Creating service area in QGIS

Introduction

Network analyst tools comparing the in program tool to a plug in basic how they are different

Data

Finding and downloading data For this tutorial we will be using only open data and open sourced programs. You will need to have QGIS installed to perform this tutorial. All data will come from Open Ottawa Catalogue. The files you will need for this tutorial are:

once all the data is downloaded create a folder in you computer to move all your data files to. Name this new folder something relevant to the tutorial so it is easy to find like NetworkAnalysis_ServiceAreasTutorial. This is to ensure you can easily all the files needed.

uploading data into QGIS

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Part 1: QGIS Network analyst tool

What is the network analyst tool how does it work

Creating Service Areas

Network data (deleting some roads)

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Finding Network analyst tools

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setting Network analyst menus output Creating polygons around them ?dissolve output

Part 2: Valhalla Network Analyst tool

What is the Valhalla plug in how does it work

Plugins

To star this section of the tutorial you will first need to install two plugins. To do this you will go to Plugins tab at the top of the QGIS program and select manage and install plugins. In the search bar of the menu that opens type in QucikMapServices and select install. This plug in will allow us to put a base map of the city into our map. Then in the same menu search for Valhalla and install this plugin aswell.

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  QuickMapServices Plugin

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  Valhalla Plugin

Creating Service Areas

To open the Valhalla tool go to the processing tab and select tool box (you can skip this step if you already have the tool box open). You should now be able to scroll to find Valhalla or you can search for it at the top of the processing tool box.

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Before you will be able to use this tool you must create a mapbox account to obtain an API tool. To create an account go to Mapbox and select sign up at the top of the page. Once you create and account and log in it will take you to a page that at the bottom will have a box that say "Access token". Select Create a token.
In the page you are taken to you will see you must create a name for your token. You may call this whatever you like. For example call it Tutorial.
After you create your token copy it by clicking the small clipboard symbol beside it and go back to QGIS.
You must input your token to run any Valhalla tools. This is just to keep track of who is using the tool. To do this you must select the Web tab go to Valhalla and then click Valhalla. In the menu that opens click the gear looking symbol. This will open a menu called Provider Settings. In this menu select Mapbox, which should be the second option in the menu, and past your token into the section that says API Key and click OK. You may now close the Valhalla menu you have open

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Setting up the menus

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output

save as dissolve together

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trouble shoot fix geometry set symbology

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output

Conclusion

comparing out puts from both tools strengths and weaknesses from both tools uses for these tools and their outputs