Engineering & Physical Sciences Librarian
Resources
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowAn easy-to-use online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs and more in communities across the US. Data is taken from more than 150 authoritative public and proprietary sources.
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new windowVisualization and data-mapping tool with thousands of data indicators across demography, economy, crime and more. When compared to PolicyMap, Social Explorer has more years' worth of data.
Whether you're on campus, at home, or traveling, these two links (PolicyMap and Social Explorer) should recognize you're an Elon affiliate.
- If you're on campus or using VPN, access is seamless (just click and you'll be taken to the site).
- If you're off campus, when you click each link you should see the Elon SSO. Just sign in with your Elon username and password - no further action needed!
Questions? Difficulties? ecline5@elon.edu
Other Data Sources
Looking for something a little more specific? Many students have found useful datasets in places like:
- Google Dataset Search - exactly what it sounds like, and helpfully also searches the database listed below (Statista)
- Statista - a friendly database that showcases data in a wide range of topics. Need more details? Statista will always link you to the source of that data.
When you're looking for data, one of the most important questions to ask is: "who else is interested in this topic?" Collecting, cleaning, and sharing data costs time and (often also) money. Figuring out who else has an interest in your topic is a step in the right direction.
You're always welcome to contact me to chat about finding niche data, getting any of the resources mentioned above to cooperate, or anything else related to data!