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Institute of Transport Logistics Studies
ITLS6107: Applied GIS and Spatial Data Analytics
Semester 2, 2018
Individual Assignment 2:
University of Sydney Infrastructure and Services Project
This assignment is worth 20% of your final mark
Project Brief
The University of Sydney has made several significant changes to its infrastructure over the past few years
(new buildings, new services, etc.). The intention has been to provide better infrastructure, services and
facilities that suit the needs of staff and students while respecting the interests of the local community. The
university wants to know how these improvements have changed how staff and students use and move around
the university campus. You have been tasked with analysing the change (from 2016 to 2018) in staff, student
and visitor movements, investigating other potential improvements and making recommendations to the
university for what it should do next.
Since this is a large task, you have been asked to focus on one of the following issues:
• Transport
• Safety and security
• Marketing opportunities
• Retail and food
• Recreation and leisure facilities
• Study facilities
Since the university recognises the importance of geography, you have been provided with a number of spatial
datasets to use for your analysis. The datasets have been collected by a number of organisations using a
variety of different methods. For this reason, the datasets may contain errors or contradict each other. The
same applies to the same type of data collected over several years. The following datasets have been
provided:
a) Copies of the wifi access logs for 24 hours in 2016 and for another 24 hours in 2018. These show
every time a person connects a device to the university’s wifi network. This includes laptops,
smartphones, tablets, raspberry pi and any other device which has a wifi radio. For privacy reasons the
data has been anonymised by changing the user ids but it can be assumed that all data (from the same
year) with the same user id is collected from the same person.
b) Pedestrian traffic counts
c) Vehicle traffic counts
d) Locations of university buildings
e) Locations of university amenities
f) Opal data for all modes around The University of Sydney (2016 and 2018)
You may also use any other data you have available to you including the data provided to you in ITLS6107
and any data you find on the internet. You must include a section in your report listing the sources of data.
ITLS 6107: Applied GIS and Spatial Data Analytics 2
Assignment 2
What Do I Need to Do?
This problem involves several tasks. Note, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer here, and it is likely you will
come up with different solutions to other students. Your performance will be judged based on your correct
choice and application of GIS techniques, the logic of your solution and ultimately the extent to which you
can make a persuasive argument for your recommendations.
Task 1: Assessment of current situation (2018)
➢ Using appropriate GIS procedures identify the movement patterns (where they go, how many buildings
each person goes to, etc.), and how this varies by time of day.
➢ Create one map using R – it is up to you what you show on this map.
➢ Conduct any other analysis necessary to understand the current situation for your specific focus (i.e.
retail and food, study facilities, etc.)
Task 2: Assessment of change in movements (relative to 2016)
➢ Take the analysis conducted in task 1 and analyse the change from 2016
➢ Identify the major differences between 2016 and 2018
➢ Determine how the changes in the university differ from changes in the area around the university
Task 3: Final Recommendations
➢ Based on Tasks 1 and 2, identify one option for further improvements to the university’s facilities or
services.
➢ Analyse the impact of your proposed improvement using the data provided
➢ Based on your analysis of your identified option and tasks 1 and 2, provide some final recommendations
to the university. Your recommendations must be based on the results of your analysis.
Project Deliverables
An individual report worth 20% that provides a clear account of the three tasks. Your report must be a
maximum of six pages including (one) title page containing a title, course code, date and student number; up
to five pages including any maps, tables, references or appendices. If you can cover everything you need to
in fewer pages you may do so – the page limit is a maximum, not a target.
It must contain at least the following but how you organise the report is up to you:
• The results of tasks 1, 2 and 3
• One map created using R
• At least two other maps that can be done in R, ArcGIS or QGIS. You may include additional maps
if you wish.
• A section listing all the datasets you used and, if they were not provided to you as part of ITLS6107,
where you got them from. In the same section you should also explain any assumptions you have
made about the data. A bulleted list is sufficient for this section.
• A copy of the marking criteria (this does not count towards your six-page limit).
ITLS 6107: Applied GIS and Spatial Data Analytics 3
Assignment 2
UNIT OF STUDY ITLS 6 1 0 7 STREAM
STUDENT NAME
STUDENT NUMBER
MARKING CRITERIA
ASSIGNMENT 2: 6 pages including title page, maps, tables and any appendices. Note:
Pages in excess of the page limit will not be marked.
CATEGORY CRITERIA WEIGHT MARK COMMENTS
Introduction,
Objectives,
Methods
Clear description of what you are trying
to do and how you are doing it 5%
Task 1 Analysis of the current situation including the R map 40%
Task 2 Analysis of the change from 2016 to 2018 25%
Task 3 Final recommendations including how persuasive your argument is. 20%
Readability/Style.
Report structure, extent to which it
reads as one coherent document,
spelling and grammar 10%
TOTAL MARK 100% GRADE:
Comments: