Mapping the neighborhoods living quality in Muncie, Indiana, USA

Keywords: Living quality index, Neighborhoods, GIS and remote sensing, Story map
Session Type: Virtual Poster Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 40

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to build a living quality index for the Anthony Northside Neighborhood of Muncie, Indiana to facilitate interested home buyers, residents, and tenants to get an idea about the overall living quality of the neighborhood as well as individual houses. This study employed GIS and remote sensing techniques including Network Analysis, Weighted Overlay, thermal infrared photography, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to measure the living quality of the neighborhoods. Home Insulation, Home Value and Lot Sizes, Lot Greenness, and Proximity to Community Amenities are the four main categories of the indices that includes total fifteen index maps relating to the living quality. The index map for overall living quality was created by assigning and averaging weights of each individual index maps. Esri story map was selected as the showcase platform since it supports both the content (interactive maps and descriptions) and ensures access for the interested parties. The results of the study showed that geospatial technologies like GIS and remote sensing are very effective ways to measure the living quality of neighborhoods and to produce story maps that are simple and comprehensive enough to deliver to the public.