Building Transit Equity in Toronto

I am pleased to share a new research paper called Toronto Transit Choices: Evaluation of the
Downtown Relief Line + SmartTrack Options (Click to download) that I crafted for Ryerson PL8105 - Planning for Sustainability last semester.

This project is a comparative evaluation of two important options for expanded heavy rail transit service in Toronto. To accomplish this task I developed a GIS database of the current subway network in Toronto, and two custom future scenarios: the 'Downtown Relief Line' (DRL) that has been planned for many years (the DRL has no formal route maps yet, so the route shown is an educated guess based on extensive research), and new Mayor John Tory's 'SmartTrack' line based on electrification of the existing GO network. The current subway network and the proposed routes are shown below:



Additionally, the following three maps highlight the population density, median household incomes and visible minority populations living in close proximity to each current and proposed network.

In the paper I also summarized these variables within 800 metres of the current network and each proposal, in order to compare and contrast who would benefit from expanded transit service. Among other conclusions, I recommended the City of Toronto prioritize the SmartTrack plan in the short term, and also continue ongoing development of the DRL in the longer term.

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20 Best Maps of 2014

Happy new year! In this post I have summarized my 20 favourite mapping projects from 2014. This has been an exciting year for me! I was promoted in my role at Golder Associates, working as a GIS Analyst and Cartographer on urban and environmental planning projects; however, I resigned in august and moved to Toronto to begin my Masters in Urban and Regional Planning at Ryerson University. I have continued to produce maps for this blog in my spare time using open data and I was recently hired to create maps for Dr. Richard Florida at the U of T Martin Prosperity Institute. I already have some exciting ideas for 2015, so consider subscribing to this blog to see more cool maps in the future!



 Vancouver Property Values

Metro Vancouver Commuter Challenge Trips




Comparative Study of Bicycle Infrastructure

Population Density in Metro Vancouver and Toronto

Average Home Value in Metro Vancouver

Median Income in Toronto

Visible Minority Population in Metro Vancouver and Toronto

Social Determinants of Health Research for Cowichan Valley

City of Vancouver Integrated Stormwater Management Plan Analysis

Skate Park Planning Community Consultation 

Assessment of Building Permits in Toronto

Assessment of Park Accessibility in Vancouver

Analysis of Dog Licences in Toronto and Most Popular Dog Names

Community Gardening in Vancouver and the Arbutus Corridor

Street Lamp Density in the City of Vancouver

Neighbourhood Design Evaluation of Cabbagetown

Environmental Assessment for Woodfibre LNG Proposal

Environmental Assessment for BURNCO Mine Proposal

Valentines Map

Walkability Map of Vancouver

Want More? Check out my "Thirteen Best Maps of 2013"

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Dot-Density of Visible Minority Population of Toronto

This map shows one dot for every person in Toronto. The data are from the 2011 National Household Survey, and shown by Dissemination Areas, the smallest unit socio-economic data are available from Statistics Canada. Also see my similar maps of Vancouver showing visible minorities and clusters based on immigrant origin.

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Immigration Clusters in Vancouver

Very few people who live in Vancouver were actually born here. I, for one, am a transplant like many others drawn to this beautiful city from Toronto by the mild climate and outdoor recreation opportunities. Many others have immigrated from all over the world to pursue their dreams in Canada. In fact, there are over 830,000 foreign-born people in a population of 2.1 million people living in Greater Vancouver (Statistics Canada, 2006).

Do you wonder where immigrants who have settled in this area moved from? Or perhaps you are curious why and where many people from the same origin region tend to cluster together into distinct geographic areas that are often called ethnic enclaves. I began exploring these questions when took Dr. Daniel Hiebert's course at UBC Geogrpahy and I learned there are frequent criticisms that immigrants are settling in concentrated residential spaces and developing separate social worlds. Professor Hiebert's research challenges this point by showing that immigrants actually inhabit multicultural places.

What do you think is the 'right' amount of clustering? I prefer to explore questions using the best available data, so I used Census data collected by Statistics Canada in 2006 to create a dot-density map that shows one dot for each five immigrants. These dots are also coloured to categorically display the region where people have immigrated from. Can you spot any interesting patterns?



You can also click or scroll on the interactive version of this map below to explore local clusters:
For those who are curious how I created this map, I used Arcmap 9.3 with a VERY large page layout size. The data are for dissemination areas, but the display of dots is restricted within the populated lands or ‘ecumene’ area (more on this here). If you have any other questions or ideas related to this post, please leave a comment below.

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