In recent news, gas stations have become the topic of many discussions. There is constant dialogue regarding the increasing gas prices, as well as frequent mention about gas station robbery and fraud threats at gas stations. And in conjunction with the growing "green" movement, there have been many concerns raised about the negative environmental impact and the effect that the fumes might have on human health. In this geocoding lab, I chose to look at the relationship between gas stations and schools hoping to address these questions and show that there is potentially a real danger by placing gas stations so close to schools.
The geocoded addresses presented in the map are gas stations in Contra Costa County, a diverse county in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the map, I chose to highlight two different communities; Richmond, which is generally poorer than the rest of the county, and Danville, which is where more affluent residents reside. I was hoping that there would be a discrepancy in the gas station relations to school, however there did not seem to be one. However, this does not necessarily null my hypothesis that gas stations can have a negative impact on students. My map simply presents the information, but a further project would actually be to collect data based on crime and health in young students in both of these areas. Nevertheless, the process of geocoding aided was vital in gaining accurate distances from schools. By using buffers around the geocoded points, I was able to determine which schools might have more risk factors than others.
Geocoding is not only beneficial for gaining address information but it also reveals significant information about the area that is being geocoded. For example, in order to begin the process of geocoding, I needed to obtain road information about the area in question, Contra Costa County. Once my points were then geocoded on the map, it was interesting to examine the trend of geocoded points, the gas stations. I found that gas stations, as well as schools (which I obtained through a point shapefile of California) tended to be along the main roads. Very rarely was there an outlier. This information was a byproduct of my original question but can be very helpful in addressing further questions. This proves that geocoding can be extremely beneficial in many ways that are not initially expected.
Although the geocoding process did not fully answer my question of whether or not gas stations have a negative effect on schools and students, it was still beneficial in understanding other trends in Contra Costa County and can aid in further research on this question.
References:
Contra Costa County road info: http://www2.census.gov/cgi-bin/shapefiles2009/national-files (contained address information in the attribute table)
Contra Costa Shapefile: http://gis.ats.ucla.edu/
Contra Costa School information: http://gis.ats.ucla.edu/
Gas Station Address Information: http://www.automobilemag.com/31/california/contra_costa/gas_prices.html
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