University Students Create Spatial Analysis Tools to Help Cities Do More with Data

Graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania's Master of Urban Spatial Analytics Practicum are working with city officials in Philadelphia, Providence, R.I., and Minneapolis to develop data science tools to improve safety, health and quality of life for residents.

MetroLab Network has partnered with Government Technology to bring its readers a segment called the MetroLab Innovation of the Month Series, which highlights impactful tech, data, and innovation projects underway between cities and universities. If you’d like to learn more or contact the project leads, please contact MetroLab at info@metrolabnetwork.org.

In this installment of the Innovation of the Month series (see last month's story here), we explore the University of Pennsylvania’s Master of Urban Spatial Analytics (MUSA) Practicum and how the graduate students in the program work with city officials to develop data science tools that their clients can use to determine how best to use their resources. The program is led by Professor Ken Steif along with Karl Dailey and Michael Fichman.

MetroLab’s Executive Director Ben Levine sat down with Professor Steif and some of the program’s graduate students to learn more.

PROJECT TITLE: PROPERTY TAX FORECLOSURE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM: A LOOK INTO PHILADELPHIA

Team members: Nate Klass, Justine Kone, and Sydney Goldstein
Project contact: Jonathan Pyle, attorney at the Philadelphia Legal Assistance

Levine: Can you describe what your project focused on and what motivated you to address the particular challenge? 

Nate Klass: Our project aimed to help legal advocates at Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA) identify residential property owners who are at high risk of tax foreclosure. Currently, outreach to homeowners at risk of property tax foreclosure is restricted to certain areas of Philadelphia due to funding. We hope our data-driven approach to predicting foreclosure can create a tool that will maximize resource allocation, allowing advocates to better target homeowners vulnerable to sheriff sale.