Digital maps show racial divides in US cities

Detroit was shown to have the most starkly segregated metropolitan area with a clear dividing line between black and white residents along 8 Mile Road, which runs across the northern edge of the city.

The maps were created by Eric Fischer, a California computer programmer, using data from the 2000 Census of America.

He plotted one dot for each 25 people and gave colours according to how people were described in the census.

White people were represented by a red dot, black people by a blue dot, Asians by green, and Hispanics by orange.

Mr Fischer, 37, started with Washington DC where the results showed a clear divide between predominantly white areas in the west, and black areas in the east.

He told the Washington Post: "It was amazingly dramatic and I wondered what it was like for other cities.

"I always knew that cities had these racial divisions but seeing them set out so graphically, that was the striking thing about them."

The map for Los Angeles showed how Hispanic people live in the poorest areas.

In New York there were clearly defined pockets dominated by black, white, Hispanic and Asian populations.

One of the most mixed cities was San Francisco where the map showed no clear dividing lines.