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Study Area: Manhattan Software: ArcGIS 10.0

I'm measuring the street density using Street Network Grain size measure = Number of Street blocks per square mile. I have the NY street network but I do not have the map of Blocks. Is there any place I can get the Street Block maps?

Alternatively - Is the census block equivalent to a street block in Manhattan Borough. I have the census block polygon shape file from TigerLine.

Thanks for the inputs!

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Census data won't work, a Census Block can have multiple city blocks or there can be multiple Census Blocks in one street block. – Sean Apr 6 '12 at 1:12
Out of curiosity why use "street blocks" at all? Why not just use the initial street length? Street blocks can vary in size, making such an aggregate statistic difficult to interpret. Not to mention it is difficult to make/define street blocks anyway. – Andy W Apr 6 '12 at 12:06
@Sean: I know that's true in general, but is that really the case in Manhattan? – Dimitriy V. Masterov Apr 6 '12 at 16:47
@AndyW - I assume that the measure you are suggesting is probably (total street length)/Area as a measure of density... But will that not underestimate the measure? Blocks are like groups of developed parcels which I feel is a better measure. – RazorXsr Apr 6 '12 at 22:36
I think I could argue it is more reasonable (at least for some circumstances) but why not use parcels then directly if that is your response ;). FYI most NYC geo data is available at Bytes of the Big Apple, and for a reasonable price parcel data is available. – Andy W Apr 6 '12 at 23:49

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