Site Analysis

This lab consisted of preforming spatial analysis to find the easiest route

for access to a new proposed school in the town of Stowe, Vermont. The town of Stowe,

Vermont has had an increase of population due to many families with children moving in

due to all the recreational activities it offers. The great influx of children is causing

overpopulation in the current schools and therefore a new school is being proposed.

Our first step is to find the best location for this new school. We must first gather our

data and open arc-catalog to use the spatial analyst tool functions. Once we have

displayed our data we can begin to manipulate the data to do a suitable analysis in the

model-builder feature under the spatial analyst tools.

Model builder allows us to display our data in an organized manner and later

calculate and run functions such as distances, etc. Model builder also allows us to

import and change information from raster to vector data-sets so we can make better

use of them in arc-map. We will locate the most suitable place for the new school based

on our land-use, elevation, recreational sites, schools, slope, and relative distances.

Since we do not have all these data-sets, we will have to use model builder to derive

some such as the slope and distances between points. After deriving this information we

will be able to give them a value from 1 to 10 according to their influence on the best

new location. After doing so, we will end up with a map displaying the suitable locations

for the new school. After carefully viewing the most suitable locations and selecting the

one spot that is best, we will then have to find the best access route to get to the new

school.

In order to find the most accessible way to the new school we must preform a

cost distance analysis using the cost distance tool. To preform the cost distance

analysis I will use the cost and source data-sets. I will assign values to the land types

according to its accessibility, for instance water will be 10 while barren land will be 2

because it is easier to build a road through there. When completed, we will end up with

a raster data-set of the least costly route which you will then have to convert to a poly

line feature.

Once all these steps are complete I can proceed to making my final map. In my

final map I have added the location of the new school site, along with the new route. We

can see the types of land the new route traverses along with the nearby roads. We can

see that this new route uses the shortest distance through the roads to save people

time and it will also save money because no new extensive road work will have to be

done. Spatial analysis in terms of suitability analysis and cost analysis is very useful

when planning out new locations for both public and private places. It also allows us to

find the most efficient and accessible way to get from one point to another. Although

spatial analysis has many advantages, it can also cause some problems because it

cannot cover environmental things such as land depths, or account for what may

happen if that area is changed. For instance, if a gas company was looking for a place

to add a gas station they may find a good location but it may have an underground

water system which can be ruined if the gas station was placed there. Another example

is if a mall was looking for a place and the best suitable place was in a section of the

forest because of space, but if the forest is changed it can bring problems to the animals

and ecosystem. We must also consider how up to date the data is that we are using to

create the analysis because things do change over time. Despite these factors,

suitability analysis seems to be good for planning and development.