Write-up:
For this week lab, we learned how to use the ArcGIS software to geocode locations on the map with addresses. I worked on the distribution of In-N-Out fast food store locations across California and Los Angeles. In general, In & Out has 204 stores in total across California. In particular, there are around 60 stores located in Los Angeles County, almost 30% of the total number of stores in California. This lab will look at what locations of In-N-Out has chosen and the distribution trend across California and Los Angeles.
On the left side of the map, it is the map of store locations across California. Major streets and freeways are both shown on the map. The green dots represent the In-N-Out store locations. Most of the stores are concentrated in the Northern and Southern California. There are only a few number of stores in the middle part of California. This maybe due to the reason of low population in the rural area of the middle part of California. For the majority of the store locations, they were built along the freeway systems and only few stores that were not built on the freeway systems. For example, the stores in the Fresno country are not close to the I-5 freeway. However, the street layer may give out some clues on why these stores were not built along the freeway. Although they were not built along the freeway, the stores are built in a populated area. It is because there are complex streets and roads structures around the store location. For most of the stores that were built along the freeway or close to the ramp, their target customer would be the freeway users. With that means, the target customer for the stores in Fresno may not be the freeway user.
On the right side of the map, it is the map of store locations across Los Angeles with 2 miles buffer. In Los Angeles county, there are around 60 stores in total and not all of them were built along the freeway systems. One interesting fact is that, stores are spreading all over Los Angeles. The buffer shows the distance between each store locations are very close together. Most of the buffers are overlapped which means you can reach a store within 2 miles. With the heavily populated Los Angeles County, store may not be located close to the freeway system because stores can serve the local community (the same case as Fresno).
Geocoding requires address database so the accuracy of the geocoding results really depends on the database. The database has 0 unmatched results with the geocoding results in the ArcGIS. Although I did not use the address locator in this lab, it would be a good way to use the address locator when there is unmatched result.
On the right side of the map, it is the map of store locations across Los Angeles with 2 miles buffer. In Los Angeles county, there are around 60 stores in total and not all of them were built along the freeway systems. One interesting fact is that, stores are spreading all over Los Angeles. The buffer shows the distance between each store locations are very close together. Most of the buffers are overlapped which means you can reach a store within 2 miles. With the heavily populated Los Angeles County, store may not be located close to the freeway system because stores can serve the local community (the same case as Fresno).
Geocoding requires address database so the accuracy of the geocoding results really depends on the database. The database has 0 unmatched results with the geocoding results in the ArcGIS. Although I did not use the address locator in this lab, it would be a good way to use the address locator when there is unmatched result.
Data: 204 In-N-Out Stores in California (Click to enlarge the data sheet)
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