Webinar on Using GIS Tools for Bikeshed Analysis

A New Approach in GIS Bikeshed Analysis

with Consideration of Topography,

Street Connectivity, and

Energy Consumption

Presentation by Hiroyuki Iseki NCSG

Wednesday, March 12
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

   

Preinkert Field House – Conference Room 1112V
University of Maryland College Park

 

 

In recent years, bike planning has garnered attention from planners and the public as a sustainable mode of transportation and as a means to exercise and reduce health risks.  In addition, following the success of bike-share programs in cities in Paris and Lyon, France, and Montreal, Canada, several US cities initiated similar programs.  With this background, GIS has been applied to conduct a spatial analysis and produce heat maps of bike-travel demand and suitable areas for bike-sharing program.  Such studies include a variety of factors, such as demographics of residents, land use, street types, and available bike facilities and transit services.  There have been few studies, however, that take into account topography and street connectivity in an analysis.

 

This study proposes a method to combine topography and presence of intersections with estimates of energy used to bike, and incorporate the resulting travel-impedance factor, as well as street connectivity, into a GIS analysis.  Using the case of Montgomery County, Maryland, where elevation and street connectivity varies substantially among neighborhoods, this study shows how the size and shape of bikesheds originating from the proposed light rail stations vary in the GIS analysis with or without taking into account these critical factors.  The analysis results have significant implications for various bike planning programs using a GIS analysis.

HIROYUKI (HIRO) ISEKI is a research faculty with the National Center for Smart Growth and is assistant professor of Urban Studies and Planning. He earned his Bachelors of Engineering from Kyoto University, Japan, Masters of Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan, and M.A. and Ph.D. in Urban Planning from UCLA. Iseki also received post-doctoral training at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies.  Iseki’s research focuses on balancing efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in public policy and planning with a special attention to transportation, environment, and land use. His research interest includes transportation economics and finance, public transit planning and management, travel behavior analysis and modeling, regional transportation planning, and applications of GISs to research and practice in public policy and planning.