User:KennethBatagon

Cycling in Carleton University: Calculating Fastest & Shortest Route and Determining Cycling Accidents

Purpose

The purpose of this tutorial is to present the user with open-source data available using QGIS. Introduction. An open-source approach is a way of software product development and distribution in which the public is given free access to the source code. This enables users to access, change, and redistribute the programme in accordance with their requirements and preferences.

Introduction

The purpose of finding the shortest and fastest route between two points is to save time and reduce the cost of travel. This can be useful for individuals planning a trip and businesses or organizations that need to transport goods or people efficiently. For example, this tutorial calculates the shortest and fastest routes from an origin point, Carleton University, to the destination point, Walmart. For this tutorial, determining cycling collisions in the Carleton University and Walmart area helps to identify safe and efficient routes for cycling. This tutorial will use QGIS as it is a powerful and versatile GIS software that is widely used for mapping, spatial analysis, and data visualization.

Data Collection and Organization

QGIS

The first step for this tutorial is to get QGIS access. If you are using the school’s computer, you can skip this part.

Figure 1. Downloading QGIS.

QGIS Plugins

In order to calculate the fastest and shortest route, you will need to download a plugin within QGIS called ORS Tools (Open Route Service). The majority of the OpenStreetMap-based openrouteservice.org features are accessible through ORS Tools. Routing, isochrones, and matrix calculations are all part of the toolset and can be done interactively in the map canvas or via point files within the processing framework. Several attributes, including duration, length, and start/end locations, are set for output files. To do this, click Plugins -> Manage and Install Plugins and search for ORS Tools and install it. Once installed, proceed toward Web-> ORS Tools-> Provider Settings to request an API key. This is a crucial step as any parameters or actions you want to do will not work without the key. You will need to signup by searching open route service sign up or by clicking this link. Follow the instructions given in the email.

Figure 2. What the API key looks like after the following instructions from your email.

The second plugin is QuickMapServices. It serves as an accessible base map that perfectly complements the previous plugin, ORS Tools. As mentioned above, you will need to install this plugin through Plugins -> Manage and Install Plugins and search for QuickMapServices and install it. Follow the steps in Figure 3 and you should have a search menu on the right side of QGIS. Search up your preferred basemap. For this tutorial, I used Google Maps. After you clicked it, you should have the basemap under Layer on the left side of QGIS.

Figure 3. QuickMapServices as base map.

Open Data Ottawa

The next data collection can be found in Open Data Ottawa. The Open Data Ottawa platform is part of the City's open data initiative, which aims to make city data more transparent, accessible, and useful to the public. Hence, the shapefiles data we need is going to be extracted here. You will need a polygon shapefile for Ottawa Wards, traffic collision shapefile, cycling network shapefile, pedestrian network shapefile, and Ottawa roadlines shapefile.

Figure 3. This is one of the shapefile datasets you need to download.