel area with commercial use, in acres. |
Mixed Use Parcel Area | area_parcel_mixed_use | Total parcel area with mixed use, in acres. |
No Use Parcel Area | area_parcel_no_use | Total parcel area with no use, in acres. |
Net Area | area_parcel | Parcel area of canvas geometry, in acres. |
Area - Development | area_dev_condition | Parcel area available for development, in acres. This is the area that will be "painted" in a scenario. |
Right-of-Way Area | area_row | Right-of-way area within the canvas geometry, including roads and sidewalks, in acres. |
Residential Irrigated Area | residential_irrigated_area | Irrigated outdoor area associated with residential buildings, in square feet. |
Commercial Irrigated Area | commercial_irrigated_area | Irrigated outdoor area associated with commercial buildings, not including agricultural irrigation, in square feet. |
Population in Group Quarters | pop_groupquarter | People that reside in group quarters, such as dormitories and correctional facilities. |
Modified from Original | uf_is_painted | Indicates with a "yes" or "no" value whether a feature has been modified in any way, including gridding, type painting, or attribute painting. |
Modified: Gridded | uf_paint_split | Indicates with a "yes" or "no" value whether a feature has been created using a gridding operation. |
Modified: Type Paint | uf_paint_built_form | Indicates with a "yes" or "no" value whether a feature has been painted to have a new Building or Place Type name. This can apply whether the feature has been painted by type or attribute, and regardless of whether the base residential and employment values have been modified. |
Modified: Employment Attributes | uf_paint_direct_employment | Indicates with a "yes" or "no" value whether a feature has been painted by attribute to set employment values, including jobs and non-residential building area. |
Modified: Residential Attributes | uf_paint_direct_residential | Indicates with a "yes" or "no" value whether a feature has been painted by attribute to set residential values, including dwelling units and residential building area. |