SSPA course2020-03-23. Code: https://github.com/ITSLeeds/SSPA

Session outline:

  • Recap on progress with the coursework
  • Practical working on your projects
  • (And an opportunity to ask questions)

Recap on previous sessions

  • Many examples of indicators presented (none right or wrong)
  • Why bother creating indicators?
  • What different types of indicators are there?
  • How can geographic data analysis help?

Key resources:

Why make indicators?

Source: (Boisjoly and El-Geneidy 2017)

Indicators change the world

  • Most indicators emphasise time saving and economic growth, leading to the misled emphasis on motorised modes and speed (Banister 2008)
  • Different indicators can lead to different policies.
  • The Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT) is changing how millions of £ is being invested in cycling, making it more evidence-based (Lovelace et al. 2017)

Indicators can be simple

If communicated effectively

See www.pct.bike

Tip: be skeptical of existing measures

  • How good is this indicator? (source: Mattingly and Morrissey 2014)

An interactive catch-up on progress (virtual hands up)

  • Who plans to use QGIS?
  • Study area decisions
  • Indicator aims decided
  • Data access
  • Data analysis started

Progress with coursework

Examples of good project reports

See examples in teaching resources

Warning on using large datasets

  • But first 5 commandments of Big Data (see Lovelace et al. 2016):
  1. thou shalt remember the purpose of thine research regardless of the size of thine dataset
  2. thou shalt not spend excessive amounts of time making visualising big data for the sake of it (or social media clickbait)
  3. thou shalt not do big data until thou has done ‘small data’ first
  4. thou shalt not hide thine ideas behind complex terminology associated with the terms ‘big data’ or ‘data science’, the meaning of which has not been clearly identified.
  5. if thou wants to be a data scientist thou must program … “for documentation, sharing and scientific repeatability” (mount 2016).

References

Banister, David. 2008. “The Sustainable Mobility Paradigm.” Transport Policy 15 (2): 73–80. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2007.10.005.

Boisjoly, Genevi‘eve, and Ahmed M. El-Geneidy. 2017. “The Insider: A Planners’ Perspective on Accessibility.” Journal of Transport Geography 64 (October): 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2017.08.006.

Lovelace, Robin, Mark Birkin, Philip Cross, and Martin Clarke. 2016. “From Big Noise to Big Data: Toward the Verification of Large Data Sets for Understanding Regional Retail Flows.” Geographical Analysis 48 (1): 59–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/gean.12081.

Lovelace, Robin, Anna Goodman, Rachel Aldred, Nikolai Berkoff, Ali Abbas, and James Woodcock. 2017. “The Propensity to Cycle Tool: An Open Source Online System for Sustainable Transport Planning.” Journal of Transport and Land Use 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2016.862.

Mattingly, K., and J. Morrissey. 2014. “Housing and Transport Expenditure: Socio-Spatial Indicators of Affordability in Auckland.” Cities 38 (June): 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2014.01.004.