Welcome to the final post for the Special Topics in GIS course. This last portion is dedicated to the report on Food Deserts that has culminated the last few weeks of preparation and analysis. The overall objective for this project was to explore open source GIS software and web mapping applications to create a simple but custom web map to work in concert with standalone maps generated with other open source GIS software, specifically QGIS.
The culmination of the analysis results is presented in the fully narrated PowerPoint presentation linked below. Additionally, the independent web map, also linked below, is embedded into the presentation.
Central Brevard Food Desert PowerPoint Presentation
Central Brevard Food Desert Interactive Web Map
A brief overview: A food desert is an area in or around a city or urban center that is outside of 1 mile from a grocery store that doesn't offer fresh produce or other whole foods. The lack of these fresh foods can lead to compounding health issues for those who might not have the means to travel farther to grocery stores with them and are stuck with local potentially unhealthy options. My project involved investigating the city of Rockledge, Florida for the presence of food deserts. The data was investigated at the census tract level, looking at the population information from the 2010 census. The center of the census tracts was evaluated to determine those outside of 1 mile from the grocery stores present. These food deserts were then color coded by population distribution highlighting those most impacted. The interactive web map supplements this information by allowing you to a better visual sense of the neighborhood distribution for the area in relation to the census tracts.
Overall, I've really enjoyed this course throughout the past semester. I have learned a lot during the UWF GIS Certificate Program and I hope to use all of my newly found knowledge for whatever is yet to come. I'm looking forward to becoming a Crime Analyst for a local police department at some point, and I'm excited about taking more classes to help me reach that goal.
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