County IT demos new GIS demographic dashboard with block-level detail

DuPage County IT demonstrated a new geographic information system (GIS) demographic dashboard to the Technology Committee on Feb. 3, 2026 that staff said can provide county, census-tract and block-level demographic data and exportable infographic pages for reports.

Tom, who led the demonstration, showed an application updated with Esri data that includes infographics pages for counties, census tracts and blocks. "What we're doing here is getting it down... down to the block itself," Tom said, describing the ability to zoom from county-level views to census tract and block-group detail. He demonstrated layers for population, population density, age categories, race (white, African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian and other), Hispanic origin, housing (owner-occupied vs. renter-occupied), household composition and business listings using NAICS classifications.

Tom also showed an infographics page that can be exported as image files for inclusion in reports. Committee members asked whether the tool could break data down by township; Tom and staff said they will add township-level views and estimated that township-specific maps could be available by March. Staff identified data sources in the demo as Esri and ACS, and noted commercial business-data feeds are used for business listings.

Members raised terminology and labeling concerns (for example, a member asked about replacing the label "American Indian" with "Native American/Indigenous"). Staff said they would review templates and alter labels as appropriate. The application is presently available via the county’s web portal; staff invited committee feedback before wider internal or public rollout.