GEOG 2017 Exercise #2 Spatial AnalysisS
Introduction
In this exercise, you will be siting a retail business of your choice in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
You are provided with the following data in GEOG 2017 Exercise 2 (Ex2) on the Courses
Drive:
1) Sault Ste. Marie geodatabase (“SSM Extract 2014”) including addresses, bus stops,
heritage sites, contours, open water courses, railways, street centerlines, building
footprints, lakes, parcels, parks, and zoning.
2) Census tract data for Sault Ste. Marie (shape file called ssm_cen2011) including
household ownership, total population by visible minority groups, educational levels,
household income, household population, and employment data. (a legend “CT2011” is
provided for the column headers in Excel format).
3) The Zoning By-Law 2005-150 document from the City of Sault Ste. Marie, which on p. 6
and 7 of the Adobe Acrobat file defines the zoning codes for different type of land uses.
Your business must be sited on land zoned commercial (C1, C2, CT2, C3, C4, or C5).
Project
Your job is to:
a. [10 marks x 2 = 20 marks] Create two maps that show the average household
income and another variable of your choice of census tracts in Sault Ste. Marie (with
appropriate symbolization – North Arrow, scale, projection name, title explaining
what you are mapping, units, legend). [Additional Notes: You need to make sure all
layers are properly projected (see Exercise 1 if necessary) before you begin. When
mapping data on populations in census tracts, be sure to use percentages (except
for variables reported as rates or average or median values). To calculate
percentages, add a new field, and use the field calculator. Also, remember to note
the year that the data (average household income and other variable) was collected.
Your presentation should also distinguish between census data with attributes of
“0” versus “no data”].
b. Produce another map showing the land zoned commercial in Sault Ste. Marie (you
do not have to submit this map).
c. [1 mark] Based on the three maps above decide on which census tract to locate
your business according to your target market.
GEOG 2017 Exercise #2 Spatial Analysis
Page 2
d. [2 marks] Find the number of addresses (households) in this census tract. Hint: you
will need to use the ‘Select by Location’ command for this question. Select your
census tract, and then select the addresses that are within your census tract.
e. [2 marks] Find the total area of land zoned commercial in this census tract.
Hint for Step e). This question is a little tricky. Here are some hints. First you need
to select and export your chosen census tract to create a new layer with only your
census tract. Then, in Step b earlier, you should have extracted only the commercial
zoning from all other zoning codes to produce a separate layer. You will then need
to intersect your commercial zoning layer with your census tract (check directions
in Exercise 1). This should yield only commercial zoning in your census tract. Next,
you need to calculate the area of commercial zoning. To do this, add a new field to
the intersect product attribute table, and then right click. “Calculate geometry”,
continue and select the units (square meters kilometres). To obtain a total area,
right click on newly calculated area field, and select Statistics and examine Sum.
f. [1 mark] Calculate the number of bus stops in your census tract (if there are bus
stops in your tract).
g. [10 marks] By examining the building footprints, bus stops, and other features in
the geodatabase, identify particular sites for your business, and, create a map to
show the potential locations. It may be helpful to create a small inset map of the
whole city to show where your census tract is located within the city. This inset can
appear in the corner of your more detailed map (of the potential locations within a
census tract). You can create an inset map by right clicking on your layer (Yellow
Layer) in the Table of Contents, and selecting “Copy”, then click into the Map
Window and right click “Paste”. Two Layers should now appear in your Table of
Contents. You can zoom in on your Census Tract in one layer, and then show the
overall city in another layer. Both layers can be independently positioned in the
Page Layout Window.
h. [10 marks] Develop a flowchart showing the **general** procedures to conduct your
business analysis (all above steps). Please do not include individual keystrokes in
your answer. I want you to reflect on the assignment. I would like to ensure that you
understand the data preparation and analysis procedures.
i. [4 marks] Submit a text description of your business including your business name
(be creative!), target market, analysis process, and findings. The census variables
you mapped in Step A should be mentioned in your description.
NOTE FOR SUBMISSION: Please save all map files in Adobe Acrobat. The text file
with your written answers can be in Adobe Acrobat or Word. If you like, you can
save the files together by compressing them (opposite of extract procedure we
conducted last exercise). The name(s) of the file(s) that you submit should begin
with your last name.
Total: 50 marks