Our
final project was a location analysis designed to pull together the many new
facets of GIS which we learned this semester for this project I used the
following scenario: Dr. Foramen has
recently joined the Orthopedic and Spine Institute at St. Lucie Medical Center as
Head of Surgery. She and her son, Brad,
will be relocating to the City of Port Saint Lucie. Since Brad is in his senior year of high
school, Dr. Foramen wants him to graduate before they move to Florida. As she is currently working a full caseload
at the Emory University Orthopaedics [sic] and Spine Hospital in Tucker,
Georgia, Dr. Foramen does not have time to search for their new home location;
compounding this problem is that Brad graduates in May and her new position as
Head of Surgery begins in July. She has
hired my firm, RealGIS® , to evaluate potential homes based upon six criteria: proximity to St. Lucie Medical Center,
proximity to Indian River State College, a neighborhood with more owners than
renters, a neighborhood with a higher percentage of 40-49 year olds, lying with
the city limits and improved land value of no less than $400,000. In order to produce professional results, the
following objectives were established: Objective
1:
Calculate
Euclidean Distance for the criteria specified by Dr. Foramen
a.
Location
close to St. Lucie Medical Center
b.
Location
close to Indian River State College
c.
Location
within the city limits of Port Saint Lucie
Calculate
the following items for the criteria specified by Dr. Foramen
d.
A
neighborhood with a higher percentage of people 40-49 years of age
e.
A
neighborhood with a higher percentage of owners than renters
f.
Improved
values no lower than $400,000
Objective 2: Conduct a weighted analysis of
the above criteria considering various priority levels.
Objective 3:
Identify potential locations based on Dr. Foramen’s criteria and the
analysis results.
Objective 4:
Present a report and Power Point Presentation summarizing the methods,
analysis and recommended locations for their new home.
Included
within the Power Point Presentation were explanations and maps of the entire
process as well as analysis results. I
chose to produce a basemap of St. Lucie County, a map with 6 data frames to
address above items a-f and a map depicting two weighted analysis data frames
and two larger neighborhood/parcel level maps which I had determined to be good
choices for my client.
I am satisfied with the overall
results of my project. I feel the
information would be helpful to aid my client and determining where they would
like to live. Because of the wide
variety of data obtained, widening or narrowing the search would be a
relatively easy task. I would probably
have lowered the base Improved Land Value criteria to $280,000-$300,000 as home
values have not recovered quite as much as I had expected since the economic
downturn. The higher minimum of $400,000
made obtaining results a bit trickier than expected, but not impossible. Including a photo array of the neighborhoods,
work and school campuses and possibly some traffic statistics would be nice
supplements to such a project. The
following link may be used to access my final presentation:
