The purpose of this lab is the determine ideal locations of where a golf pro shop should be located in the city of Eau Claire. To do this, five different feature classes were used to filter criteria to find the best possible locations. These include zoning_areas, WITracts, majroads, InfGolfCenter, and ECGolfCourses. The city limits feature class (EC_City_Limits) was also used, but no tools were performed on it The ideal location for a golf pro shop, in this lab, is located in a commercial zoning class, is within one and one half mile of a golf course, is within a quarter mile of a main road, is in a census tract which has an average median household income of at least $45,000, and is at least three quarters of a mile away from the Infinity Golf Center (a golf pro shop already in Eau Claire). This information would be useful for someone who is looking to start up a golf pro shop. Also, anyone would be able to use this information, and could be useful for people looking for locations for a golf repair shop.
Data Sources
The data sources for each initial feature class varied. The EC_City_Limits, and the zoning_areas feature class came from the City of Eau Claire's geodatabase which our university has some access to. The WITracts, and the median household income table were downloaded off of the Census Fact Finder's website. The majroads feature class came from the US geodatabase which comes with the Textbook Mastering ArcGIS. The InfGolfCenter, and the ECGolfCourses feature classes were created manually by digitizing the golf courses, and store as a polygon. There aren't any major concerns with the data sources, but a couple of minor ones. First, the majroads feature class was not really to the scale of Eau Claire. In some extreme cases, the roads were as much as 50 ft off from the actual road. Most of the time, this wasn't an issue though. Also, when digitizing, its probable that the polygons were not the exact boundaries of the golf course, or Infinity Golf Center shop. Both of these minor concerns aren't really big enough to have a significant impact on the final result,
Methods
Step 1: Query the Zoning Areas to Include only the Commercial Zoning Class
First, a query was done on the zoning_areas feature class to select only the commercial zoning class features. Then, these features were created into a new feature class named EC_Commercial. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.0.
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| Fig 4.0: Data Flow Model for Step 1 |
Step 2: Create a Feature Class with Census Tracts Which Have an Average Household Median Income Greater Than $45,000
To do this, both the WITracts shapefile, and the Median Household Income table had to be downloaded from the Census Bureaus Fact Finder website. After being downloaded, they were exported into ArcMap. Then, a join was performed between them using the Geo_id field as the common key. This made the median household income field available in the WITracts attribute table. To get the feature class to only display those census tracts which have an average household median income greater than $45,000, a query was done. To make the feature class more cartographically pleasing, the Dissovle tool was ran on it. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.1.
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| Fig 4.1: Data Flow Model for Step 2 |
Step 3: Buffer Out the Main Roads in Eau Claire
In order to do this step, a query must be done on the mjroads class to only select the roads which will be considered main roads. These roads include Hwy 53, S Farewell St, Clairemont Ave, and Interstate 94. Then, with these roads selected, a new feature class was made. Next, this feature class was buffered out one quarter mile. Lastly, the Dissolve tool was ran on it to get rid of the internal boundaries. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.2.
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| Fig 4.2: Data Flow Model for Step 3 |
Step 4: Create and Buffer Out the Golf Course in Eau Claire
First, there was no shapefile which had the golf courses, so a feature class was created in ArcCatalog. Then, digitizing was done using satellite imagery to create polygon features for the golf courses. Next, these polygons were buffered out one and one half miles to meet the criteria for the location of the golf pro shop. The new feature class was then dissolved to make eliminate the internal boundaries. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.3.
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| Fig 4.3: Data Flow Model for Step 4 |
Step 5: Create and Buffer Out Infinity Golf Center
The Infinity Golf Center also didn't have a shapefile, so a new feature class was created in ArcCatalog. Then, just like the golf courses, the Infinity Golf Center was digitized as a polygon. After this, the polygon was buffered out three quarters of a mile. This is an area which the golf pro shop cannot be located in, as it would be too close to a competitor. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.4.
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| Fig 4.4: Data Flow Model for Step 5 |
Step 6: Intersect the Appropriate Feature Classes
In this step, the criteria for which the golf pro shop is to be located in is intersected. These feature classes include ECGolfBufDis, ECRdsBufDis, Tract45KDis, and EC_Commerical. This new output layer feature class is given the name GoodGolfStoreLoc. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.5.
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| Fig 4.5: Data Flow Model for Step 6 |
Step 7: Erase the Infinity Golf Center Buffer From the Good Golf Store Locations
Feature Class
Prior to doing this step, the Infinity Golf Center was already located in the best locations for a golf pro shop. Because there shouldn't be too many golf pro shops located next to each other, the Erase tool was used between GoodGolfStoreLoc and InfGolfCenterBufDis. Doing this will result in the final output layer (PrimeGolfStoreLoc) which will represent the best places to start up a golf pro shop in Eau Claire based upon the criteria stated in the introduction. The data flow model for this step is shown below in Fig 4.6.
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| Fig 4.6: Data Flow Model for Step 7 |
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| Fig 4.7: Data Flow Model |
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| Fig 4.8: Ideal Golf Pro Shop Locations |
Also added to the map were some of the features which the criterion was based on. These include the Eau Claire city limits, the golf courses, and the main roads. An inset map is also present to show where Eau Claire is located in Wisconsin.
Evaluation
Overall, this project went pretty well. It took a while to develop a spatial question which would work, but other than that there weren't any issues. Because there weren't any shapefiles online which contained the golf courses, or Infinity Golf Center, they had to be created manually. This process didn't take long, as only five golf courses had to be digitized, and there is only one Infinity Golf Center. If the project were to be redone, the only thing that should be changed is the criterion for the household median income. Instead of querying the areas by tracts, it could be done using block groups which are smaller. This would have led to an increase in the number of possible locations for the golf pro shop.
Sources
Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS). (n.d.). American FactFinder Retrieved December 14, 2016 from http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t
City of Eau Claire's geodatabase
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