The D3 vacancy index was designed to provide a more nuanced assessment
of structural vacancy than the "occupied/unoccupied/maybe" categories used in
the Motor City Mapping windshield survey. The dataset includes several sources,
including Motor City Mapping, utility data, and other resources to create a
score evaluating the occupancy status of a parcel. These values are then coded
as "Likely Occupied", "Potentially Vacant", "Likely Vacant", and "Very Likely
Vacant", helping to show a spectrum of vacancy across Detroit.
Because the vacancy index incorporates proprietary data sources, D3 is
unable to release the raw values of the index to the public at the address
level. To allow the public to obtain some of the benefit from this
highly-effective tool, however, D3 aggregated this data to the Census Tract
level. This file allows Detroit's policymakers and community members to track
vacancy across the city using data that is as up-to-date as
possible.Metadata associated with this file includes field description metadata and a narrative summary documenting the creation of the dataset.