Approaching geospatial analytics with gridded data
Using gridded geographies to make geospatial analysis more accessible - a study of 20 minute neighbourhoods
Sometimes geospatial analysis can be incredibly complex, even when solving everyday problems. The results of these analyses can be equally as complex, making outputs less user friendly to professionals without geospatial expertise.
In the below example we have used grids - a simple, commonly understood geography - to make routing calculations faster and simpler, and to make the results much easier to utilise outside of geospatial contexts.
The end result of using grids in walkability calculations can be something like the below - a dataset of grid polygons, each attributed with the walk times from that grid square to each amenity type.
To further enhance this dataset, we've also introduced a count of residential properties and the postcode for each grid square - populated from AddressBase Plus and CodePoint With Polygons.
In the three maps below, you can view the walk time isochrones for Greenspaces, GPs, and Primary Schools, with walk times placed in 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 25+ minute 'buckets'.
By applying a gridded approach to our analysis, we've significantly reduced the complexity of the study and the processing time and resource required, without sacrificing an accurate and informative result.
This analysis could be easily modified to accommodate other amenities (i.e. post offices, corner shops, dentists), a change in walking speed, or introduce barriers to walkability (i.e. steps, barriers).
The use case for grids doesn't stop there. A similar methodology could be used to approach analysis of land use / cover, population density, and more, with Ordnance Survey's authoritative geospatial data data behind it.
This story map has been created using the following data:
- OS MasterMap® Highways Network – Roads
- OS MasterMap® Highways Network – Paths
- AddressBase® Plus
- Code-Point® with polygons
Further detail about these can be found on the OS website product pages .
The logo in the top left of this story map will take you to the main OS website homepage.
More story map examples like this one can be found on the More Than Maps site.