Spatial Analysis of the Madison City Parks System
Sanderson Roberts
Jay Rank
sprober1@wisc.edu
jsrank@wisc.edu
Objective
The purpose of this project is to analyze the spatial layout of parks in Madison to determine if the parks system sufficiently serves the city's objective to serve the public.
Description
Background
The City of Madison has an objective to provide the ideal system of parks, natural resources and recreational opportunities, which will enhance the quality of life for everyone. The purpose of this analysis is to determine if the parks system serves the needs of the citizens. Distance and accessibility are major factors in determining the effectiveness of a parks system. The Madison Parks System consists of several classes of parks, ranging from small neighborhood parks to large community parks. The characteristics of each park vary. We believe that the citizens of Madison should have good access to the parks system.
Study Area
The area considered will be the entire City of Madison, Wisconsin.
Proposed Tasks
We will divide the city into the existing neighborhoods to help define accessibility parameters for each park. We propose to identify the spatial location of each park in Madison. We also propose to classify the parks based on their size and characteristics. We will then create a buffer zone based on street distance for each park. Each classification of park will have a different buffer distance. By overlaying the park buffer zone on the neighborhoods map we can determine areas which have good or poor accessibility to the different classifications of parks.