Every ten years the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a survey in order to find out how many people are living in a specific area among other things. Once completed with the survey, they then eventually release this information to the public. The ability to access this data from the Census Bureau as well as its use to answer important questions is at times invaluable. For the City of Park Ridge, IL, they decided to use the Geographic Information System (GIS) as there catalyst for first accessing this information from the Census Bureau and second, to determine how many people are living within each municipal election ward.

Based on information from the City Clerk, each election ward within the city requires a minimum population count of 5,000 people. This number ensures that each ward is properly divided in terms of population allowing equal representation for all residents who reside within the city. If the population counts fall below this number, the ward boundaries will be reviewed and adjusted in GIS if needed in an effort to equalize these numbers. Although the current Census Bureau population totals are based on numbers from the year 2000, reviewing the ward boundaries before the 2010 Census survey gave the City Clerk and the GIS Department an understanding of how to analyze this data. Now that this methodology has been uncovered, GIS can easily perform this task when the 2010 data is released. Thus demonstrating how GIS can easily access Census Bureau information and compare it with local election ward data in order to plan for the possibility of future ward boundary adjustments.