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Transit Accessibility Beyond Fixed Distance Buffers in Ottawa
Overview
This project examined how transit connectivity can expand accessibility beyond a standard 1 km distance buffer. Three Ottawa locations, Canadian Tire Centre, Centrepointe, and Downtown, were analyzed to determine how nearby transit stops influence the total area accessible to residents.
Data Sources
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Ottawa Transit Stops
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Ottawa Census Dissemination Areas
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Custom study locations
Methodology
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Created 1 km buffers around each study location.
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Identified transit stops located within each buffer.
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Generated secondary buffers around those transit stops.
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Dissolved overlapping polygons into a single accessibility area.
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Calculated and compared the total accessible area for each location.
Results

Key Findings
Although all three locations began with the same 1 km radius, accessibility outcomes differed significantly. Centrepointe benefited from a dense surrounding transit network, resulting in the largest increase in accessible area. Canadian Tire Centre remained comparatively isolated, with fewer transit connections and a substantially smaller accessible area.
Skills Demonstrated
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QGIS
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Spatial Analysis
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Buffer Analysis
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Spatial Joins
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Geoprocessing
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Cartography
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Data Visualization
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