DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.18111458
title: CPD Beat to Census Block Crosswalk

description: Chicago Census Block Crosswalks

Geographic crosswalks mapping 2020 Census block geography to Chicago Police Department (CPD) beats, police districts, and community areas, enabling spatial interpolation of census data to administrative units.

Overview

This dataset provides area-weighted crosswalk tables that allow researchers to:



Aggregate Census block-level data to CPD police beats

Interpolate demographic and socioeconomic variables across geographic boundaries

Account for partial overlaps between census and police geographies


The crosswalk was generated using areal interpolation methods applied to official boundary shapefiles from the City of Chicago and U.S. Census Bureau.

Funding Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under grant R01MD015064. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Data Description

Crosswalk Files




File
Description
Size




data/ChiBlocks2020-PoliceBeats_full_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → 274 Police Beats (long format)
~3.4 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020-PoliceBeats_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → Police Beats (wide matrix)
~42 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020-PoliceDistricts_full_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → 22 Police Districts (long format)
~2.6 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020-PoliceDistricts_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → Police Districts (wide matrix)
~4.0 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020-CommunityAreas_full_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → 77 Community Areas (long format)
~3.2 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020-CommunityAreas_crosswalk.csv
Blocks → Community Areas (wide matrix)
~12.5 MB


data/ChiBlocks2020_areas.csv
Block areas in square meters
~1.3 MB




Shapefiles




Folder
Description
Size




geo/ChiBlocks2020/
2020 Census Blocks clipped to Chicago
~61 MB


geo/PoliceBeats/
CPD Police Beat boundaries
~1.3 MB


geo/PoliceDistricts/
CPD Police District boundaries
~436 KB


geo/CommunityAreas/
Chicago Community Area boundaries
~876 KB




Geographic Coverage



Source geography: 2020 Census Blocks (TIGER/Line) clipped to Chicago city boundaries

Target geographies: CPD Police Beats, Police Districts, and Community Areas

Coordinate Reference System: EPSG:6454 (NAD83(2011) / Illinois East)

Extent: City of Chicago municipal boundaries


See docs/data_dictionary.md for detailed column descriptions.

Replication

Requirements

conda env create -f environment.yml
conda activate cpd-census-crosswalk

Notebooks

The notebooks/ directory contains Jupyter notebooks documenting the crosswalk generation process:



prepare_geos.ipynb - Prepares and standardizes input shapefiles

census_to_beat_interpolation.ipynb - Demonstrates interpolation workflow

validate_interpolation.ipynb - Validates results against CMAP reference data


Python Modules



spatial_interpolation.py - Core interpolation function

spatial_operations.py - Crosswalk generation and spatial utilities


Usage Example

import pandas as pd
from spatial_interpolation import interpolate

# Load your census block data
census_data = pd.read_csv("your_block_data.csv")

# Interpolate population (extensive variable) to police beats
variables = {"population": "extensive"}
beat_data = interpolate(
    census_data,
    variables,
    source_geo="ChiBlocks2020",
    target_geo="PoliceBeats"
)

Citation

If you use this dataset, please cite:



Graziul, Christopher, Keller, Drew, & Spencer, Margaret Beale. (2024). CPD Beat to Census Block Crosswalk [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18111458


BibTeX:

@dataset{cpd_census_crosswalk_2024,
  author    = {Graziul, Christopher and Keller, Drew and Spencer, Margaret Beale},
  title     = {{CPD Beat to Census Block Crosswalk}},
  year      = {2024},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.18111458},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18111458}
}

License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). See LICENSE for full terms.

You are free to:



Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material


Under the following terms:



Attribution - You must give appropriate credit and indicate if changes were made

NonCommercial - You may not use the material for commercial purposes


Data Sources



Census Blocks: U.S. Census Bureau, TIGER/Line Shapefiles, 2020

Police Beats: City of Chicago Data Portal, Boundaries - Police Beats (current)

Police Districts: City of Chicago Data Portal, Boundaries - Police Districts (current)

Community Areas: City of Chicago Data Portal, Boundaries - Community Areas (current)

City Boundary: City of Chicago Data Portal, Boundaries - City


Contact

Christopher Michael Graziul - graziul@uchicago.edu

Version History



v1.0.0 (2024): Initial release