Homework Assignment#3 (Final Submission)

STHT 506 - GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Homework Assignment#3 (Final Submission)

Requirement: 

(a) Use the Tainan City Madou District vector layers: district & population, roads, and grocery stores. Identify which road sections are candidate for grocery store expansion in the populous villages (say, population >= 2500 inhabitants) in Madou District.

(b) Explore the use of QuickOSM plugin and evaluate its usefulness in your GIS project (explanation within 250 words).

PART A - ANSWER

Step1: Loaded in the data of Tainan City Madou District, and added the label of village names for identification.

Step 2: Selected villages with population over 2,500pax by using the function of "Select Features by Expression", highlighted in yellow were the villages selected.

Step 3: Selected Grocery Stores located in the village with population over 2500pax, by using the function of "Select by Location", then 6 stores were found from the list.

Step4: Used the "Buffer" function and assumed one Store is sufficient in providing services for citizens within 500 meters distance. Then we found the service coverage of these 6 Stores, the round areas highlighted in Pink.

Step 5: Used the function of "Difference" under "Vector, to find out the difference between the areas with population over 2500 pax and the coverage area of the 6 Stores

Step 6: Unselected the coverage area of the 6 stores, then we will get the potential areas for Store Expansion. (Areas highlighted in dark pink)

Step 7: When considering areas to extend the business of stores, we could not just focus on the populations of the selected city / village, there are things also needed to be addressed like population distribution / traffic flow / locations of public facilities like schools, tourism attractions, as well as parking space as this is sth costumer may think about when considering a place to shop. QuickOSM is applied for exploring the selected areas.

Step 8: In this case, we have explored the locations of schools, carpark facilities, park, tourism spots, attraction, roads, accommodations, apartment as well as office buildings, within the selected areas, to see if any areas with high traffic and could be benefit for the business development. 

Step 9: Unfortunately, based on the current data, only two schools were found and one attraction attraction were found within the selected area. 

Step 10, In conclusion, when considering the area or road sections for grocery store expansion, the areas around "興中路" and "忠孝路" is highly suggested, as there are "麻豆高中" and "文正國小" and also based on the open street map (another way to check the distribution of apartment / guest house if there is nothing from the QuickOSM) more apartments are located just around the mentioned road sections.

PART B - ANSWER

The QuickOSM plugin is a valuable tool for QGIS, enabling users to easily access OpenStreetMap (OSM) data within their GIS projects. It streamlines the process of querying and retrieving specific OSM data, providing a convenient means to incorporate rich geographical information without the need for extensive manual data acquisition.

The plugin allows users to define search parameters such as feature types, tags, and geographical extent, empowering them to extract OSM data that directly aligns with the requirements of their GIS projects. This functionality greatly enhances the accessibility of OSM data, which is renowned for its crowd-sourced, detailed, and frequently updated geographical information.

In a GIS project, the QuickOSM plugin can prove incredibly useful for various applications. It facilitates the augmentation of existing geospatial datasets with OSM data, enabling users to enrich their analyses and visualizations with up-to-date information on roads, buildings, land use, points of interest, and more. Additionally, it can provide valuable support for tasks such as base map creation, urban planning, transportation network analysis, and environmental assessments.

By simplifying the retrieval of OSM data and its integration into GIS projects, the QuickOSM plugin expedites and enriches the spatial analysis process. Its usefulness is particularly evident when rapid access to current and detailed geographical data is essential for informed decision-making and comprehensive understanding of the study area.

In summary, the QuickOSM plugin represents a powerful asset for GIS professionals, offering a streamlined method to leverage the wealth of geospatial information available through OpenStreetMap, thereby enhancing the depth and accuracy of GIS project outcomes.