Method to match urban census tracts of 1991 and 2000 applied to the study on population dynamics of Belem metropolitan area

• Main Author: Marco Aurélio Arbage Lobo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editora Universitária Champagnat 2009-06-01
• Series: Urbe : Revista Brasileira de Gestão Urbana
• Subjects: Population dynamics; Spatial distribution; Urban population; Metropolitan areas; Census tracts
• Online Access: http://www2.pucpr.br/reol/index.php/URBE?dd1=2649&dd99=view

This paper proposes a method to match statistical data from urban census tracts of 1991 and 2000 using techniques of geoprocessing , with subsequent application to the study on population dynamics of Belem Metropolitan Area (BMA). This method aims to be applied in places where the boundaries of census tracts changed between the two years, which makes impossible a direct comparison between them. The methodology is developed from the implementation of a geographic information system (GIS) using the program TerraView/INPE, with three main layers of information: the census tracts meshes of the two years, with their statistics, and a network of orthogonal points distant 100m from each other, covering the two meshes. The operational procedure is based on the capture of statistical information of the census tracts of 1991 by the points network, followed by the transfer of information to the census tracts of 2000. The outcome is the same spatial base for both years, allowing comparison between them. The results identified, in detail, changes in population in various parts of the study area, and indicate that the population dynamics of BMA followed, in general, the main trends observed in other large cities of Brazil.