(An In-class Project Using ArcGIS)
When parents are deciding which school to send their kids to, one thing they will consider is commuting. Commonly, parents will drive their kids to school if kids are still young. Some schools provide school buses with fixed routes. Even so, many families are facing the commuting problems. Sending children to schools through driving requires parents coordinating their schedules with schools, while some children are living in neighborhoods that could not be covered by school bus routes.
To ensure the safety of kids commuting to school, the Safe Routes to School(SRTS) program was initiated to help to make walking and bicycling to school safer and more accessible for children and to increase the number of children who choose to walk, bicycle, take public transit, or ride in parental carpools.[1]
Currently, the SRTS program has covered more than 40 schools in San Francisco. Still, some schools are located in areas with high commuting risks but are not included by the SRTS program. To identify these schools, we started an in-class project by using ArcGIS and tried to provide a safer commuting recommendation for schools.
The seven schools on our map are those with 2+ collisions(2015-2016) within two-block radius. Two of them have already joined the SRTS program. We took a further examination of these seven schools and found out some schools were located in areas with higher crime density and busier traffic flow. These schools, including Cesar Chavez Elementary and Five Keys Charter, should be prioritized to join the SRTS program.
[1] http://www.sfsaferoutes.org/about-2/
(To download the PDF of this map, please click here.)
