WSU Commuting Times

As a second project for our class this week, we had to find out the average distance and time that commuter students attending Westfield State University traveled in one trip. Again, we could not use maps in our visualization of the data so below is the document that I've prepared for this assignment and then below that is the link to the website where I created the infograph! Check them out!

Click here to go to the website where I created the infograph and see my inforgaph in it's unedited format!

Enjoy and stay posted for more!

*UPDATE*

Hey everyone! I recently went through the data for the commuter students to figure out what the average straight-line distance is for commuter students to see if it would be different from the OD Cost Matrix tool that I ran to get the above information. As it turns out, there is quite a big difference. See, the OD Cost Matrix tool uses the network dataset, so the main streets for this project, to calculate how long it would take to get there but with a straight line distance, you are calculating it "as the crow flies" so you are not taking into account road distances. The average distance for commuter students using straight line distances is about 6.16 miles traveled for one trip to school. On the other hand, the average mileage traveled using the Cost Matrix was 15.6 miles. So you can see that there is a difference between the two tools. Neither tool is better than the other, you just need to keep in mind what you need to know from your data - maybe straight-line distance is a better choice for you or the cost matrix would be best - it all depends on your need!!

MA Community College Proximity

For class this week, we were asked to use two different tools to find out what towns are within 20 miles of the 15 community colleges in Massachusetts. The two tools were the Euclidean Distance tool and the Network Analyst tool. The Euclidean Distance tool measures straight-line distances, so from one town to the college "as the crow flies." The Network Analyst tool measures distances by road networks. Each tool has its advantages/disadvantages. Perhaps you don't need to know the distance on the roads or you are looking at what colleges would be closest to your house where you would need to know the distance by road networks. It's all about what you need to know from the map.

As you can see below, there is a noticeable difference between the two tools.

Enjoy and stay posted for more soon!

Straight-Line Distances

Good Wednesday evening, everyone! I seem to be a bit behind on posting recent class assignments but on Monday, the class was asked to calculate the straight-line distances from one point to several other points. This was accomplished using ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 and the Point Distance Tool. Simple enough, right? Using this tool, I was able to calculate the straight line distance from my house to several horse farms in Western Massachusetts.

Below is the map that I've created for this assignment.

I also created the same map with a grey background to better see the location of the points in Western Ma. You can choose which you find more appealing.

An important thing to keep in mind when looking at this map is that these are straight-line distances...that is, it is the distance "as the crow flies" as the saying goes. This is not the same as driving distance, which in reality is longer than a straight line distance. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it!!