tongfen
tongfen (同分 — to make comparable, specifically to bring two fractions on the same least common denominator) is an R package for harmonizing census data across different geographic boundaries. Statistics Canada redraws census area boundaries between each census, making direct longitudinal comparisons unreliable for small geographies.
TongFen estimates a semi-custom tabulation on the fly by joining some neighbouring census areas to form a common uniform geography across census years. As opposed to areal interpolation, which is known to introduce bias, this method provides actual counts for the new (slightly coarser) geography.
It works with any pair of Canadian census years and any set of census variables accessible through cancensus, but is also appliccable to other data like US census data or electoral polling areas that change from election to election.