Introduction
The purpose of this lab was to build upon the ArcCollector skills gained in Lab #9. Each student picked a topic of their choice, formulated a research question, developed appropriate methods, and then went into the field to collect the data using an ArcCollector application on a smartphone.
For this project, the research questions were: How are bike racks used on the UW-Eau Claire campus? How do variables such as rack location, rack type, and rack mobility influence rack occupancy? To answer these questions, data was collected on the following variables:
- Number of Bikes
- Rack Type (single or group)
- Rack Mobility (mobile or permanent)
- Rack Location (upper or lower campus)
Study Area
The study area for this project was the UW-Eau Claire campus. A college campus was chosen since universities often have more bicycle traffic than other areas because many students live nearby and biking can save on transportation costs. Figure 1 displays the locations of bikes that were assessed. While more bike rack locations exist on upper campus, many of them are located near residence halls. Many students don't actually use those bikes on a day-to-day basis, but rather park them there for long periods of time. Since these areas don't reflect daily use of bike racks, they were excluded.
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| Figure 1: Map showing the study area |
Methods
Data for this lab was collected using the Android ArcCollector mobile application on November 21st, 2016 around 11:00am. Before heading into the field for data collection, a geodatabase and feature classes were set up in ArcMap. A feature class was created for each criterion listed above as well as for notes. Domains were used to avoid spelling errors and having to type in answers in the cold weather while in the field. After the feature classes were properly set up, the map was uploaded to ArcGIS Online so it could be accessed by the ArcCollector mobile application. Then, data was collected on-campus with a smartphone (Figure 2, Figure 3).
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| Figure 2: Screenshot of data points displayed on ArcCollector app |
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| Figure 3: Screenshot of data input process on ArcCollector app |
Results & Discussion
After finishing data collection, the results were mapped using ArcMap. Figure 4, an interactive ArcGIS online map, conveys that the bike racks with the highest number of bikes are near Schofield/McIntyre Library, Centennial and Hibbard Hall. This is not surprising since these areas provide the most space for racks. Both the Schofield and Centennial bike racks were almost completely full. These numbers are likely influenced by the fact that many classes are in session at 11:00am on Mondays.
Number of Bikes by Rack at UW-Eau Claire
Figure 4: ArcGIS Online map depicting number of bikes per bike rack at UWEC
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| Figure 5: Picture of warning sign on mobile bike racks |
Bike rack mobility was an interesting variable to consider, seeing as a notice had been posted on many mobile bike racks warning that they would soon be removed for the winter (Figure 5). The photo of the notice was actually taken on Sunday, November 20th when data collection was first attempted. Unfortunately, due to technological failure, not all of the data could be collected at that time. Between Sunday at 11:00am and Monday at 11:00am, all of the mobile bike racks which had been marked with a notice had been removed. Despite this, two mobile racks were still there on Monday, neither of which had a warning notice (Figure 6). These two racks may have been left out for the winter since their location might not interfere with snow removal.
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| Figure 6: Map depicting bike rack mobility at UWEC |
Two main types of bike racks exist at UW-Eau Claire: u-shaped single bike racks and traditional long racks. When examining Figure 7, one can tell that the single racks are far more prevalent on-campus. This data is, however, affected by the fact that many of the "mobile" racks which had already been removed were also traditional "group" racks. Additionally, the bike racks near the newer buildings--Centennial and Davies Center--were almost all single racks, suggesting that the university might be moving towards this model. Having single racks which don't need to be removed in the winter could save money on removal costs.
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| Figure 7: Map depicting bike rack type at UWEC |
Conclusions
This exercise was very valuable in gaining experience with setting up and deploying a project in ArcCollector. While the data was effective in answering the research questions, it would have been more useful to gather the data before the mobile bike racks were removed for the winter. In fact, it would have been interesting to assess all of the bike racks both before and after those racks were removed to compare and contrast the findings. This project could also be expanded by completing the same exercise at different points in the day to track when students are using the bike racks most often and which locations on-campus might need more bike racks.
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