Methodology
Step 1
Population Density Map
I need a layer that displays the population density of downtown Vancouver. I have found census information that divides downtown Vancouver to census blocks. This shows areas of dense population areas that is drawn from the 2011 Canada census results which was exported from an excel spreadsheet. I was able to delete the columns and rows that were not useful and rename them so I could easily reference them in ArcMap. This was linked to the shapefile of Vancouver that was found on the Vancouver website. I chose the areas that my analysis was focused on and selected by attribute manually. I created a separate layer which displays only the downtown area by using the selected attributes. In order to bring this into IDRISI I had to export the population ID layer into IDRISI as a vector layer because the program is unable to read an attribute table. In ArcMap I used the conversion tool polygon to raster conversion tool. When I open it in IDRISI I had to reclassify the higher dense areas with 1 and the areas according to the average resident per a square kilometre. I chose not to do an equal separation but to base it on the weighted mean value. Therefore when I created the Boolean map Values 0 not suitable from 0 – 342 and Suitable areas which is 1 from 342 – 9999.
After I converted the Boolean map to a raster format and will use that as my base map.
Step 2
Vancouver DEM Map
I wanted to use this map to calculate the slope of downtown Vancouver and isolate regions with a slope gradient of 15% and lower as walkable areas in downtown. First I imported the data from Geobase and I had to georeference the data as the data came without any assignment. From there I had to open the DEM in ArcMap and use the conversion tool raster to ascii in a format that IDRISI could read. After that was done I went to IDRISI’s ArcRaster tool to import the DEM into Idrisi.
Step 3
Street Map
Next I created a map layer showing all the streets in Vancouver and acquired the data from the City of Vancouver website. I got the shape file which I used ShapeIDR in IDRISI to open and convert to a permanent file which is vector or (*.vct). In Idrisi I used lineras to convert it to a raster format. After I assigned 0 to values that were not roads and 1 to values that were roads.
Step 4
Skytrain Map & Bike Route Map
I created a layer displaying the skytrain map exporting the data from the City of Vancouver website. I opened the shape file through ShapeIdr. After I converted the vector to raster using Lineras for the final analysis.
Then in IDRISI I set a 500m buffer around the Skytrain as it is a suitable distance to walk to and from the skytrain to catch any other forms of public transit which is within walking distance.
I did the same process for the bike lanes in downtown Vancouver. I used a 200m buffer zone.
Step 5
School & Park Map
I now am creating two layers representing the same process for Schools and Parks located in downtown Vancouver. I set the same buffer zone around parks and schools with a value of 500 meters.
