GIS4048 Location Decisions – Homing in on Alachua County

This module's lab exercise had students performing as consultants for a professional couple relocating to Gainesville in Alachua, Florida. Their goal is to find a home that is not only convenient to both workplaces (North Florida Regional Medical Center and University of Florida) but also is in a neighborhood of primarily owner occupants in their 40s. To accomplish this required demographic information from the US Census as well as school and medical facility datasets.

Analysis of Potential Home Locations by Different Criteria

With this information, the Euclidean Distance ("as the crow flies") tool first was used to generate distance zones around the hospital and then again around the university. Each of these raster layers was then reclassified to defined intervals to obtain ranked values. Identical color ramps were selected for easier comparison between data frames. The age and ownership layers were generated by adding fields to the applicable attribute tables and then using the field calculator to determine percentages. Again, the color ramps were selected so that the least ideal areas were shown in cool colors and the most ideal colors were shown with warm colors for easier comparison. These four data frames are shown on the first map with 3 census tracts meeting the ideal condition highlighted in each data frame.

The second map is composed of data frames created using the Weighted Overlay tool.  A model was utilized for this part with each factor given equal weight in the model. The usefulness of a model was demonstrated when the imaginary couple decided that they really didn't want to deal with Alachua County traffic after all and would prefer to find a home closer to work. The model was adjusted, giving higher weights for proximity to work and lower weights to the age and ownership criteria.  Changing values like this to accommodate a client's reconsiderations took very little time or effort.

Weighted Analyses of Potential Home Locations

A base map was included as an additional, separate map. After trying to pack all the above information into two maps, it became obvious that a larger format would have been a wise choice. Using weighted analysis is applicable not only to location selection for a residence, but also to determine feasibility studies including suitability of sites for farming, construction of a high-rise or ski slope, and so on.