Zen LandisProfessor Jennings

Geog 9012.6.18

Final Project ReportA Map of Affordable, Safe and Accessible Neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon

For my project I created a map of neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon to help me decide where I

should live when I relocate there next spring. I sought to visualize the primary factors influencing my

decision: crime rates, cost, and accessibility to public transportation. Utilizing data from several online

sources including Portland's open data platform, I created a map of neighborhoods with average rent

prices of $1200/month or less, and color coded them by how many crime reports were filed in that area

in the past year.

Using ArcGIS Pro, I began by creating new map with a feature class classed Northern Oregon

using the NAD 83 state plane system datum for northern Oregon. I chose to use a city streets base map

because it will make my map easy to read and use for its intended purpose of navigating around the

city. My next task was to create another feature class of Neighborhood Boundaries and MAX (light

rail) Stations using data from PortlandMaps, the Portland open data platform.

Map of neighborhoods in Portland plus MAX light rail stations, using data uploaded from PortlandMaps.

After laying out the framework of my map, I began to imagine how I would depict my data

clearly. Originally when I began this project I had intended to use geocoding to incorporate another

layer to my map depicting points of my most promising potential employers, which would be plant

nurseries. However, as I began to visualize how that would look I realized it would make the map more

confusing and less functional. Besides, it wasn't really that necessary to complete the primary

objective: finding an affordable home that isn't too out-of-the-way where I am least likely to get

stabbed.

Using an infographic I found online regarding rent prices in Portland broken down by

neighborhood, I eliminated all the neighborhoods with a median 1 bedroom rent price of over

$1200/month (pictured below).

Data source: www.Zumper.com

There was no way I could import this data to ArcGIS Pro, so I had to edit data myself by deleting the

neighborhood polygons that were out of my price range line-by-line using the attribute table. This was

the most time-consuming step of the process for me, but the only way for me to get the custom data

required for my map.

Map of neighborhoods and MAX stations, after deleting all neighborhoods out of price range.

I found the data regarding crime statistics broken down by neighborhood from the City of

Portland Police Bureau. These statistics include the number of offenses inflicted on person or property

month-by-month since last year.

Data Source: City of Portland, Oregon

I decided to use this data to group the remaining neighborhoods of my map into three categories:

• Low Crime (< 1,000 reported incidents per year)

• Medium Crime (1,000-2,000 incidents per year)

• High Crime (> 2,000 incidents per year)

I used red/yellow/green color coding to quickly and simply differentiate between safe and unsafe areas.

Map including MAX stations, affordable neighborhoods and color-coded danger zones.

To color-code my neighborhoods I had to group each of the remaining neighborhoods by their

crime rate. Starting with the high crime group, I used right-click-ctrl to select each polygon I wished to

include and then right clicking the Neighborhood Boundaries feature class, I exported features as a

group. I re-named this new feature class High Crime and used the appearance tab to adjust color. I

repeated this process for the Medium Crime neighborhoods, then left the remaining and renamed the

Neighborhood Boundaries feature class Low Crime.

At this point my map was mostly complete, and I only had to add the essential design features:

title, legend, compass and scale bar to get my project ready to export to pdf form. Using the Insert tab, I

added a new 8 ½ x 11” vertical layout as that was the best orientation for my data. I deleted the

Northern California feature class from my legend at this stage, because it wasn't necessary for

interpreting the map.

Map being stylized for easy readability.

I came up with my title and other design features quickly, intending to come back to class the

last week and refine the style, but class was canceled due to air quality. I found I was unable to work on

my project at home possibly because I saved it incorrectly and didn't include all of the necessary

shapefiles on the flash drive I was using to store my work. If I had been able to work on it further, I

would have tweaked some minor aspects that were bugging me, like the fact that the legend isn't listed

in order of Low-to-High crime.

Overall I enjoyed the project, and I'm satisfied with the map I created. The biggest challenges

were learning to work with the ArcGIS software, I've never used anything like it before and I found it

to be somewhat overwhelming. I've already began to use this map as a guideline for apartment hunting,

and after seeing the data arranged in this way, I've decided I will most likely search for a place in the

southwest region, as that seems to be the safest and most affordable.

Resources

http://gis-pdx.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/neighborhood-boundaries

http://gis-pdx.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/transit-stations

https://www.zumper.com/blog/2018/01/mapping-portland-rent-prices-winter-2018/

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/71978