Network Analyses for WIC Retailers, Fire Stations, and Treatment Facilities of Tacoma, WA
This analysis demonstrates service areas (both walking and driving) of three services in Tacoma, Washington.
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WIC refers to the Women, Infant, and Children Nutrition Program. The 22 WIC retailers of Tacoma were analyzed for walking times as well as a route planned for the most efficient way to deliver food to these retailers.
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Fire stations, or EMS stations, were analyzed for driving response times for all of Tacoma.
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Last, Tacoma's seven residential treatment facilities for drug and alcohol rehabilitation were analyzed for walking times to the centers. In addition to service areas, average home values were also calculated both within and without the walking distance zones.
Tacoma Network
The Setup
First, all data was clipped to the Tacoma city boundary.
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Then, a network dataset was created using the Tacoma streets data once the appropriate fields for length in miles, driving times, and walking times were added. All parameters were default except the following:
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Modeling the elevation from the network features (using Tacoma streets)
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Adding 'cost' attributes for distance, drive time, and walk time with corresponding evaluators
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Using distance and drive time as the parameters for the driving directions settings
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And checking "build service area index"
Women, Infant, and Children Nutrition Program Retailers
Walking Service Areas
Using the Tacoma Network, Tacoma streets, and the WIC retailer locations, a new service area was created in Network Analyst. These service areas used walking times in 1, 5, and 10 minute intervals and the option to not overlap the polygons. This layer was then exported and symbolized along with the WIC retailer points. Walking time was deemed a better choice than driving because the WIC program is for mothers of low income, thus they are less likely to own vehicles.
Delivery Route
A time-efficient delivery route was configured in Network Analyst for the twenty-two WIC retailers in Tacoma. This was achieved by adding a new route layer using drive time and distance as accumulators. The WIC retailer locations were then chosen as the input network analysis layer in order to set the stops on the route.
Barring traffic, this route would be ideal for a food truck to deliver to all WIC locations in Tacoma.
Click image for full directions
Fire Stations
Driving Service Areas
Residential Treatment Centers and Property Value
Using the Tacoma Network, service areas were created for the seven residential treatment facilities in Tacoma in 5, 10, and 15 minute walking time intervals and set to "merge by break value". This layer was then exported and symbolized.
Walking Service Areas
Property Value
Single family dwellings were selected for in the parcel data and exported as its own layer. The service area layer was then used to select by location for homes within each walking time interval. The average income within 5, 10, and 15 minutes of a treatment facility were $167,000, $172,000, and $185,000, respectively. These numbers along with the symbolized map show that in general, housing values rise the farther they are from the treatment facilities. This may be due to the fact that the facilities treat drug and alcohol addiction, hence the people who can afford housing around them will not be as affluent. Additionally, one can see that there are fewer single family homes directly around the facilities, meaning there may be more multi-family and lower-income housing available in these parts.
Maps Created by Anna McDermott
ArcMap 10.4.1
NAD 1983 HARN State Plane Washington South FIPS 4602 Feet
Sources: Lab 5 Data, Washington State Department of Health