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An evaluation of Esri’s tapestry segmentation product in three Southern California communities: Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach

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An evaluation of Esri’s tapestry segmentation product in three Southern California communities: Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach

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Content An Evaluation of Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation Product in Three Southern California
Communities: Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach

by

Joanne Seo

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF SCIENCE
(GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY)

May 2016

Copyright 2015 Joanne Seo

ii
DEDICATION
I dedicate this document to my parents for their constant support, encouragement, and especially
for their unconditional love.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Wilson for his unending encouragements and advice through this whole
process. I would also like to thank God, my family, and my friend Christie Snyker Root, without
whom I could not have made it this far.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix
ABSTRACT x
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Thesis Goal 3
1.3 Description of Study Area 5
1.3.1 Manhattan Beach 7
1.3.2 Santa Monica 9
1.3.3 Venice Beach 12
1.4 Thesis Organization 14
CHAPTER 2: RELATED WORK 15
2.1 Esri's Tapestry Segmentation Methodology 15
2.2 The Tapestry Segmentation Platform’s ZIP+4 Level 20
2.3 Tapestry Segmentation Success Stories 24
2.3.1 Business Organizations 25
2.3.2 Public and Non-profit Organizations 26

v
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 28
3.1 Querying Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation Product 29
3.2 Querying the 2013 ACS 5-Year Estimates 31
3.2.1 Querying 2013 ACS Five-Year Estimates 32
3.2.2 Mapping 2013 ACS Five-Year Estimates 34
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 37
4.1 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Manhattan Beach 37
4.2 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Santa Monica 39
4.3 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Venice Beach 42
4.4 Tapestry Segmentation Census Variables 42
4.5 What does the U.S. Census tell us about the three communities? 43
4.5.1 ACS Data for Manhattan Beach 44
4.5.2 ACS Data for City of Santa Monica Beach 49
4.5.3 ACS Data for Venice Beach 54

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS 59
5.1 Major Findings 59
5.2 Limitations 60
5.3 Future Works 61
REFERENCES 62

vi

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Key variables describing the three communities chosen as the study area………...…….7
Table 2 The market segment types included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform………..17
Table 3 LifeMode Summary Groups included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform….......18
Table 4 Urbanization Summary Groups included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform…..21
Table 5 Advantages and disadvantages of the four different classification methods included in
Esri's ArcMap………………………………………………………………………….………...36
Table 6 Tapestry Segmentation results for the three
communities…...………………………………………………………………………………....38
Table 7 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density estimates
gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for the City of Manhattan
Beach………………………………………………...…………………………………………...45
Table 8 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density estimates
gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for the city of Santa
Monica………………………………...…………………………………………………………49
Table 9 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density estimates
gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for the City of Venice
Beach……………………………………………………………………………….…………….54

vii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 County of LA (outlined in green) showing the city of LA and the three communities:
Santa Monica in red, Manhattan Beach in green, and Venice Beach in blue……....……..6

Figure 2 Map of the city of Manhattan Beach showing major roads, schools, parks, and the
predominant shopping center (Manhattan Village).............................................................8

Figure 3 Map of the city of Santa Monica showing the major roads, major shopping center
(Santa Monica Place), schools, and parks located within the city……………………….10

Figure 4 Map of Venice Beach neighborhood, which is part of the city of LA, showing major
roads, schools, and a park and golf course located within the neighborhood
boundary…………………………………………………………………………………13

Figure 5 Flowchart showing methods used for thesis project……………………………………28

Figure 6 Main page of Esri's Tapestry Segmentation product on which a user can enter the
derived ZIP code…………………………………………………………...…………….30

Figure 7 Results page showing the top three segments for the chosen ZIP code(s) and the three
attribute tabs……………………………………………………………………………...31

Figure 8 Dialogue box showing first step in acquiring ACS dataset………………………….…32

Figure 9 Dialogue box used to select the most appropriate ACS product (i.e. the 5-year ACS
dataset)…………………………………………………………………………………...33

Figure 10 Dialogue box used to select the appropriate geographic region at the Census block
group scale (i.e. Los Angeles County)………………………………………………..….33

Figure 11 Dialogue box used to join the geographic features and attributes at the Census block
group level…………………………………………………………………………….…35

Figure 12 Median household income by Census block group in the City of Manhattan Beach....46

Figure 13 Median age by Census block group in the City of Manhattan Beach………………...47

Figure 14 Population density by Census block group in the City of Manhattan Beach………....48

Figure 15 Median household income by Census block group in the City of Santa Monica……..51

Figure 16 Median age by Census block group in the City of Santa Monica………………….…52

Figure 17 Population density by Census block group in the City of Santa Monica…………..…53

viii

Figure 18 Median household income by Census block group in the City of Venice Beach…….56

Figure 19 Median age by Census block group in the City of Venice Beach…………………….57

Figure 20 Population density by Census block group in the City of Venice Beach……………..58

ix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACS American Community Survey
AFAC Arlington Food Assistance Center
AIER American Institute for Economic Research
CBED Cluster-Based Economic Development
GHG Greenhouse Gas
GIS Geographic Information Systems
LA Los Angeles
SES Socioeconomic Status
SMURFF Santa Monica Urban Runoff Facilities
ZIP Zone Improvement Plan

x
ABSTRACT
California is known as the “golden state” and “the best coast” to the modern generation.
Therefore, it is not surprising that in 2014, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that California was
the most populous state in the country. California is also filled with tremendous diversity that
blends and molds various demographic groups, cultures and lifestyles, which makes the state
more vibrant and appealing. Known for its warm climate and being “always sunny” seems to
outweigh the negative environmental factors (i.e. landslides, earthquakes, tsunami, air quality
problems, and water shortages) that may persuade people not to move to California. This
diversity varies across counties and cities within the state. Aside from history and political
factors, this diversity has also created significant variation in wealth and the standard of living
across the region. Each county and city independently strives to increase its economic wealth and
standard of living. This can be seen more dramatically in California compared to other states.
There are many factors that measure and indicate the level of overall prosperity. Understanding
this can decipher why certain types of people are living in or are inclined to reside in specific
locations. This study used two products – the Tapestry Segmentation Product produced by Esri
and the American Community Survey produced by the U.S. Census Bureau – to look at
demographic and socio-economic attributes in three neighborhoods: Venice Beach, the City of
Manhattan Beach, and the City of Santa Monica. Spatially visualizing these neighborhoods will
easily and effectively identify the lifestyle attributes that draw current and potential residents,
and show how sensitive these outcomes are to the choice of source data aggregation level and the
geographic granularity that is thereby embedded in these data products. The results show how
the aggregation of median household, median age and population at the ZIP code scale hides
considerable variation across the three study communities. This outcome – the realization that

xi
the characterization of areal unit changes with the choice of aggregation level – demonstrates the
importance of the modifiable area unit problem and the need for care in matching the resolution
of the geographic data used to the problem or opportunity at hand.

1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Geographic information systems (GIS) can help to explain where people settle and the kinds of
economic, social, and political outcomes that are fostered or afforded by these settlement
choices. This information may also foster collaborations across two or more sectors (e.g. public,
not-for-profit, or private organizations) that strengthen and better serve local communities. In
addition, the knowledge of where people live may be augmented by their demographic and
socio-economic characteristics with GIS, such that we can connect different lifestyle attributes as
a whole to more fully understand the quality-of-life afforded by specific communities.
This approach leads to a method of analysis called segmentation. The idea behind this
concept is that people tend to live near and around those with similar tastes and behaviors. This
is what draws a group together to form a community or a neighborhood. While it may be the case
that people’s lifestyles are shaped by what a region offers, it may also be true that living in a
specific community (i.e. one with other people with similar demographic and socio-economic
profiles or trajectories) creates distinguishing trends. Segmentation utilizes a wide range of data
to explain lifestyles and life stages, customer diversity and by doing so, may provide support for
marketing campaigns (Esri.com, 2012). This concept led Esri to create a project called Tapestry
Segmentation in 2014. Tapestry Segmentation is an online web platform that profiles and
classifies communities by lifestyle attributes and defines SES and demographic compositions at
the census track, census block group, ZIP code, and ZIP+4 levels (Esri.com, 2012).
1.1 Background
GIS technology is continuously evolving and Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform was 30
years in the making and can be used by organizations to assess and analyze consumer behavior
and trends (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The fundamental idea is that people with similar lifestyles,

2
tastes, and behaviors can be categorized as a pattern or trend and therefore, can be measured,
predicted, and targeted. Using consumer and demographic data, Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation
describes resident’s lifestyles and life stage and maps clusters of consumers with similar goals
and tastes (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014).
As data collection has become more efficient, the public and private sectors have made a
progressive effort to use this collected data to improve the quality of service and to better meet
people’s needs. Tapestry Segmentation provides this valuable information to both consumers and
retailers. This platform provides a ZIP code search that describes the characteristics of the
residents living in the chosen ZIP code using information pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau’s
2010 Census. The platform divides U.S. residential areas into 67 distinctive segments based on
their socioeconomic and demographic composition, and these segments are broken down further
into Life Mode and Urbanization Groups (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The GIS that supports the
Tapestry Segmentation platform allows different demographic data sets to be brought together to
create a complete picture of local communities and neighborhoods across the U.S. This GIS
technology base illustrates relationships, connections, and patterns that are not necessarily
obvious in any one data set, enabling organizations to make better decisions based on all of the
relevant factors.
This is extremely beneficial to businesses and organizations whose success depends on
targeting the appropriate demographic. The Tapestry Segmentation platform may help small and
specialized businesses to find and target their customers. Using Tapestry Segmentation may also
help businesses to increase their sales through a higher level of assessment of market needs and
trends.

3
For larger and more established organizations, Tapestry Segmentation can help with
decision making by providing an overview of the character of specific neighborhoods and their
residents. Some organizations may be able to branch out further by identifying new opportunities
for selling their products or to test out new products. This is a great way to gain additional
insights to enhance customer service and ultimately, to increase sales and profits. When the
delineation of certain patterns or trends within a region is clear, it is easier to visualize and create
more successful plans. Non-profit and government organizations may also benefit when they are
trying to solve specific problems within a region or to achieve specific improvements. Issues
such as socioeconomic disparity can be quantified and measured through Tapestry
Segmentation’s approach. By applying traditional customer profiling techniques, the uses of the
Tapestry Segmentation platform can easily identify a community’s problems or special needs as
well as provide solutions to complex local government challenges (e.g. public safety, fire
protection, land use planning, and urban redevelopment).
1.2 Thesis Goals
As GIS is shifting more towards cloud computing and web platforms, this allows broader
approaches to analyzing and interpreting data. There is an increasing need to understand
lifestyles and the factors that contribute to quality-of-life. Consumer spending is all about
choices and these decisions are influenced by market conditions and trends, which vary
geographically. The U.S. population is increasingly diverse and highly mobile. According to the
American Institute for Economic Research (Greenstein, 2015), the large numbers of people who
move between regions (almost 5%), between states (over 4%), and within counties (5-6%),
means that 25 to 28 million people move each year (Greenstein, 2015). This mobility is an
enduring characteristic of U.S. society. At the start of 20
th
century, changes in technology,

4
ownership, and production processes in the agricultural sector all played a role in sending rural
migrants to more urbanized areas. For the millennial group, technology growth and higher
educational attainment mean this group is pulled to urban areas for the lifestyle amenities and
experiences provided by these places (Greenstein, 2015). These factors exert a stronger influence
to move than economic conditions for the millennials (Greenstein, 2015).
Within a neighborhood, consumer trends indicate the kinds of demographics by which
the residents can be broken down – by race, ethnicity, income, education, as well as lifestyle
attributes that characterize and distinguish one neighborhood or community from another. The
trend data also measures local demand for goods and services and how this may change over
time. Knowing this helps businesses to better provide for consumer needs.
Esri’s new platform, Tapestry Segmentation seeks to meet those needs by using up-to-
date census data to characterize neighborhoods at the ZIP code level. This study will look deeper
into the Tapestry Segmentation platform and explore how three different communities are
classified. Specifically, this study aims to look at three of the most prominent Los Angeles
County beach communities: the City of Manhattan Beach, the City of Santa Monica, and Venice
Beach, a unique and distinctive neighborhood that is part of the City of Los Angeles. A
collection of census variables is used to see how well these lifestyle descriptions from the
Tapestry Segmentation platform match the characteristics of the residents living in these three
communities today.
This study had three aims as follows: (1) to explore Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation
platform and its descriptions of the residents and lifestyles in the various ZIP codes covering
Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach; (2) to clarify which of the variables
included in the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) best match the kinds

5
of socio-economic and demographic characteristics used to describe these residents in the
Tapestry Segmentation platform; and (3) to calculate the fractions of the residents in these three
communities that match the broad descriptions offered in the Tapestry Segmentation platform
and where rates of compliance were higher in some parts of these communities than others.
1.3 Description of Study Area
Today, LA County is the eighth largest county (in terms of area) in California with an area of
4,752 mi
2
, but the most populous county in the country with a population of 9,818,605 in 2010.
This study used three communities in LA County to assess and understand the factors and trends
defined by Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform. The Cities of Manhattan Beach and Santa
Monica plus the Venice Beach neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles bordering the Pacific
Ocean coastline were selected (Figure 1).
For consistency, all three places will be considered and referred to hereafter as
communities. Some characteristics describing the three communities are summarized in Table 1.
These data show that Manhattan Beach and Venice Beach are similar in terms of population and
land area but that Manhattan Beach has more schools, a larger percentage of married adults,
homeowners, and adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Santa Monica is a much larger and more populous city (8.416 mi²; 91,908 residents) that
contains five different ZIP codes whereas both Manhattan Beach and Venice Beach had just one
ZIP code. Santa Monica is a destination for tourists, as well as an attractive place to live. Santa
Monica has a more diverse population than the other two communities. The next three sections
provide some additional details about each of the three study communities.

6

Figure 1: County of LA (outlined in green) showing the City of LA and the three
communities: Santa Monica in red, Manhattan Beach in green, and Venice Beach in blue.

7
Table 1: Key variables describing the three communities chosen as the study area
Variables Manhattan Beach Santa Monica Venice Beach
Communities City City Neighborhood of LA City
Year
Incorporated
1912 1912 1926
ZIP code(s) 90266 90401, 90402, 90403,
90404, 90405
90291
Area (Sq. Mi.) 3.941 8.417 3.17
Population 35,846 91,906 40,885
No. of Public
Schools
13 29 5
% of Adults
Married/
Single
85/15 73/27 74/26
% of
Homeowners/
Renters
65/35 65/35 31/69
% of Adults
with B.A./
B.S. or higher
72 63 49

(Source: Data adopted from Realtor.com, 2015)

1.3.1 Manhattan Beach
Founded by a Scottish immigrant in 1863, Manhattan Beach is a small coastal city in the South
Bay of LA County (Figure 2). The city was incorporated in 1912 (Table 1) and today, 35,000
people live in the city which grew 1.5% over the past year. About 42% of the residents have
owned the same home for at least five years and 16% moved in as residents during the past year.
The majority of the residents are college graduates and married in their 40s either with or without
children (Table 1). Most work in the office, administrative, sales, executive, and food sectors
(Realtor.com, 2015). There is a total of 13 public schools (elementary, middle, and high). There

8

Figure 2: Map of the City of Manhattan Beach showing major roads, schools, parks, and
the predominant shopping center (Manhattan Village).

9
are many attractive features about the area led by the proximity to the ocean, the beach, the pier
and mild climate that make it an appealing place to live. Manhattan Village is a premier
shopping destination and there are many fine dining and other entertainment options that serve
the residents and the many visitors (Figure 2).
According to California Department of Education statistics, the Manhattan Beach Unified
School District has test scores that rank third in the country. Forbes Magazine ranked Manhattan
Beach as the sixth best school district in the country and the Beach Reporter newspaper has
stated that Manhattan Beach has the most educated residents of any city in California. Many
celebrities and high-profile athletes live in the city since the area easily accommodates their
upscale lifestyles given the presence of many high-end oceanfront beach homes. GQ Magazine
ranked the beach as one of the nation’s six best beaches in their July 2014 issue. CNN Money’s
survey ranked the City of Manhattan Beach as one of the “2011 Best Places for the Rich and
Single”. For these and other reasons, Manhattan Beach is often referred to as the “Pearl of the
South Bay”.
1.3.2 Santa Monica
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western LA County, which was named after the Christian
saint, Monica (Figure 3). Prior to its settlement by Europeans, Santa Monica was already
inhabited by the Native American tribe, Tongva and in their language the town was called
Kecheek. The city was incorporated in 1886 and today, Santa Monica is home to many famous
Hollywood celebrities and executives as well as other affluent residents. There are 91,000 people
that live in the city and the city continues to grow due to the rebuilding and revitalization of its
downtown, increasing numbers of jobs, and tourism. Many residents are college graduates and
many are also married and in the 30s. Nearly two out of every three adults (63 percent) have a

10

Figure 3: Map of the City of Santa Monica showing the major roads, major shopping
center (Santa Monica Place), schools, and parks located within the city.

11
bachelor’s degree or higher, which is 34 percent higher than the average rate for LA County.
Home ownership rates are similar to Manhattan Beach and most of Santa Monica’s residents
have jobs in the office, administrative, sales, executive, and food sectors. There are total of 29
public schools (elementary, middle, and high). The beaches draw many visitors for surfing and
other beach sports as well as running, walking, cycling, and skateboarding on the boardwalk that
runs the length of the city’s coastline (Figure 3).
Santa Monica has many attractions, a storied history, and is a leader in promoting
environmental sustainability. The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome (carousel) which sits on the
Santa Monica pier is a National Historic Landmark. There are three main shopping districts each
with its own distinctive personality that draw additional tourists: Main Street, Montana Avenue,
and Santa Monica Place. The well-known Pacific Park also draws many people, especially
families to enjoy the many rides, games, and other fun activities. Santa Monica is also filled with
food and arts and every fall the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce hosts the Taste of Santa
Monica on the pier and there is also an annual Santa Monica Film Festival.
In addition, Santa Monica is known for being one of the most environmentally active cities in the
nation. The city was one of the first cities in the early 1990s to promote sustainability by
proposing to reduce waste and implement water conservation policies for both the public and
private sectors. The City’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30% below
1990 levels by 2015 for city operations and to reduce emissions 15% below 1990 levels by 2015
for the city as a whole (CoolCalifornia.org, 2014). Four out of every five of the city’s public
works vehicles currently run on alternative fuels. Santa Monica also operates an urban runoff
facility (SMURFF), where they catch and treat approximately 3.5 million gallons of water each

12
week that would typically flow into the bay via storm drains. The city aims to become 100%
water independent and to stop importing water by 2020.
1.3.3 Venice Beach
Venice Beach is a residential, commercial, and recreational beachfront neighborhood in western
LA County (Figure 4). The neighborhood was founded in 1905 by a tobacco millionaire, Abbot
Kinney, to be built as a seaside resort town and with the initial name of “Venice of America”.
Since then, there have been many political and social changes that have transformed the City of
Los Angeles neighborhood into a modern day hot spot for both residents and tourists alike.
Today, the neighborhood boasts 40,000 residents with a growth rate of 1.5% over the past
year. About 31% of the residents have owned their homes for at least five years and 23% moved
in as residents since in the past year.
The majority of the adult population are married in the mid- to late-30s either with or
without children. Most work in the office, administrative, sales, executive, and food sectors
(Realtor.com, 2014). There are five public schools in the community (elementary, middle, and
high) and 49 percent of the adult population has a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Venice Beach is known for the Canal Historic District and Abbot Kinney Boulevard,
which offers many restaurants, shops, and bars, the beach and breakwater for surfers, and the
circus-like Ocean Front Walk, where many performers, fortune-tellers, artists, and vendors can
be spotted. The city is also known as a hangout for the creative set, including poets, artists, and
musicians.

13

Figure 4: Map of Venice Beach neighborhood, which is part of the city of LA, showing
major roads, schools, and a park and golf course located within the neighborhood
boundary.

14
1.4 Thesis Organization
The remainder of the thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter 2 describes the Tapestry
Segmentation platform and how it has been used to date. Chapter 3 describes the methodology
and data sources that were used to evaluate this platform. Chapter 4 describes the results and
Chapter 5 discusses the significance of the results and offers several suggestions as to how the
Tapestry Segmentation platform and/or its use could be further improved.

15
CHAPTER 2: RELATED WORK
This chapter takes a closer look at the variables, which help to shape the quality of life of
residents in specific cities and/or neighborhoods. These discussions often start with socio-
economic status (SES), which closely follows the economic development of a region and may be
linked to a community’s health status (Gatrell and Jensen, 2009). SES also varies by region and
with changing employment and consumer trends in society or in a particular neighborhood. It is
important to focus on finer geographical scales to make better assessments of lifestyles and
quality of life. This is the vision that underpins and drives market segmentation.
2.1 Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation Methodology
Historically, cluster analysis has been employed to study markets. In recent years, cluster-based
economic development (CBED) has been used by policy makers and practitioners to further
develop their economic development strategies. CBED is most effective when it is network-
driven with collaboration from high numbers of participants (Reid et al., 2009). This approach is
beneficial and provides an industry sector with crucial data, where an individual firm or
organization may not have the resources to acquire and assess the industry themselves (Reid et
al., 2009).
In addition to CBED and prior formation of Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation, the concept of
segmentation was already being utilized by various organizations and agencies to target various
consumers. Some people used clusters to find customers within a certain distance of a major
freeway or road, the numbers of eligible students for one or more education institutions or
programs, the identification of customer characteristics and needs, and/or the number of
customers interested in specific products or services such organic fruits or vegetables.

16
Tapestry Segmentation uses a similar but much more sophisticated approach that
combines traditional cluster analysis methods and the latest data mining techniques to provide a
robust and compelling segmentation of U.S. neighborhoods (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). This
newly enhanced method and technology allows the platform to work with large geodemographic
databases. Esri has a long history of acquiring; processing, and analyzing census data, and this
has facilitated the development of the new TS platform.
The development of this platform has utilized multivariate statistical methods, factor
analysis, principal components analysis, correlation matrices, and graphical methods
(Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The end result is a platform that provides more than 60 attributes to
identify and cluster US neighborhoods by market type (Table 2). Esri has combined these
segments into 12 LifeMode Summary Groups based on life-style and life-stage composition, as
summarized in Table 3 (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). Esri has also classified the nation into 11
Urbanization Groups ranging from the urban canyons of the largest cities to the rural lanes of
villages or farms. These summary groups are based on geographic and physical features along
with socio-economic characteristics (Table 4).
Segments provide more differentiating power than summary groups. However, if the user
wants to summarize or analyze a smaller number of markets, summary groups are appropriate.
Choosing between the two ways of grouping segments depends on the application at hand. For
certain products or services, Urbanization Groups may more effectively distinguish the
consumption pattern than LifeMode Groups; for example, going to the movies. But for certain
life-style or life-stage-related behavior, such as domestic travel, grouping by LifeMode may be
more effective (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014).
Some of the ways the information for these groups can be used are discussed below.

17

Table 2 The market segment types included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform
Segment Code Segment Name Segment Code Segment Name
01 Top Rung 34 Family Foundations
02 Suburban Splendor 35 International Marketplace
03 Connoisseurs 36 Old and Newcomers
04 Boomburbs 37 Prairie Living
05 Wealthy Seaboard Suburbs 38 Industrious Urban Fringe
06 Sophisticated Squires 39 Young and Restless
07 Exurbanites 40 Crossroads
08 Laptops and Lattes 41 Southern Satellites
09 Urban Chic 42 The Elders
10 Pleasant-Ville 43 Urban Melting Pot
11 Pacific Heights 44 Urban Melting Pot
12 Up and Coming Families 45 City Strivers
13 In Style 46 Rooted Rural
14 Prosperous Empty Nesters 47 Las Casas
15 Silver and Gold 48 Great Expectations
16 Enterprising Professionals 49 Senior Sun Seekers
17 Green Acres 50 Heartland Communities
18 Cozy and Comfortable 51 Metro City Edge
19 Milk and Cookies 52 Inner City Tenants
20 City Lights 53 Home Town
21 Urban Villages 54 Urban Rows
22 Metropolitans 55 College Towns
23 Trendsetters 56 Rural Bypasses
24 Main Street, USA 57 Simple Living
25 Salt of the Earth 58 NeWest Residents
26 Midland Crowd 59 Southwestern Families
27 Metro Renters 60 City Dimensions
28 Aspiring Young Families 61 High Rise Renters
29 Rustbelt Retirees 62 Modest Income Homes
30 Retirement Communities 63 Dorms to Diplomas
31 Rural Resort Dwellers 64 City Commons
32 Rustbelt Traditions 65 Social Security Set
33 Midlife Junction

18

Table 3: LifeMode Summary Groups included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform
Group
Codes
Names Segment
Codes
Description
L1 High
society
01, 02,
03, 04,
05, 06, 07
Affluent and well educated. Slightly higher than 12% of all U.S.
households, but generate nearly 25% of the total U.S. income. Median
household income is $100, 216. Most households are married and this is
the least ethnically diverse group in the U.S., but fastest growing (annual
2% increase). Participate in a wide variety of public activities and sports,
and travel extensively.
L2 Upscale
Avenues
09, 10,
11, 13,
16, 17, 18
Prosperity is the overriding attribute shared by the seven segments in
Upscale Avenues. Years of hard work have brought success to this group.
Well-educated with above average earnings (median household income at
$65, 912). Urban markets such as Urban Chic and Pacific Heights favor
townhouses and high-rises, Pleasant-Ville residents prefer single-family
homes in suburban neighborhoods, and Green Acres residents prefer open
spaces. This group likes to invest in their homes; the owners work on
landscaping and home remodeling projects, and the renters buy new
furnishings and appliances, play golf, lift weights, bicycling, and take
domestic vacations. Although they are partial to new cars, they also save
and invest their earnings.
L3 Metropolis 20, 22,
45, 51,
54, 62
Residents in the six segments of the Metropolis group live and work in
America’s cities. They live in older, single-family homes or row houses
built in the 1940s or earlier. Rely more on public transportation. This group
reflects the segment diversity in housing, age, and income. Employment
status ranges from well-educated professionals to unemployed. Median
household income is $39, 031. Their lifestyle is uniquely urban and media
oriented such as urban and/or contemporary formats, which they listen to
during their commutes. Watch a variety of TV programs from news to
syndicated sitcoms, and would rather see movies than read books.
L4 Solo Acts 08, 23,
27, 36, 39
Residents here are young singles and prefer the city life. They are just
starting out in more densely populated U.S. neighborhoods and well-
established without child-rearing nor home ownership responsibilities.
Second only to High Society, residents of this group tend to be well-
educated, working professionals who are either attending college or
already hold a degree. The median household income ranges from $39, 234
(Old and Newcomers) to $84, 612 (Laptops & Lattes). Home ownership is
at 28 percent. Solo Acts’ residents are moving into major cities such as
New York; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Boston; Los Angeles; and San
Francisco. They enjoy the urban lifestyle such as dining out, attending
plays and concerts, visiting museums, and both domestic and foreign
travel.
L5 Senior
Styles
14, 15,
29, 30,
43, 49,
50, 57, 65
More than 14.4 million households in the nine Senior Styles segments
comprise one of the largest LifeMode summary groups. As the U.S.
population ages, two of the fastest-growing American markets are found
among The Elders and the Silver and Gold segments. Although incomes
within this group cover a wide range, the median is $41, 334, attributable
mostly to retirement income or Social Security payments. Many are
traveling and relocating to warmer climates. Settled seniors are looking for
retirement and remaining in their homes. Less privileged segments live
alone and collect Social Security and other benefits. Their choice of
housing depends on their income. Golf is their favorite sport; they play and
watch golf on TV. They read the newspaper daily and prefer to watch news

19
shows on television. They are also more likely to shop through QVC than
online.
L6 Scholars
and Patriots
40, 55, 63 This group includes youth, with the attendant lower incomes, and atypical
environments such as college life or military service. Because of their
transient lifestyle and lifestage, their home ownership rate is low. Most live
in townhouses or apartments and 25% reside in single-family homes.
Military Proximity is dominated by military life; College Towns and
Dorms and Diplomas, are predominantly students who are pursuing college
degrees. Scholars and Patriots residents’ eclectic tastes in sports range
from yoga to football. Electronically savvy, they have wireless Internet
connections, notebook, computers, iPods, and digital cameras.
L7 High
Hopes
28, 48 The High Hopes summary group includes Aspiring Young Families and
Great Expectations. They are mix of married couples, single parents, and
singles who seek the “American Dream” of home ownership and a
rewarding job. Most live in single-family houses or multi-unit buildings;
approximately half own their homes. Many would move to a new location
for better opportunities. Many are young, mobile, and college educated;
one-third are younger than 35 years. The median household income is $40,
928.
L8 Global
Roots
35, 38,
44, 52,
58, 60, 61
Ethnic diversity is the common thread among the eight segments in Global
Roots. Las Casas and NeWest Residents represent a strong Hispanic
influence in addition to a broad mix of cultural and racial diversity found
in Urban Melting Pot and International Marketplace. Typical of new
households, Global Roots’ residents are young, earn modest incomes, or
rent in multiunit buildings. Half of all households have immigrated to the
U.S. within the past 10 years. Married couples, usually with children;
single parents; and people who live alone are typically Global Roots
segments. Spending is high on baby products, children’s clothing, and toys.
They are more likely to use cell phones over PCs. They retain close ties
with friends and relatives in their countries of origin with foreign travel.
L9 Family
Portrait
12, 19,
21, 59, 64
This is the fastest growing population of the LifeMode summary groups,
driven primarily by the rapid increase in the Up and Coming Families
segment. Youth, family life, and young children are commonly seen within
this group. The group is also ethnically diverse: more than 30% of the
residents are of Hispanic descent. The neighborhoods are predominantly
composed of homeowners who live in single-family homes. Their lifestyle
revolves around their children and family, which consists of buying infant
and children’s clothing and toys and visiting theme parks and zoos.
L10 Traditional
Living
24, 32,
33, 34
The four segments in Traditional Living convey the perception of real
middle America, which is hardworking with settled families. Their median
age is 37.8 years. Many of them are completing their child-rearing
responsibilities and anticipating retirement. Many of them also continue to
work hard for a modest living. They buy standard, four-door American
cars, belong to veterans’ clubs and fraternal organizations, take care of
their homes and gardens, and rely on traditional media such as newspapers
for their news.
L11 Factories
and Farms
25, 37,
42, 53, 56
This group represents rural life from small towns and villages to farms.
Employment in manufacturing and agricultural industries is typical across
America’s breadbasket. Population change is minimal, and the profile is
classic. Most have families, either married couples or with children.
Median household income is on the lower end, $37, 716. Most own their
homes and lifestyles reflects their locale, emphasizing home and garden
care, fishing and hunting, pets and membership in local clubs.
L12 American
Quilt
26, 31,
41, 46
Location in America’s small towns and rural areas links the four segments
in American Quilt. Unlike Factories and Farms, this group represents a

20
more diverse microcosm of small-town life, including the largest segment
of Tapestry Segmentation, Midland Crowd. Aside from manufacturing and
agricultural work, they also work in local government service,
construction, communications, and utilities. Rural Resort Dwellers, an
older population that is retiring to seasonal vacation spots, and Crossroads,
young families who live in mobile homes. The median household income
is $41, 953 and more are homeowners. The rural lifestyle is strong with
preferences for fishing, hunting, powerboats, pickups, and country music.
(Source: Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014)

2.2 The Tapestry Segmentation Platform’s ZIP+4 Level
Esri has built a ZIP+4 model using list-based household data. Their approach is novel because it
uses addresses instead of ZIP+4 boundaries (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The list-based household
data is overlaid with information acquired from a variety of different lists from both public and
private sources. Some 120 to 130 million households are used for the model and give more
complete coverage both in terms of sources and validation data (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The
ZIP+4 was updated in 2014 with the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest TIGER/Line® shapefiles and
the latest Address Information System ZIP+4 National Dataset published by the U.S. Postal
Service (Geolytics.com, 2014). ZIP+4 offers significant advantages for profiling customers and
markets. Incomplete addresses can be assigned to the area centroid of the ZIP+4 with
latitude/longitude coordinates and the 2010 census block, census block group, census tract, and
county identification numbers/FIPS codes if the ZIP+4 record is available (Geolytics.com,
2014). In addition, a user of Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation platform can download the database
and append any geographic or demographic data to ZIP+4 records allowing more accuracy in the
resulting market segmentation.
To move forward with completing this model, Esri uses the InfoBase-X data from
Acxiom Corporation (Acxiom, 2014) collected through public real estate information, data

21
purchased from catalogs, auto dealerships, consumer surveys, publications, product registrations,
and telephone directories (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014).
Table 4 Urbanization Summary Groups included in Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation
platform
Urbanization
Summary
Group Code
Name Segment
Code
Description
U1 Principal
Urban
Centers I
08, 11, 20,
21, 23, 27,
35, 44
This group represents the most affluent populations of the country’s
largest metropolitan areas, those with population of 2.5 million or
more. Big-city residents live in apartments or single-family homes
and take public transportations instead of driving. Big city life allows
them to cease opportunities like high-paying jobs. They also pay
higher rents and mortgages. They are young and just as likely to be
single as married. Take frequent vacations to visit family and friends.
Foreign travel is important to foreign-born population in this group.
Embrace drinking coffee at Starbucks, visiting museums, dancing,
dining out, working out, and jogging. Own the latest in electronics
and go online for everything. Because they would rather go out than
stay in, home improvements and furnishings aren’t as important to
them.
U2 Principal
Urban
Centers II
45, 47, 54,
58, 61, 64,
65
They represent the aspiring populations of the country’s largest cities.
This is the youngest (median age of 30.1 years) and most diverse
population among the Urbanization groups including many recent
arrivals in large “gateway” cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and
Chicago. The search for affordable housing has moved these residents
away from high-rises and into row houses, duplexes, and relatively
lower-density buildings. Their lifestyle is characterized not only by
their locale, but also by their youth and nascent socioeconomic status.
Median household income is $26, 004. They are more likely to use
public transportation, less likely to own homes, and families are more
common. They are more likely to buy baby goods and groceries than
electronic gadgets.
U3 Metro
Cities I
01, 03, 05,
09, 10, 16,
19, 22
These are upscale homeowners who live in densely populated cities.
They choose to live in single-family homes in metropolitan cities,
embracing both city and suburban lifestyle. Most are older than 35
years and approximately 60% of the households are married couples
with and without children. They are avid readers, especially of novels.
Active in financial investments, health conscious, and enjoy
gardening as well as traveling domestically and abroad. They are also
avid shoppers, buying everything from electric tools and small
household appliances to women’s shoes and clothing.
U4 Metro
Cities II
28, 30, 34,
36, 39, 52,
60, 63
Third most densely populated found in larger cities and densely
populated neighborhoods. The eight segments in Metro Cities II are
neighborhoods in transition that include young starter households and
retirees, single-person households, and families. The young
population remains mobile. Most rent in apartments in multiunit
buildings. Many are enrolled in college; most are still trying different
jobs. Median household income is $38, 402. They look for economy
and convenience when it comes to purchasing. They prefer to drive
four-door sedans, eat fast food, and shop at convenience stores.
Because many rent, few are interested in gardening and home

22
improvements.
U5 Urban
Outskirts I
04, 24, 32,
38, 48
This group lives in higher-density suburban neighborhoods spread
across metropolitan areas. Many of these neighborhoods are part of
the main hub of social, cultural, and economic activity within the
metro area. Median household income is $51,313 and the median age
is 34.1 years. As in established suburban communities, housing is
dominated by single-family dwellings, but include rental apartments
to accommodate younger households with growing incomes. Owners
will tackle do-it-yourself home improvement projects as well as
gardening. They walk and swim for exercise. They also go bowling,
fishing, and play golf.
U6 Urban
Outskirts
II
51, 55, 57,
59, 62
The settlement density and housing preferences of Urban Outskirts II
are similar to Urban Outskirts I. However, the homes are older and
the population is younger with a median age of 30.9 years. Homes can
be single-family or multi-unit dwellings and nearly half of the housing
units were built before 1960. They are less affluent, with household
income approximately half that of the national median. They prefer
Folger’s coffee to Starbucks, current consumption to saving, and
shopping at discount retailers instead of patronizing high-end stores.
U7 Suburban
Periphery
I
02, 06, 07,
12, 13, 14,
15
Moving away from the epicenters of city living, this group represent
lower-density housing development located in metropolitan and
micropolitan statistical areas throughout the country. They are also the
largest Urbanization summary group in Tapestry Segmentation, with
the most population and households, in addition to the highest annual
growth. Married-couple families dominate, approximately half with
children, primarily living in their own single-family homes with two
cars. They are more likely to employ a lawn and gardening service,
and invest in home remodeling and improvement projects. This well-
educated group not only shares the top rank for current household
income with Metro Cities, but also has accumulated the most wealth.
They own a variety of securities investments via online and financial
consultation. They upgrade to the latest technology including big-
screen TVs, computers, and necessary software and peripherals.
Domestic travel is part of their lifestyle and they watch CNN at home.
U8 Suburban
Periphery
II
18, 29, 33,
40, 43, 53
This group is similar to Suburban Periphery I, but more likely to be
found in urban clusters of smaller cities in metropolitan areas. More
than half are married families and 25% are singles who live alone.
Although the median household income and home value are below the
US median, their median net worth is higher. This is the oldest
Urbanization summary group in Tapestry Segmentation, with a
median age of 41.1 years. They are the highest concentration of
householders who are older than 65 years. They watch a variety of
sports, news, or documentaries and occasionally watch a movie or
primetime drama. They prefer domestic sedans and to read
newspapers.
U9 Small
Towns
41, 49, 50 Small Towns represent the ideal in American communities –
affordable, close-knit, and apart from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Active members of their communities, residents participate in public
activities, fund-raising, and public meetings. They make a modest
living, with a median household income of $35, 561, but their
earnings are sufficient to afford a single-family or mobile home. Most
of the labor force is employed in the manufacturing, construction, or
retail sectors; many are already retired. Heartland Communities is
well settled, but Small Towns welcomes the ongoing migration of
younger Crossroads and older Senior Sun Seekers. They are less
likely to own a credit card. Technology is not an integral part of life

23
for this group. Many still use a dial-up Internet connection and
because of their location, satellite TV is preferred. Many do not
subscribe to cable or satellite TV.
U10 Rural I 17, 25, 26,
31
Small, nonfarm settlements, some of which are developing in
suburban fringe areas, characterize the neighbors in Rural I. Married-
couple families, many with grown children who have left home, work
hard in blue-collar occupations. Some are self-employed with small
businesses or farms. The median age is 41.9 years and median income
of $51, 381. This allows them to enjoy the comforts of large single-
family homes with ample land and invest in major home improvement
projects. They embrace their country lifestyle and favorite pastimes of
hunting and fishing. They drive domestic pickup trucks.
U11 Rural II 37, 42, 46,
56
Rural II countryside is the extreme opposite of urbanization. Low
population density characterizes life in the country with its
inconveniences such as the need for multiple vehicles and advantages
such as affordable single-family homes with land. Most of the
population lives in rural farm areas. The median age is 41.3 years and
some are already retired. Many are homeowners. Family and home
are central in their lives. Their lifestyles reflect a preference for
comfort and practicality – western or work boots to dress shoes,
kerosene heaters to espresso/cappuccino makers, recliners to patio
furniture, garden tillers to trash compactors.
(Source: Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014)

These data are important because they also reveal SES in each region by looking deeper
into the demographics. InfoBase-X data uses data acquired from life events that trigger
consumers to buy and allows businesses to more accurately target those consumers who are
likely to purchase a new product (Acxiom.com, 2014). Acxiom filters and connects data by
pinpointing recent changes within a household, enabling businesses to reach ready-to-buy
customers and ultimately, to better target those prospective buyers. Some of the event triggers
include: a child nearing high school graduation, a recent college graduate, a recent empty nester,
a child entering adulthood, an expectant parent, a recent new car buyer, a recent mover,
newlyweds, a new parent, a recent home buyer, and a recent mortgage borrower (Acxiom.com,
2014). These “triggers” give a better insight because they record how customer’s subscriptions,
tastes, and trends change.
Subsequently, Esri assigns a Tapestry Segmentation code to each ZIP+4 from the
aggregated household attributes. Using the census data with these other data improves data

24
quality and helps to validate the 65 distinctive markets distinguished with the Tapestry
Segmentation platform (Table 2) (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014).
A market segmentation system must be able to distinguish new consumer behaviors such
as lifestyle choices and should ultimately mirror the consumer’s SES. Consumer surveys from
GfK MRI are used to check the efficacy of the Tapestry Segmentation descriptions. GfK MRI’s
Survey of the American Consumer® provides a detailed view of the 226 million adult consumers
in the U.S. such as media choices, demographics, lifestyle and attitudes, and is comprised of
nearly 6,000 product and service brands in 550 categories, as well as readership of hundreds of
magazines and newspapers, Internet usage, TV viewership by channel and program, radio
listening, and use of Yellow Pages (GfKMRI.com, 2014). GfK MRI uses a high-resolution
methodology. Data are collected in person, with in-home, face-to-face interviews to fill the gaps
for missing demographic groups, such as the 15% of U.S. adults who have no Internet access, or
the 26% who have not used the Internet in the past 30 days, and the 22% of U.S. adults who do
not have landlines, and cannot be reached by telephone survey recruiters (GfKMRI.com, 2014).
2.3 Tapestry Segmentation Success Stories
GIS platforms like Tapestry Segmentation can provide rich and helpful information about
consumer habits and trends. Therefore, this makes it a valuable tool for various types of
organizations, both public and private. Understanding the target data and being able to accurately
delineate small areas only improves and enhances the utility of this product for these
organizations. The easy and free access to this web platform also allows individuals to check
their ZIP code and see what kind neighborhood they live in. It is useful for people who want to
move into a new neighborhood and/or learn more about the kinds of people who reside in
specific communities and neighborhoods.

25
2.3.1 Business Organizations
The main objective of any business is to gain and grow profit. GIS technology can fuel the
process by helping businesses to geographically visualize and thus understand their market.
Tapestry Segmentation allows businesses to create more accurate customer profiling for media
targeting, direct mailing, and site analysis (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The address records will
further refine customer behaviors and preferences. With customer buying data, businesses can
target different demographics, improve the satisfaction of current customers (i.e. via loyalty
programs), create direct marketing campaigns, and other types of advertising to reach the most
responsive customers. The Tapestry Segmentation platform provides actionable information.
Another thing to consider that is crucial in the success of a business is location. Selecting
the best location can influence and, in some cases, determine a business’ success or failure.
Consumer data is important and can be analyzed and used to make better decisions. In retail,
most stores face competition from mall stores, department stores, boutiques, discounters, big-box
stores, mail-order catalogs, and even online stores (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). This directly
relates to the modern consumer’s continually changing tastes and related trends. In a savvy
technology-based culture, it is not enough to just know where the targeted customers live; one
also needs to anticipate trends and their underlying causes. Trends include changes in product
preferences, geography, spending patterns, and SES. Esri’s data and software solutions can
execute this complete analysis to aid businesses to make more informed and profitable decisions
(Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). This is also what sets Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation apart from the
traditional marketing segmentation approach available through Esri’s Business Analyst
TM
Desktop
software for example.
An example of this in the real-world is a shoe chain store wanting to branch out to nearby

26
states. The store had collected several years of demographic data, but never used Esri’s site
suitability analysis through segmentation. Since Tapestry Segmentation codes were appended to
the existing customer store location and file, the standard trade area can be delineated and used
in prospective site analyses (Esri.com/Tapestry, 2014). The results for the shoe store example
showed a few factors that made the existing stores successful such as proximity to a major
shopping mall; five to seven competitors within the existing trade area; and the presence of the
Laptops and Lattes, Trendsetters, and Aspiring Young Families segments (Tapestry
Segmentation, 2012). Their growth strategy might therefore look for locations that afforded
similar opportunities.
2.3.2 Public and Non-profit Organizations
Many public agencies and non-profit organizations such as fire departments, police stations,
charity fundraisers, and similar organizations can benefit by using Tapestry Segmentation to help
achieve their community goals. Organizations whose performance depends on quick response
(such as police and fire stations) can benefit from the utilization of this tool. Being able to
execute emergency response quickly as well as getting to the site is important for such
organizations. Any possible delay or longer response time can have an adverse impact in terms
of helping or aiding the victim. This corresponds to understanding the organization’s local
community and its attributes that make up the community (such as SES, population density,
location and characteristics of hospitals, schools, etc.).
The Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) in Arlington, Virginia, for example, was
in need of finding new donors to support their funding to the poor in order to combat hunger in
the area. AFAC is a non-profit organization that provides groceries to lower income families in
the county. Approximately 1,200 families rely on their support and the demand for this service is

27
growing. AFAC uses a direct mail program to target existing donors, but it had limited success
due to the lack of an appropriate marketing structure. The goal is to keep the direct mailing costs
low and still target the most willing donors. AFAC asked Esri for assistance in identifying these
new donors using Tapestry Segmentation. Esri suggested modifying their marketing strategy by
sending out specially crafted appeal letters to targeted groups that were identified as the most
likely to contribute using Tapestry Segmentation. Esri’s Address Coder
TM
software was used to
geocode the existing contributor list and a Tapestry Segmentation code was appended to each
record. This process identified SES, which revealed neighborhoods where donors lived. This
new finding allowed AFAC to better understanding donor lifestyle behaviors and other
demographic traits in order to appeal to these likely contributors. Esri also made a
recommendation that AFAC purchase a mailing list appended with Tapestry Segmentation codes
from Acxiom Corporation. The result of this new direct mailing campaign showed a significant
change in the amount of donations from new donors while keeping the cost of the direct mailing
campaign in check. This is a great example of how an improved understanding of SES in a
certain region can be used to achieve an existing or new goal.
The next chapter describes the methodology that was used to determine how well the
Tapestry Segmentation platform describes the residents of the three LA County communities that
were introduced in Chapter 1.

28
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methods, and aggregated data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s ACS that
were used to evaluate the integrity of Tapestry Segmentation’s representation of the three
communities. Tapestry Segmentation product reports the median household income, median age,
and population density in addition to the percentages of residents included in Tapestry’s market
segments. The three aforementioned as well as several additional attributes were extracted from
the ACS data at the block group level to look at what is gained and lost using Esri’s Tapestry
Segmentation product. This chapter describes the methods used to query and gather data from
the two platforms, which is shown as a flowchart in Figure 6. The following sections will
provide detailed steps and methods that were used to acquire products from Tapestry
Segmentation and ACS Census data.

Figure 5: Flowchart showing methods used for thesis project.

Querying Esri's Tapestry
Segmentation Product for
each ZIP code
Acquiring ACS Five-Year
Estimates at the Census Block
Group layer for LA County
Joining ACS data with Block
Group tract layer of LA
County
Selecting standard deviation
classification method at the
Census block group level

29
3.1 Querying Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation Product

To find out and learn more about a given community, Tapestry Segmentation provides a user-
friendly approach for anyone to choose the desired ZIP code and obtain Summary Group
descriptions along with median household income, median age, and population density estimates.
Figure 5 shows the main page where the user would enter a ZIP code to display an
interactive map layer with which one could scroll and view the ZIP code’s lifestyle and
socioeconomic characteristics, which define that particular community.
Once the ZIP code is entered, a results page will be shown at the ZIP code unit level
(Figure 6). The highlighted polygon shows the selected ZIP code and the popup on the left hand
side shows Tapestry Segmentation’s top three segments for the selected ZIP code. The top three
segments can be clicked to show the full description of each segment. The percentages noted for
the three segments show the relative proportions of these groups and may not add up to 100% in
some instances. The three tabs to the right of Tapestry can be clicked to see the median

30

Figure 6: Main page of Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation product on which a user can enter
the desired ZIP code.

household income, median age, and population density estimates for the chosen ZIP code(s) as
well as the county, state and U.S. as a whole.

31

Figure 7: Results page showing the top three segments for the chosen ZIP code(s) and the
three attribute tabs.

This same method was applied to assess how Tapestry Segmentation characterized the
Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach communities.
3.2 Querying and Mapping the 2013 American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates
The latest ACS 5-year estimates were obtained from American FactFinder in order to learn more
about the three communities. The ACS surveys approximately 3.5 million housing units annually
and the American FactFinder portal can be used to gather single year or five-year average

32
estimates. The five-year averages were used for this thesis project because the larger sample size
makes for more robust and reliable estimates for small areas like census tracks and census block
groups.
3.2.1 Querying the 2013 ACS Five-Year Estimates
The median household income, median age, and population density as well as some other
attributes were gathered with the help of the Download Center (Figure 8). The Download Center
provides a step-by-step guide and the five-year ACS estimates were selected for this study with
the second 'Dataset' step (Figure 9). The census block group was chosen for the geographic unit
of analysis at the third step (Figure 10).
The resulting ACS datasets (one per variable or attribute of interest) come as a zip file
that contains the best estimates as well as estimates of the margin of error for each variable.

Figure 8: Dialogue box showing first step in acquiring ACS dataset.

33

Figure 9: Dialogue box used to select the most appropriate ACS product (i.e. the 5-year
ACS dataset).

Figure 10: Dialogue box used to select the appropriate geographic region at the census
block group scale (i.e. Los Angeles County).

34
The attribute names on the ACS dataset were adjusted so that ArcMap would properly
capture and recognize these names. For example, the periods included in some of the variable
names had to be converted to underscores because ArcMap does not recognize a period as a
character. The name fields were abbreviated and/or coded names were renamed to more
recognizable names as well. These tables (one for each variable or attribute) were then exported
as comma separated value (CSV) files.
3.2.2 Mapping the 2013 ACS Five-Year Estimates
The census block group shapefile and the CSV files for the edited ACS datasets were then
combined and used to map the variables of interest in ArcMap. Some additional work was
needed to tidy up the data that was common to both tables. The extra zeroes appended in front of
the digits used for each of the census block groups were deleted and the data type was changed
from 'String' to 'Double' in the census block group boundary shapefile used for this thesis project.
An additional column was created in the census block group data table named 'GEO_id3'
and populated with data. Right clicking on the census block group table, and selecting join and
relate, the values shown in Figure 11 were used to join the two data sets and map each variable at
the census block group level.
The various maps reproduced in Chapter 4 were rendered after choosing a classification
method for each attribute that was to be mapped. The advantages and disadvantages of the four
methods included in Esri’s ArcMap are summarized in Table 5. The classification method was
chosen by right clicking on the census block group layer under Table of Contents, and choosing
the Symbology tab under Layer Properties.

35

Figure 11: Dialogue box used to join the geographic features and attributes at the census
block group level.

The Standard Deviation classification method was chosen for the work at hand because
the overarching goal was to learn more about the variability of the three communities and
whether or not this variability was captured in the Tapestry Segmentation descriptions.
The results are reported next in Chapter 4.

36
Table 5 Advantages and disadvantages of the four different classification methods included
in Esri’s ArcMap
Source: http://resources.arcgis.com

Classification Method Advantage Disadvantage
Equal Interval Groups values in equally sized
ranges allowing for easy
interpretation
May not show all the variations and
miss all the variations
Quantile Evenly distributions in values
allowing convenience in mapping
linearly distributed data. There are
no empty classes or classes with too
few or too many values.
Similar values may be places in
separate classes and may create
false illusion of diversity in data
Natural Breaks (Jenks) Groups similar values into same
class and separates dissimilar values
Large number of values may cluster
into one or two classes and may be
hard to interpret the data
Standard Deviation Shows standard deviation of values
from its mean
May be more difficult to interpret
data if the user is not familiar with
statistics

37
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS
The results are described by community (i.e. Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice
Beach) and product (Tapestry Segmentation, ACS) in that order in the sections, which follow
and the broader interpretation and significance of these results are taken up in Chapter 5.
4.1 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Manhattan Beach
The Tapestry Segmentation (TS) results for Manhattan Beach report that 46% of the residents
belong to the Top Tier group, 25% belong to the Laptops and Lattes group, and 23% belong to
the Urban Chic group (Table 6). The Tapestry Segmentation product also reported that residents
of Manhattan Beach have a median household income of $142,000, a median age of 41.9 years,
and a population density of 7,685 residents per square mile.
The 46 percent of the residents that belong to the Top Tier category have achieved their
corporate career goals and successfully operate their own businesses. Most of them are married
with older children. They spend freely on their lavish homes and lifestyles through a variety of
contracted services. They shop at high-end retailers and enjoy services at upscale salons, spas,
and fitness centers. They also travel frequently, taking luxury vacations or visiting their second
homes. They enjoy attending opera, classical music concerts, charity dinners, and shopping.
They rely on reading, Internet, radio, and newspapers to expand their knowledge.
The 25 percent of the residents that belong to the Laptops and Lattes group lack home
ownership and/or child-rearing responsibilities. They enjoy the single life style in or near the big
city either alone or with a roommate. The median age of this group is 37.6 years. Although most
of the population in this category are white, Asians represent about 10.4 percent of the total
population. They are reasonably affluent with a medium household income of $84, 612. They
hold either a bachelor’s or some type of graduate degree, and 90 percent have attended college.

38
More than 70 percent are over 25 years old. These residents are cosmopolitan, connected, and
politically liberal. They rely heavily on web-enabled cell phones instead of laptops to
communicate and review the latest news, arrange travel, and shop on sites such as Amazon. They
enjoy various types of vacations such as backpacking, beach trips, or hiking and also, enjoy
staying at upscale hotels and rent cars while on vacation. They prefer going to various
entertainment venues to enjoy arts and live music. They watch foreign films or movie classics on
DVD and news and music channels on cable TV. Exercising is a significant part of their life, and
includes being a member of a health club, yoga, skiing, tennis, jogging, and biking. They tend to
buy organic and low fat/high fiber food and take daily vitamins.
Table 6 Tapestry Segmentation results for the three communities
Community
(Zip code)
Top Tapestry Segments Median Household
Income
Median Age Population
Density
Manhattan Beach
(90266)
46% Top Tier
25% Laptops and Lattes
23% Urban Chic
$142, 000 41.9 7, 685
Venice Beach
(90291)
36% Trendsetters
32% Laptops and Lattes
16% Metro Renters
$67, 000 38.6 11,452
Santa Monica
(90401)
55% Metro Renters
34% Laptop and Lattes
11% Trendsetters
$46,000 38.6 7,970
Santa Monica
(90402)
59% Top Tier
41% Urban Chic
$134,000 47.8 5,225
Santa Monica
(90403)
76% Laptops and Lattes
13% Urban Chic
9% Trend Setters
$75,000 42.1 18,321
Santa Monica
(90404)
81% Trendsetters
12% Laptops and Lattes
3% Downtown Melting Pot
$53,000 38 11,089
Santa Monica
(90405)
45% Laptops and Lattes
27% Trend Setters
18% Urban Chic
$75,000 42 10,134
Santa Monica
(Weighted
Averages)
37.8% Laptops and Lattes
29.8% Trendsetters
14.8% Urban Chic
8.9% Top Tier
3.7% Metro Renters
0.7% Downtown Melting Pot
$76,811 41.7 11,580

39
The 23 percent of the residents who belong to the Urban Chic group live very
sophisticated and exclusive lifestyles. More than half of these households are married-couple
families; however, fewer than half of them have children. The median age is 42.7 years old and
the median household income is $82,524. The residents are well-educated: 80 percent have
attended college and 55 percent receive additional income from investments. Nearly two-thirds
(63 percent) live in single-family housing. Their lifestyles are focused on living life rather than
ambience. They enjoy extensive traveling, visiting museums, attending dance performances,
upscale store shopping, and voluntary work. They stay fit by hiking, skiing, backpacking, biking,
yoga, tennis, and lift weights. They drink imported wine and a good cup of coffee. Most own an
Apple computer and use online to shop, travel, get the latest news, and check investment
portfolios or stocks. They use credit cards, often charging more than $700 a month. This is one
of Tapestry Segmentation’s top segments for radio listening where the listeners are tuned to
classical music, all-talk, and public radio. They are also avid readers of newspapers, books, and
general news and entertainment, business, and home service magazines. They seldom watch TV,
but their favorite channels are broadcast news programs and documentaries.
4.2 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Santa Monica
The results for the City of Santa Monica are a little more complicated because there are five ZIP
codes. However, the variability across these five ZIP codes reported in Table 6 shows how the
character of individual neighborhoods varies across this moderate-sized coastal city.
The leading groups in Santa Monica are Lattes and Laptops (37.8 percent), Trendsetters
(29.8 percent), and Urban Chic (14.8 percent), which were determined by calculating the
weighted averages across the five Zip codes. Lattes and Laptops ranked first or second in four of

40
five ZIP codes. Trendsetters ranked in the top three across four out of five ZIP codes and Urban
Chic ranked in the top three in three of five ZIP codes.
Lattes and Laptops are characterized as being highly affluent and well-educated singles
that hold professional positions (e.g. in business, finance, legal, computer and entertainment), as
described in Section 4.1 above.
The approximately 30 percent of the City of Santa Monica residents belonging to the
Trendsetters group are single, young, diverse, mobile, and at the cutting edge of urban lifestyles.
They either live alone or with a roommate and the median age is 34.8 years old. Ethnically
diverse, 13.7 percent of these groups are Asian and 23 percent are Hispanic on average. In socio-
economical terms, the members of this group are educated professionals with median household
incomes of $53,423 and many have various types of investments on the side as well. Three-
quarters of these neighborhoods are located on the West Coast in communities like Santa Monica
and Venice Beach (Table 6). Roughly two-thirds (68 percent) rent upscale apartment homes in
older urban districts. The average gross rent is one-third higher than the US average. Single-
family homes and townhouses comprise the remainder of the housing.
These residents are spenders; they shop in stores, online, and by phone. They are up-to-
date with the latest fashion trends and enjoy stores such as Banana Republic, Gap, Nordstrom,
and Macys. They are politically liberal and listen to variety of music genres. They own electronic
gadgets and computers, and are highly health conscious and eat organic foods, take vitamins, and
exercise frequently (e.g. yoga, hiking, skiing, running). They enjoy going to the movies, attend
rock concerts, and read – especially non-fiction and biographies. For TV shows, they prefer to
watch movie channels or MTV.

41
The third most frequent Segment group in the City of Santa Monica was the Urban Chic
group, which was also described in Section 4.1.
The largest fraction of residents in ZIP code 90402 belong to the Top Tier group. These
residents are married couples, with or without children, and have reached the top of the corporate
ladder in their chosen fields. They either own their own business or work in a variety of
consulting fields. They live very lavish lifestyles and rely on and/or use a variety of personal
services to support their lifestyles.
The largest percentage of residents in ZIP code 90401 belong to the Metro Renters group.
This group comprises young, mobile adults who are either working or still in school and live
with roommates. Most are willing to take risks to get to the top of their professions and live close
their jobs. They live in the city and rent either condos or apartments. They enjoy technological
gadgets and keeping up with the latest trends. Some of their favorite stores to shop are Whole
Foods, Trader Joe’s, Banana Republic, Nordstrom, and Gap. Their hobbies include skiing, yoga,
and Pilates.
The sixth and final group covers just 3 percent of the residents in ZIP code 90404. These
residents belong to the Downtown Melting Pot group. This group is composed of married
couples that reside in small and densely populated neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are
dominated by Asians. Nearly half of the population are foreign born and does not speak English
or English is their second language. They are more cautious about spending money and work in
professional, sales, food, administrative, and personal service jobs. Hobbies include gambling,
eating out, playing sports, and listening to sports radio.

42
4.3 Tapestry Segmentation Results for Venice Beach
The top three Tapestry Segmentation groups in Venice Beach – the Trendsetters, Laptops and
Lattes, and Metro Renters groups, respectively – were already covered in Sections 4.1 and 4.2
because one or more of these groups was also prevalent in either the City of Manhattan Beach
and/or the City of Santa Monica. The overlap in the presence of these groups across two or more
of the three communities shows that they share some similarities in terms of both their locations
as well as the kinds of residents that have chosen these communities as a place to spend parts of
their lives.
4.4 Tapestry Segmentation Census Variables
The Tapestry Segmentation groups described in Sections 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 are helpful in terms of
the describing the kinds of people distributed across ZIP codes, but their precision and accuracy
are difficult to evaluate because they are based on sophisticated statistical algorithms that cluster
people (i.e. residents) using large numbers of disparate data sources. There was no opportunity to
repeat this work here using smaller geographic units like census tracts and/or census block
groups and as a consequence, the Tapestry Segmentation values for median household income,
median age, and population density shown in Table 6 provide the focus for the remainder of this
and the final chapter.
The median household income shows major variations across the three communities and
seven ZIP codes (Table 6). The value for Manhattan Beach ($142,000) is the highest and nearly
matched by the value for ZIP code 90402 ($132,000) in the City of Santa Monica. The five ZIP
codes in Santa Monica show tremendous variability – from the high value of ZIP code 90402 to
a low of just $46,000 in ZIP code 90401 and a weighted median household income of $76,811

43
for the city of Santa Monica as a whole. This last value is just a few thousand dollars more than
the median household income reported for Venice Beach ($67,000) (Table 6).
The ages of the residents across the three communities and seven ZIP codes are much
more similar. The youngest residents are found in Venice Beach (median age 38.6 years) and
ZIP codes 90401 (median age 38.6 years) and 90404 (median age 38 years) in the City of Santa
Monica. However, the weighted median age across all five ZIP codes in the City of Santa
Monica (median age, 41.7 years) was raised by the older population in ZIP code 90402 (median
age 47.8 years) and similar to that for the City of Manhattan Beach (median age 41.9 years).
The highest (18,321 residents per square mile) and lowest (5,225 residents per square
mile) population densities occurred in ZIP codes 90403 and 90402 in the City of Santa Monica.
The variability in these numbers and those for the three remaining ZIP codes in the City of Santa
Monica are typical of medium-sized cities that offer a large number and variety of retail and
other services as well as employment opportunities. The weighted average for the City of Santa
Monica (11,580 residents per square mile) was similar to that for Venice Beach (11,452 residents
per square mile) and higher than that for the City of Manhattan Beach (7,685 residents per square
mile) (Table 6).
4.5 What does the U.S. Census tell us about the three communities?
The census block group (CBG) level was chosen to examine each community more closely.
Manhattan Beach contained 36 CBGs, Santa Monica contained 77 CBGs, and Venice Beach
contained 35 CBGs. In general, census block groups are more uniformly distributed in terms of
the number of residents than cities or ZIP codes, and the block group level data are nearly 100%
complete. The ZIP code data, on the other hand, are less than 70% complete (USA.com, 2014).

44
The census data provided an opportunity to look at the three communities more closely and to
assess the Tapestry Segmentation descriptions of the three communities.
4.5.1 ACS Data for Manhattan Beach
The first attribute to look at is the median household income in the first three columns of Table
7. The first, fourth, and seventh columns in Tables 7-9 show the TS estimates aligned with the
CBG classes shown in the second, fifth, and eighth columns in Tables 7-9. The counts in the
final three columns (#3, #6, #9) report the numbers of CBGs falling in each of the ACS CBG
classes.
These data show that two CBGs had median household incomes $44,000 to $63,000
below the TS estimate and that another nine CBGs had median household incomes $8,000 to
$44,000 below the TS estimate. The last two rows, in contrast, show that 20 CBGs had median
household incomes $32,000 to $108,000 above the TS estimate. The TS estimate then hides
considerable variability in terms of the median household incomes present in the City of
Manhattan Beach (Table 7).
The middle three columns in Table 7 show much less variability in terms of median age:
the median age, for example, falls within 5 years of the TS estimate in 23 of the 36 CBGs and is
6-13 years lower and 5-11 years higher in six and seven CBGs, respectively.
The final three columns in Table 7 show that there is tremendous variation in population
density from one CBG to the next in the City of Manhattan Beach. The presence of the beach as
well as schools, parks, retail and other services at the CBG scale produces considerable
variability in the areal estimates that partially obscures the residential densities in these CBGs
because most of these other land uses prevent mixed use development and therefore represent
areas with few if any residents.

45
Table 7 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density
estimates gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for the City of
Manhattan Beach
Median Household Income
($)
Median Age
(Years)
Population Density
(Residents per Square Mile)
(1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3)
79,070
98,438
2 29-36 6 372.6
1,824
4
98,439
134,808
7 37-40 10 1,825
3,340
9
$142, 000 134,809
164,800
7 41.9 41-42 5 3,341
4,929
15
164,801
214,167
9 43-46 8 4,930
7,604
6
214,168
250,000
11 47-53 7 7, 685 7,605
11,150
2
1 – TS estimates; 2 – ACS ranges (low on top, high below); and 3 – CBG counts
The three maps reproduced in Figures 12-14 show the geographic variability that is evident
across the 36 census block groups.
Figure 12, for example, shows that the CBGs with higher median household incomes are
located in the western half of the City of Manhattan Beach close to the coast. Figure 13 shows
the CBGs with younger populations are located along the coastline or in the southeast quadrant
and Figure 14 shows that the CBGs with low population densities tend to occur along the coast
and in the northeast quadrant and that the CBGs with higher densities tend to occur short
distances from the beaches and related coastal amenities.

46

Figure 12: Median household income by census block group in the City of Manhattan
Beach.

47

Figure 13: Median age by census block group in the City of Manhattan Beach.

48

Figure 14: Population density by census block group in the City of Manhattan Beach.

49
4.5.2 U.S. ACS Data for City of Santa Monica

Weighted averages were calculated using the Tapestry Segmentation estimates for the five ZIP
codes that span the City of Santa Monica and these are compared with the ACS estimates for the
census block groups reported in Table 8 below.
The median household income data summarized in the first three columns of Table 8
show tremendous disparities across CBGs. Median household incomes are $4,000 to $52,000
lower in 10 of the 77 CBGs and more than double the TS median household income estimate of
$67,000 in 32 of the 77 CBGs that comprise the City of Santa Monica. The median ages
summarized in the three middle columns show less variability but the median ages in 18 of the
77 CBGs exceed the TS estimate by 10 years or more in 18 The population densities reported in
the final three columns of Table 8 show that 64 of 77 CBGs had lower population densities than
the TS estimate.
Table 8 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density
estimates gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for the City of Santa
Monica
Median Household Income
($)
Median Age
(Years)
Population Density
(Residents per Square Mile)
(1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3)
14,735
62,946
10 28-35 11 604
2,007
12
$67,000 62,947
90,469
16 38.6 36-41 32 2,008
3,704
19
90,4701
20,192
19 42-47 16 3,705
5,337
12
120,193
176,696
16 48-54 14 5,338
8,152
21
176,697
250,000
16 55-63 4 11,452 8,153
15,120
12
1 – TS estimates; 2 – ACS ranges (low on top, high below); and 3 – CBG count

50
The median household income, median age, and population density maps for the City of
Santa Monica reproduced in Figures 14-17 show a series of distinctive geographic patterns both
within and across the five ZIP codes that span this medium-sized city.
Figure 15, for example, shows how all of the CBGs in ZIP code 90402 have very high
median household incomes and how most of the CBGs with low median household incomes are
clustered in the two ZIP codes (90401 and 90404) in the center of the City of Santa Monica.
Figure 16 shows that the variations in median age were more scattered geographically
across the City of Santa Monica. The two CBGs with high median ages were scattered across all
five ZIP codes and perhaps more importantly, the various median household income classes
distinguished in Figure 15.
And finally, Figure 17 shows there were clear patterns in terms of the distribution of
population densities across the City of Santa Monica. The most conspicuous is the low densities
across all of the CBGs that comprise ZIP code 90402 at the northwestern end of the City of Santa
Monica and the cluster of CBGs with high population densities in ZIP code 90403 which is
located next to ZIP code 90402. There are numerous CBGs with relatively high and low
population densities scattered throughout the remainder of the ZIP codes shown in Figure 17.

51

Figure 15: Median household income by census block group in the City of Santa Monica.

52

Figure 16: Median age by census block group in the City of Santa Monica.

53

Figure 17: Population density by census block group in the City of Santa Monica.

54
4.5.3 ACS Data for Venice Beach

The distribution of the 35 census block groups across median household income, median age,
and population density classes tell a similar story in the Venice Beach community (Table 9).
Two of the CBGs out of 35 CBGs lacking sufficient numbers of households to generate reliable
estimates reported zero for median household income but 18 of 35 reported median household
incomes $17,000 or higher than the Tapestry Segmentation median household income estimate
(i.e. $67,000). The median age by CBG showed less variation notwithstanding the fact that three
CBGs reported median ages seven or more years lower than the TS estimate (38.6 years) and
five CBGs reported median ages that were six or more years older than the TS estimate. The
population densities showed tremendous variation with 35 CBGs reporting densities that were
less than the TS estimate (11,452 residents per square mile), being the outlier for ACS data
ranges.
Table 9 Comparison of median household income, median age, and population density
estimates gathered from Tapestry Segmentation and ACS products for Venice Beach
Median Household Income
($)
Median Age
(Years)
Population Density
(Residents per Square Mile)
(1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3) (1) (2) (3)
0 2 28-31 3 927
2,140
6
$67, 000 1
83,667
15 32-35 9 4,018
5,372
10
83,668
114,219
7 38.6 36-40 11 4,018
5,372
11
114,220
147,639
4 41-44 7 5,373
7,653
7
147,640
250,000
7 45-48 5 11,452 7,654
13,281
1
1 – TS estimates; 2 – ACS ranges (low on top, high below); and 3 – CBG counts

55
The geographic distributions summarized in Figures 18-20 help to show the variability
that occurs across the Venice Beach community. The seven CBGs with the highest median
incomes follow the coastline and/or the canals that are located just north of Marina del Rey and
west of Albert Kinney Boulevard for example. The one CBG with a zero value marks the retail
core that faces the beach and is largely supported by visitors to Venice Beach and the CBGs with
relatively low median family incomes follows the coastline and dominates the northwestern
quadrant (Figure 18). The majority of the CBGs with relatively high median ages, on the other
hand, dominate the eastern half of Venice Beach. The population densities vary considerably
across the 35 CBGs and there is no consistent pattern but for the tendency for the CBGs with the
higher densities to follow some of the major thoroughfares that traverse Venice Beach in all
directions.

56

Figure 18: Median household income by census block group in Venice Beach.

57

Figure 19: Median age by census block group in Venice Beach.

58

Figure 20: Population density by census block group in Venice Beach.

59
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Overall, there were some similarities as well as differences between the Tapestry Segmentation
and ACS results. Even with a few different variations, there is much that can be learned from
both assessments. There was an evident difference when geographic data was populated in
different units such as ZIP code versus Census Block Group. The following sections will cover
major findings, limitations, and ideas for future work.
5.1 Major Findings
It was easier to assess and analyze conditions on the ground when geographic data were divided
into census block group rather than seeing the data lumped together at the ZIP code level. This
can be tied to the modifiable areal unit issue that is commonly noticed in assessing data across
various geographical scales. Therefore, choosing the appropriate geographic scale is paramount
and should be tailored for any case study. The world can never be studied, modeled, or
represented in all of its full detail and complexity. Scale is important in part because of the
consequences it poses for the degree to, which geographic information is generalized (Montello,
2001).
The Tapestry Segmentation’s grouping of the ZIP code as a whole can be useful for small
communities like Venice Beach and Manhattan Beach, but for bigger communities such as Santa
Monica it will be more difficult to lump units together due to the variation across the city. The
advantages of Tapestry Segmentation are linked to the data synthesis and how these groups
inform SES and community health. Understanding these segment groups can help a user get a
clearer understanding of the community accompanying a given ZIP code in terms of socio-
economic status (SES) and demographics. These discussions often start with SES, because it
closely follows the economic development of a region that may be linked to a community’s

60
health status (Gatrell and Jensen, 2009). In addition, Tapestry Segmentation can be understood as
derivation from CBED, since each segment group data was aggregated from grouping clusters
(Reid, Smith and Carroll, 2009). Tapestry Segmentation allows any level of user a more
insightful way to understanding relationships among Census attributes. The 56 segment groups
classified by Esri use language in a way that makes this possible for all users, especially to those
who are not familiar with GIS.
5.2 Limitations
The results from Chapter 4 show how the choice of geographical scale (i.e. the unit of analysis)
changes the assessment of community characteristics. The CBG and TP estimates did not
necessarily correspond as expected. Choosing and using the same methods but different scales
shows how the outcome will also be different in many cases. The choice of Census Tract as the
scale for analysis would likely have given different results as well.
This lack of flexibility in scaling is a significant setback for a more experienced GIS user,
who may want to conduct a more specific study. In this case, Esri should provide more options in
choosing different levels of scale and/or resolution. In addition, there is currently only three
variables (median household income, median age, and population density) that Tapestry
Segmentation features on their web platform. It would be beneficial to feature more attributes
such as race/ethnicity, a health index, and/or environmental factors. Another beneficial feature to
add would be to show change over time that allows a user to trace back the history of what a
community looked like or trace forward to see what it would look like if one or more trends were
extended into the future.

61
5.3 Future Work
In addition to adding more features that may help better assess and understand a community,
Esri’s Tapestry Segmentation can be applied and used to explore new fields such as public health
to learn more about and to support work to reduce health disparities, improve business marketing
and targeting, and guide fire-rescue dispatch, among others.

62
REFERENCES
Acxiomtest. “Life Event Triggers”. https://www.myacxiomtest.com/InfoBase-
X_Life_Event_Triggers.pdf. Accessed May 6, 2015.
American Institute for Economic Research. “Top Job Destinations for College Graduates”.
https://www.aier.org/research/top-job-destinations-college-graduates. Accessed March
11, 2015.
ArcGIS. “ArcGIS Resources”. http://resources.arcgis.com/en/home/. Accessed September 11,
2014.
Census. “ACS data”. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/. Accessed September 5,
2014.
Cool California. “Sustainable Santa Monica”. http://www.coolcalifornia.org/case-
study/sustainable-santa-monica. Accessed January 13, 2015.
Esri. “Tapestry Segmentation”. http://esri.com/tapestry. Accessed September 5, 2014.
FactFinder. http://factfinder.census.gov. Accessed April 10, 2015.
Gatrell, J.D, and Jensen, R.R., Geotechnologies and the Environment. New York: Springer,
2009.
Geolytics. “US Census and Zip Codes”. http://www.geolytics.com/USCensus,Zip4,Products.asp.
Accessed May 4, 2015.
GfK MRI. http://www.GfKMRI.com. Accessed June 28, 2015.
Greenstein, R., 2015. “Top Job Destinations for College Graduates”. https://www.aier.org/2015-
2016-top-college-destinations-ranked. Accessed November 30, 2015.
Labor Market Information. http://labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov. Accessed August 20, 2015.
LA County. “Shapefiles”. http://egis3.lacounty.gov/eGIS/tag/shapefiles. Accessed September 22,
2015.

63
Montello, D.R. 2001. “Scale in Geography” in N.J. Smelser and P.B. Bates (eds), International
Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001), 13,501-
13,504.
Realtor. “LA County and Lifestyle”. http://www.realtor.com/local/Los-Angeles
County_CA/lifestyle. Accessed January 11, 2015.
Reid, N., B.W. Smith, and M.C. Carroll. 2008. “Cluster regions: A social network perspective”.
Economic Development Quarterly, 22, 345-352.
Tapestry Segmentation. “Tapestry Segmentation: Reference Guide”.
http://www.Esri.com/Tapestry. 2012. Accessed September 9, 2014.
USA Guide. http://www.usa.com. Accessed August 20, 2015.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Seo, Joanne (author)

Core Title An evaluation of Esri’s tapestry segmentation product in three Southern California communities: Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica, and Venice Beach

School College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Degree Master of Science

Degree Program Geographic Information Science and Technology

Publication Date 03/15/2016

Defense Date 01/21/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag census,Esri,GIS,Manhattan Beach,OAI-PMH Harvest,Santa Monica,southern California,tapestry segmentation,Venice Beach

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Ruddell, Darren (committee chair), Warshawsky, Daniel (committee chair), Wilson, John P. (committee chair)

Creator Email joanne.seo22@gmail.com,joannes@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-220747

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Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA