GDOT - Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) Filters and Metrics

GDOT has provided several Social Vulnerability Index filters and metrics to assist in crash and safety analysis throughout the state of Georgia. GDOT recommends you use these filters and metrics to consider areas of greater vulnerability when you are identifying projects.

(A sample Network Screening using the SVI (Overall Vulnerability) to display roadways with an overall SVI equal to or less than .87 in a given area ranked by ePDO.)

SVI indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. SVI ranks the tracts on 15 social factors, including unemployment, minority status, and disability, and further groups them into four related themes. Thus, each tract receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking.

Each Crash is assigned an SVI ranking based on the location of the crash. The SVI ranking is based on the ranking of the census tract or county in which the crash occurred. SVI rankings are displayed as decimal values (.0 - 1). A ranking of 1 indicates the most vulnerable, while a ranking of 0 indicates the least vulnerable.

This ranking represents the proportion of tracts that are greater than or lower than a tract of interest in terms of social vulnerability. For example, an SVI ranking of 0.85 signifies that 85% of tracts in the state or nation are less vulnerable than the tract of interest and that 15% of tracts in the state or nation are more vulnerable.

(A query with the SVI (Overall Vulnerability) filter set to display crashes with an SVI less than or equal to .6031, and sidebar metrics displaying the distribution of crashes in the SVI Overall, and Transportation Index and Groups.)

Note: These filters are using 2022 SVI data.

The following Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) filters/metrics can be used to evaluate crashes that occurred in areas of a given social vulnerability index:

Each of the above filters is also available as a “Group” filter or metric, where the values are grouped into ranges, rather than individual values.

Each of the above filters is also available as a “Geo” filter or metric, which is a spatial filter applied to map-based data using geographical boundaries.

(The Metrics Sidebar highlighting the difference between the “Group” and “Non-group” SVI metrics)

The diagram below highlights the variables that are evaluated in each of the different SVI filters and metrics.