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socialmapper

Community accessibility analysis bridging OpenStreetMap and US Census data

GitHub Documentation PyPI

What It Does

SocialMapper is a geospatial analysis toolkit with a simple 5-function Python API. It generates travel-time isochrones, discovers points of interest from OpenStreetMap (338+ tag mappings), identifies Census block groups, and retrieves demographic data -- all to help researchers understand how well communities can access essential services.

Whether you're studying food deserts, healthcare access, transit equity, or rural community definitions, SocialMapper provides the spatial and demographic building blocks in a single, cohesive package.

Key Features

Travel-Time Isochrones

Generate walk, bike, or drive travel-time polygons from any location, showing reachable areas within specified minutes.

338+ POI Categories

Find nearby points of interest -- libraries, hospitals, grocery stores, and more -- using comprehensive OpenStreetMap tag mappings.

Census Demographics

Retrieve Census block group data and demographic variables directly from the US Census Bureau API.

Multi-Format Export

Export results as CSV, GeoJSON, or Parquet and create publication-ready maps with built-in visualization.

Quick Start

Installation 
pip install socialmapper
Basic Usage 
from socialmapper import create_isochrone, get_poi, get_census_data

# Generate a 15-minute walking isochrone
iso = create_isochrone(
    "Portland, OR",
    travel_time=15,
    travel_mode="walk"
)

# Find nearby libraries
libraries = get_poi(
    "Chapel Hill, NC",
    categories=["library"],
    limit=10
)

# Get population data for a location
data = get_census_data(
    location=(40.7128, -74.0060),
    variables=["B01003_001E"],
    year=2022
)

Use Cases

  • Transit equity analysis to assess how well public services reach underserved communities
  • Food desert research identifying areas with limited access to grocery stores
  • Healthcare access studies measuring travel time to hospitals and clinics
  • Urban planning and policy research combining demographic and spatial data

Get Started

Check out the documentation for tutorials, API reference, and examples.

Read the Docs View on GitHub
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