Spatializing Ames: Complementing the Ames, IA housing dataset for spatial social-ecological analysis

This paper introduces a spatially-explicit dataset as a complement to a well-known economics and data science dataset - the Ames, Iowa housing dataset. We combine geospatial land cover data with the locations of houses sold between 2006-2010, allowing researchers to explore questions such as the impact of surrounding land cover on property values or the valuation of ecosystem services that result from different types of land cover. We guide researchers through creating spatially-explicit variables and integrating the housing data with land cover information from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). The new dataset allows users to explore spatially-explicit information relationships in housing markets and replicate the analysis for any US region. The dataset is also a valuable tool for teaching econometrics and data science while exploring linkages between social, ecological and spatial phenomena.