Methodology
Modus Operandi > Manual Editing with Aerial Photography
After the road network was buffered and those spaces were removed from the residential theme, the next step was to manually edit the polygons with aerial photo coverage of the Lower Mainland as our verifying source. This was a tedious task for the entire group. Certain regions required more attention (Fraser Valley), while others were simpler (Vancouver). The reason for this was that Vancouver (and other urban/suburban areas) was more accurately portrayed (due to a higher residential/nonresidential ratio), and have experienced less development over the past few years (from 1996). Rural areas had to be modified with new polygons where dwellings are located. Parks and other greenspaces were removed from the theme. Image by image, pixel by pixel, the entire study region was overlooked for misinterpretations and exclusions. To put our process into context, we have some examples of this type of situation.
In North Burnaby, two instances that we will bring to light show the basis for our madness (or motive). On the western slope of Burnaby Mountain there is a residential polygon that contains both single family homes and wooded areas (Figure 8). This is most likely the case because that entire parcel of land was originally zoned for residential use. Hastings Parkway (which has since been completed) obviously does not qualify as residential space. Figure 9 shows the same view, with the updated polygon now only encompassing residential land.
Figure 8 |
Figure 9 |
Simon Fraser U.niversity is an institutional building. By definition, people do not reside in institutional space (unless they themselves have been institutionalized, but perhaps that is an issue better raised in another forum), however, people do reside at SFU. The GVRD does not classify housing at SFU as residential. We suspect that this may have happened because housing is often temporary or short-term. Or more likely, housing at SFU was just forgotten (Figure 10). We went and digitized the areas in which housing units are present (Figure 11). This is one example of many that plagued the entire study region.
Figure 10 |
Figure 11 |
Modus Operandi:
Introduction .
Land Use Preparation .
Buffering the Road Network
Removal of the Road Network .
Manual Editing with Aerial Photography
Postal Codes and Spatial Joins .
Centroids & Density
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