US Census data now a Web service

This interesting piece of news just in: StrikeIron Inc. has just announced the availability of U.S. Census Information as one its premium, pay-per-use Web services. The company notes that "by delivering hundreds of data points from the U.S. Census Bureau for any ZIP code, city, county, or state live via an XML-based Web service, users are able to seamlessly find information such as median home prices, education status, or employment information."

The StrikeIron U.S. Census Premium Web Service provides categorical summaries of the data, potentially eliminating additional work and simplifying the research process. “The U.S. Census Data is one of the largest databases in the U.S. and users of these data points have had to spend countless hours locating the critical information they need to do their jobs," according to ” said Bob Brauer, president and co-founder of StrikeIron. Subscribers to this service have access to four areas of data; demographic, economic, housing, and social information -- downloadable to end-users' spreadsheets.