Author: Ricky Holzer
-
Elevation Profile of Parcel for New Home
A client wanted to quickly know elevation details for a parcel to build a custom home. He was unable to visit the site himself and did not want to spend the money for a survey crew. Within a few hours, I was able to show him the site had many steep slopes and was not…
-
Due Diligence for Car Wash Locations
A client had identified several cities where he wanted to expand his car wash franchise. He needed maps and data to present to investors to demonstrate the viability of the sites he selected. In addition to standard demographic information, I provided extra information related to vehicle ownership and traffic given the business’s focus on cars.…
-
Site Selection for New Seattle Business
A client approached me wanting to know the best location for his new business. He hoped to be able to present a map and data to investors to justify his site selection and potential revenue. His goal was to identify areas within Seattle city limits that 1) had sufficiently high household income to support his…
-
How to Map Your Phone Contacts by Area Code
I was looking for map inspiration when I stumbled across an atlas of projects on Daniel Huffman’s blog, somethingaboutmaps. His map of his contacts by area code seemed like a fun and easy exercise to repeat. Data Acquisition The hardest part of this map (like most GIS projects) was finding and preparing the necessary data.…
-
Comparing Median U.S. Home Values and Incomes
This week, my coworker showed me a cool map from Esri’s Living Atlas relating median home values with median incomes in the U.S. — click the image below to pull up the interactive map. I thought it was a cool idea, but something bothered me about the map. Later that night, I had a shower…
-
The Geography of American Food
I made this poster for the Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium 2019 Conference. Stay tuned for posts diving deeper into barbecue, hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, hot dogs, and fast food!
-
Adding Custom North Arrows to ArcMap 10.X
By far the easiest way to tell if someone used ArcMap to create their map is by looking at the north arrow. The first version of ArcMap, 8.0, was released at the end of 1999, and most of the software\’s included north arrows reflect the clipart-y style of that era. One of the simplest ways…
-
Analyzing Fires in Minneapolis Across Space and Time
After recently attending the Esri UC and listening to many sessions about spatial analysis, I have been inspired to test what I’ve learned. The City of Minneapolis where I currently live has an excellent open data portal, just waiting for GIS nerds like me to download and have some fun. Now I will walk you…
-
Analyzing Pedestrian Accessibility Using QGIS and OpenStreetMaps Data
Current transportation planning practices are shifting toward a focus on accessibility – the ease in which a person can reach destinations given the available transportation network – for all modes of transportation including walking, bicycling, and using public transit. This article will explain different methods of measuring accessibility and how to adapt those methods for…
-
Mapping Homelessness in the United States
After reading an article about homelessness in the U.S., I read the comments at the bottom and saw the typical finger pointing claims that liberal cities like those in California are havens for the homeless because of their lax policies and plush benefits. In particular, Los Angeles is usually called out because of the notorious…