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MAPC >> Learn >> Data

Open Data

Make informed decisions

The Data Services department creates custom datasets and compiles administrative data to inform analysis and shape the future of our region.

Accurate, relevant, and timely data are critical to informed decision-making. In order to expand the use of data in decision-making, MAPC works to create new sources of information about the region to shed light on critical issues. This process takes a variety of forms: we compile and standardize administrative datasets from cities and towns to create useful region-wide mosaics of local conditions; we use surveys and crowdsourcing to collect information from individuals; or we harvest and process unstructured data from the web to create new real-time information flows.

Many of our data development efforts are intended to capture the "most wanted" datasets identified in MAPC's regional plan MetroFuture, or are prompted by the needs of our partners and clients seeking information to help guide their programs and evaluate the success of their efforts.

MAPC is a government research organization.  It’s many research studies and publications are widely relied upon by lawmakers and other research organizations.

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Recently Updated Datasets

Questions?

If you are interested in seeing whether MAPC can help you round up one of your most-wanted datasets, contact:

Jessie Partridge Guerrero
Interim Director of Data Services
jpartridge@mapc.org

Tools

MAPC data tools

Explore hundreds of MAPC's tabular datasets on the economy, demographics, education, environment, energy, housing, land use, public health, regional indicators, public safety, transportation and civic vitality.

MAPC Data Common

One-stop shop to explore and download MAPC's datasets. Use Community Profiles to get quick numbers on any town in Massachusetts.

Explore the DataCommon

MassBuilds

Explore and download the most comprehensive database of proposed, current, and future real estate development.

Go to MassBuilds

Local Access Score

Use this index to prioritize sidewalk and bike route improvements on the most useful connections between residents and important local destinations.

Explore the Local Access Score
DATASETS

TRANSPORTATION

MAPC seeks to improve transportation planning by providing access to information on automobiles, alternate modes of transit and auto-related emissions data.

Massachusetts Vehicle Census

The Massachusetts Vehicle Census is a catalog of information about vehicle registered in the Commonwealth from 2009 to 2014.

The Vehicle Census combines information from vehicle registrations, inspection records, mileage ratings, and other sources to document the ownership and mileage history of each vehicle. It is a valuable resource for everyone seeking to understand the key factors that influence auto ownership patterns and miles driven, and will help public agencies and communities in their efforts to build a more efficient and sustainable transportation system in the Commonwealth.

The Vehicle Census is presented in two different data formats designed to protect the privacy of individual owners:

All of the publicly available data files are linked below.

MAPC recommends that users begin with the Statewide Summary file (which has data for the entire Commonwealth for the entire study period) or the Municipal Summary Sample for May 2014.

More advanced users can download the full time period dataset for all geographies, or the complete anonymized microdata. All downloads contain technical documentation and terms of use specifying how the data may be used. Each link will direct you to a page where you will be asked to provide your name and contact information before downloading the data.

Click here to download the Technical Documentation for the Massachusetts Vehicle Census.

The Massachusetts Vehicle Census was created by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, in partnership with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, with assistance from Central Transportation Planning Staff and Yale University, and with the generous support of the Barr Foundation. Please send direct questions, feedback, or requests for researcher-level data access to Senior Land Use and Transportation Analyst Conor Gately at cgately@mapc.org.

Dataset Download zip file with data and documentation
Statewide Summary
2009-2014		 DataCommon link for data and metadata
Municipal Summary
2009-2014		 DataCommon link for data and metadata
Census 2010 Tracts Summary
2009-2014		 DataCommon link for data and metadata
Census 2010 Block Groups Summary
2009-2014		 DataCommon link for data and metadata
250m Grid Cells 
2009-14
(zip >200MB; Data >1GB)		 Data and metadata: trans_mavc_public_summary_250m_grid.zip
Metadata only: trans_mavc_public_summary_250m_grid_meta.xls
250m Grid Cells
Sample time period May 2014		 Data and metadata: trans_mavc_public_summary_2014_q2_250m_grid.zip
Metadata only: trans_mavc_public_summary_2014_q2_250m_grid_meta.xls
Smoothed 250m Grid Cells
Sample time period May 2014		 Data and metadata: trans_mavc_public_summary_smooth_250m_grid.zip
Metadata only: trans_mavc_public_summary_smooth_250m_grid_meta.xls
Anonymized Record Level Microdata
2009-14
(zip >1GB; Data >7GB)		 Data and metadata: trans_mavc_public_microdata.zip
Metadata only: trans_mavc_public_microdata_meta.xls

Trailmap Database

This data presents a comprehensive system of pedestrian and bicycle facilities throughout the MAPC region and beyond. The data has been collected from a number of sources including city/town trail data, land trusts, DCR, MassDOT, openstreetmap, and other sources. The information provided includes:

  • Foot Trails through parks and other open spaces, paths through campuses, and generally all areas accessible by foot that are not along a roadway
  • Bicycle Facilities on roadways including protected bike lanes, bike lanes and shared lane markings
  • Multi-use paths that accommodate foot, bike, and other non motorized uses. Includes rail trails, river path systems and other similar trails
  • LandLine Network: The LandLine vision is an overlay or network of connected trails, bike facilities and roadways.For further information on LandLine, MAPC’s plan to develop Metro Boston’s greenway network can be found mapc.org/landline

Disclaimer The data herein is provided for informational purposes only. MAPC makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility for its completeness or accuracy. Users assume all responsibility and risk associated with use of the map and agree to indemnify and hold harmless MAPC with respect to any and all claims and demands that may arise resulting from use of this map.

DATASETS

Housing & Economic Development

MAPC's data analysts develop new, reliable datasets on economic and housing growth in Boston's metropolitan region.

Housing and Population Projections

MAPC's demographic projections for the region and its municipalities are used in a wide variety of contexts, from regional transportation planning to housing policy and water withdrawal permits. Our most recent official set of projections was released in January 2014 and was adopted into the 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan adopted by the MPO.

New projections describe the challenges facing Metro Boston

To help the region and its communities plan for a changing and uncertain future, MAPC has prepared projections of population change, household growth, and housing demand for Metro Boston and its municipalities. The projections confirm that the aging and retirement of the Baby Boomers will have profound implications for the region, and that our economic future depends on attracting more young workers. More than 400,000 new housing units--mostly multifamily, and mostly in urban areas--will be needed by the year 2040 if the region is to keep growing its economic base.

Status Quo, or a Stronger Region?

Since the future cannot be predicted with certainty, identifying a range of possible outcomes may prove more useful than a single forecast. Our projections include two scenarios for regional growth.  Each scenario reflects different assumptions about key trends. The “Status Quo” scenario is based on the continuation of existing rates of births, deaths, migration, and housing occupancy. Alternatively, the “Stronger Region” scenario explores how changing trends could result in higher population growth, greater housing demand, and a substantially larger workforce. Together, the two scenarios provide different windows into possible futures for the region.

Explore the Projections here.

MassBuilds Data

This dataset represents over 3,000 development project records across Massachusetts. The records represent past present and proposed development at the point level. Data was sourced through MAPC's internal research and through contributions made by municipal data stewards.

The data is used to track the region's growth and forecast its future. This database provides a unique insight into development patterns over the past ten years, and can also be used to support population and employment projections for the region.

Users can search, filter, report, download, and contribute to the dataset through MassBuilds.

Download and Explore Data

Land Parcel Database

Statewide data and documentation updated July 2019
Metro, Southeast, and Central/West data updated April 2020

The Massachusetts Land Parcel Database is a statewide atlas of more than 2.1 million land parcel boundaries and associated tax assessor data. Working from digital parcel and assessor records created and/or standardized by MassGIS (the Commonwealth’s Office of Geographic Information), MAPC compiled data previously available only on a town-by-town basis in each of the state’s 351 municipalities. In addition, we calculated additional statistics about each parcel, including floor area ratio, assessed value per area, impervious surface, and other indicators. This dataset is a unique resource for planners, researchers, advocates, and taxpayers interested in land use, urban form, development opportunities, and tax assessment across the state.

MAPC has currently made this data available as a single feature class within a file geodatabase and as 3 shapefiles. Due to the large size of the data (> 3GB) it is not possible to store the data in a single shapefile without corrupting the attributes. As a result the data was split into 3 shapefiles covering:

Dataset Link to Download
Statewide File Geodatabase MassachusettsLandParcelDatabase.gdb.zip (716 MB zip)
Metro Boston Region
(164 municipalities in the Greater Boston area)		 Metro Boston Parcels
 Southeast (South Coast, Cape Cod, and Islands) Southeast MA Parcels
Central and Western MA (west of I-495) Central and Western MA Parcels
Summary Documentation MA_ParcelDatabase_Summary_201905.pdf (147 KB)

Note: Previous versions of this data included errors in the impervious surface per parcel for a small subset of parcels. The July 2019 update corrected these errors.

datasets

Climate and clean energy

Explore datasets relevant to making better municipal decisions around climate change, sea level rise and clean energy policy areas.

Land Surface Temperature Index

Data Services created a statewide land surface temperature (LST) index that uses satellite imagery to identify areas with higher surface temperature compared to other areas in each region of the Commonwealth. The LST index is based on multiple instances of satellite imagery captured in the months of April through October between 2018 and 2020. The LST index does not provide an actual surface temperature at each location throughout each region on a specific day. Rather, the LST index provides a relative measure, ranging from 0 to 1, representing each area’s tendency to be hotter than others in the region. The raster has a 30 meter spatial resolution. For each RPA region of Massachusetts, this download includes three complementary datasets: the LST index for each 30-meter pixel, demonstrating spatial patterns of land surface temperature; a 30m raster which depicts the variability in single-day normalized LST at each location; and a vector-format polygon shapefile mapping the areas which have the 5% highest LST index values across the RPA region. 

Download the datasets and supporting documents

datasets

Food Systems

Explore datasets that include information on SNAP benefits and  local food access issues.

Food Systems Data

Data Services has compiled a data series on food systems in collaboration with our Public Health Department. Explore information on food retailer and farmers market data, a food access score, which  Food Access Index assigns a score to block groups that estimates the availability of healthy food and the variety of food stores within ½ mile, ¼ mile, 1 mile, and 5 mile travelsheds, demographic information on SNAP recipients, and statewide data for Food Pantries, Meal Programs, Farm and Garden, Food Rescue, Low Cost Food Program, and Voucher Programs.

Explore the data
DATASETS

reference data

MAPC manages and maintains datasets from federal, state, and local administrative data sources.

Massachusetts Community Types

In order to support planning, analysis and policy development, MAPC created a classification system for municipalities in Massachusetts.

MAPC has identified five basic community types across the state, four of which can be subdivided further into nine sub-types. The criteria used to type each city or town include land use and housing patterns, recent growth trends and projected development patterns.

The Community Type system can be used to understand how demographic, economic, land use, energy and transportation trends affect the state's diverse communities.

Massachusetts Community Types Summary July_2008