Spatial Analysis of Subway Zones
    in Boston, Massachusetts

     

    Introduction

    This project sought to explore which interesting properties exist in walking distance, which are 0.5-mile and 1-mile buffer zones, from subway lines in Boston, Massachusetts, by employing spatial and statistical analyses. With the aid of the Geographic Information Systems’ (GIS) software and Web presentation tools, I want to make an information system for those zones with the demographics of surrounding communities on the Web.

     

    Objectives

    The following research questions are to guide the investigation:
    1. What are the geographic characteristics of zones in walking distance from subway routes in Boston, Massachusetts?
    2. Is there a relationship between race and class, and proximity to the various facilities in downtown, Boston?
    3. What are the demographic patterns with relation to points of interest in Boston?
    4. What differences are there between operations for a spatial analysis?
    5. Is there a relationship between race and class regarding households and house units in census information?

     

    Data Preparation and Construction

    Demographic data for this study, in the form of census block groups and street layers for the state of Massachusetts, can be acquired from the U.S. Bureau of Census’ TIGER files. These data may be relatively simple to obtain and come in a format easily downloaded as shape files in ArcView from the ESRI Web pages (http://www.esri.com/).

    Data on subway systems and facility locations (points of interest) will be initially retrieved off of the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) pages on the Web (http://www.mbta.com/), and I have created datasets to be extracted into the street layers for the geo-matching process.


    SUBWAY ZONES IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS / ABSTRACT