Food Access in San Bernardino
Who has access to grocery and convenience stores within a 10-minute drive and walk time in San Bernardino County, California?
The goal was to identify Census Blocks in San Bernardino County that have access to food within a 10-minute drive or walk time. We explored a few interesting facts about food access:
64% of the population (1.4 million people) live in areas that do not have access to stores within a 10-minute walk. Only 1.4% of the population live in areas that do not have access to stores within a 10-minute walk or drive time.
Analysis "Ingredients"
- Grocery Store and Convenience Store locations acquired from SafeGraph Places Dataset
- Street Network from ArcGIS StreetMap Premium
- USA Census 2020 Redistricting Blocks from Living Atlas of the World
- Origin Destination Access Analysis task designed by Jim Herries from Living Atlas of the World
Convenience stores include stores like 7-Eleven and gas stations, while grocery stores include stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and Albertsons.
Analysis "Recipe"
1. Compare data sources
Ground validation of samples to identify the degree of discrepancy from the real world
2. Filter dataset
Global dataset filtered to retrieve only NAICS codes for Grocery stores or Supermarkets (445110), Convenience stores (445120) (i.e., the Destinations)
3. Generate centroids
Generate centroids from Census Blocks which represent an aggregation of where people are traveling from ( i.e., the Origins)
4. Origin - Destination Analysis
Solve Network analysis using Origins (Census Block Centroids) and Destinations (Stores) to generate a matrix of connections
5. Generate food access surface
Interpolation techniques to generate a surface to visualize driving and walking access patterns
Let's explore individual elements of the map to discover spatial patterns and relationships.
The first element is the Grocery Store locations. The map combines two types of stores - Grocery Stores or Supermarkets and Convenience Stores
Zooming in to Redlands...
We learn more about Grocery stores labeled in Orange.
A few common examples are Stater Bros., Vons, Albertsons, and Sprouts.
And the Convenience stores labeled in Red.
A few common examples are Circle K, ampm, and 7-Eleven.
Access to stores within a 10-minute walk time is represented in green.
The walk time areas are symbolized by the count of stores walkable to each Census Block within 10-minutes.
A lighter shade of green symbolizes walking access to .
A darker shade of green symbolizes walking access to .
Access to stores within a 10-minute drive time is represented in blue.
The drive time areas are symbolized by the count of stores drivable to each Census Block within a 10-minute drive time.
A lighter shade of blue symbolizes driving access to .
A darker shade of blue symbolizes driving access to more than .
Each Census Block has been assigned a walk score based on the results of the Origin-Destination matrix. The size of the symbol varies based on the 2020 population.
In Redlands, even though areas are drivable to grocery stores, vehicle ownership tells a different story.
Let us zoom in to the University of Redlands...
It falls within the 10-minute drivable zone to grocery and convenience stores bordering the area, however, there are hundreds of households in this area that do not own a car.
Number of households without vehicles
Food Deserts
A food desert is a geographic area with limited access to affordable food. Low access (by driving and walking) and low income are key factors that drive an area to such a condition.
Let us draw our attention to a few areas which have low access (within a 10-minute drive or walk time) in San Bernardino County.
The map represents all Census Blocks that display low-access to food stores (by drive or walk) in San Bernardino County.
A few examples would be areas around Barstow, Twentynine Palms, , and Joshua Tree.
The areas record over 400 people affected by low-accessibility by walking or driving.
Future work
- Include transit route as a travel mode
- Explore socio-economic demographic variables to understand disparities
Explore the map!
Use the link below to explore the web map and find out whether we are in a food paradise or a food desert.
https://arcg.is/n0PT10
10-Minute Food Access
