The document summarizes two ArcGIS assignments analyzing accessibility and spatial distribution. The first analyzes accessibility to proposed environmental education centers in LA using Euclidean distance, noting it has limitations but can still provide useful information. A more complex analysis considering additional factors like transportation systems is needed. The second examines the spatial distribution of racial/ethnic groups in Dallas using standard deviational ellipses, finding groups tend to occupy different parts of the city from north to south, though the method oversimplifies dispersion.
The document summarizes two ArcGIS assignments analyzing accessibility and spatial distribution. The first analyzes accessibility to proposed environmental education centers in LA using Euclidean distance, noting it has limitations but can still provide useful information. A more complex analysis considering additional factors like transportation systems is needed. The second examines the spatial distribution of racial/ethnic groups in Dallas using standard deviational ellipses, finding groups tend to occupy different parts of the city from north to south, though the method oversimplifies dispersion.
The document summarizes two ArcGIS assignments analyzing accessibility and spatial distribution. The first analyzes accessibility to proposed environmental education centers in LA using Euclidean distance, noting it has limitations but can still provide useful information. A more complex analysis considering additional factors like transportation systems is needed. The second examines the spatial distribution of racial/ethnic groups in Dallas using standard deviational ellipses, finding groups tend to occupy different parts of the city from north to south, though the method oversimplifies dispersion.
The document summarizes two ArcGIS assignments analyzing accessibility and spatial distribution. The first analyzes accessibility to proposed environmental education centers in LA using Euclidean distance, noting it has limitations but can still provide useful information. A more complex analysis considering additional factors like transportation systems is needed. The second examines the spatial distribution of racial/ethnic groups in Dallas using standard deviational ellipses, finding groups tend to occupy different parts of the city from north to south, though the method oversimplifies dispersion.
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Griffen Angel
Urban GIS – Lab 5
Chapter 6 – ArcGIS Essay
In this ArcGIS assignment, we take the Los Angeles area census tracts and compute their accessibility to various proposed sites for environmental education centers. The method used involves a formula that incorporates Euclidian distance to the various sites. This formula gives one some idea of accessibility, but is problematic due to the fact that it uses Euclidian distance to calculate it. When people travel, it normally involves travelling along roads or rail, something that requires network analysis. Despite this weakness, Euclidian distance will ultimately be an obvious factor in any accessibility analysis, and this analysis can still prove useful. In addition to factoring in the road and rail layout, the actual accessibility to these networks should be analyzed. Simply being near a road doesn’t always indicate that someone will be able to use it. Bus stops and depot access will both play important roles, especially to those newer citizens who may not have personal autos. For the LA example, we see there are at least three major language groups that require consideration for this project. The simple population potential formula does not take into account these disparate groups, only that they do not speak English as their primary language. The population potential formula used for the assignment is only the simplest version, however. From the chapter reading, we see that a more complex formula can be utilized to factor in other variables, such as transportation system characteristics, timing of the activity, characteristics of the individual (such as spoken language), and the type of activities occurring at these access points. The simple version is a good start, but a more complex analysis would be needed to produce optimal accessibility information.
Chapter 7 – ArcGIS Essay
The chapter 7 exercise has us examine spatial attributes of how different racial and ethnic groups are distributed in a major city, which in this case is Dallas, TX. The groups discussed are Asians, Hispanics and African-Americans, and the methodology used is the centrographic method. The centrographic method has benefits over an index of dissimilarity in the way it factors in spatial distribution. Additionally, the specific centrographic method used for this activity features standard deviational ellipses instead of circles, indicating the directional orientation of the distribution. Upon analysis, one feature that stands out is how each each group seems to occupy a different section of the city, as one moves from north to south. The standard deviational ellipses indicate this, but the reality of the dispersion is, obviously, not as clear-cut. This indicates a weakness of the method. For example, the majority of primarily-Asian and African-American tracts fall within one standard distance of the mean center, so they appear less spread out than the Hispanic ones, who appear the least concentrated. The mean centers are arranged with the Asian center furthest north, then the Hispanic center 7 miles south of it, followed by the African-American center 10.5 miles south of the Hispanic center. The location of the African-American mean center close to downtown, is a possible indicator of this group’s relative affluence in the area. Since wealthier groups tend to move to the suburbs, its likely this group falls into the lowest socio-economic strata. Conversely, the Asian group’s relatively far distance from downtown indicates they are on the opposite end of this spectrum. Griffen Angel Urban GIS – Lab 5
Comparison between created Geodatabase and Meck County database
Despite the fact the Mecklenburg County database is easier to load into ArcGIS and use, the King County database has a number of advantages over it. One advantage that stands out with the King County database is its larger number of attribute fields. These additional fields provide more detailed information on the various parcels. Also, the databases in the King County example are separate, which allows one to import them separately, possibly avoiding any sluggishness on the ArcGIS end (it doesn’t need to be slowed down with superfluous information). Given the attribute information is stored in Access tables, updating this information is much easier in the King County database. Additionally, the speed at which tables can be imported into Access is faster than that of ArcCatalog (since the Mecklenburg Database is a .dbf file portion of a shapefile format, additional information can only be added on with a tabular join or relate). This is not to mention the ability of Access to save queries, and to select a subset of columns, in addition to rows. While these numerous advantages exist, the Mecklenburg database has benefits from being a convenient, self-contained shapefile. Simply add the data into ArcGIS, and its ready to go.
