Spatial Analysis


Part I - The factors and constraints determining health:



Factors :

   These following maps are important to the analysis because they show the data values before the linear stretch is performed.  These values therefore reflect more classes (with the exception of income) because they have not been generalized as much as they will be when the linear stretch is used.  To see the steps involved in creating these images see the cartographic model .

1.  Income Levels:  Average income was used with 20% sample data.  The income levels were devised based on Statistic Canada's income bracket breakdown.  Note that average income depends on the family size and the size of the population in that community.    

Income_level

2.  University Education - based on total population 15 years and over (20% sample data)

university education


3.  Percent employed - based on total population 15 years and older (20% sample data).

employment


4.  Percentage of dwellings owned - based on total private owned dwellings (20% sample data)

dwellings owned

My Constraint:  The location of those with 'good health' would live within 2km from a park.

First of all I had to reclassify LANDUSE into PARKS which gave me this first boolean image:
parks

Then I decided that park should be at least one square kilometer in order to encourage adequate physical activity.  To do this I ran group and then area on my image to obtain parks with such criteria.

park_>1km




    Finally, I  buffered the image to include those areas that are within 2km of a park.  This criteria was important because living in proximity to a park facilitates exercise.
parks_buff