Data preparation and network analysis Literature review

Data preparation and network analysis - Literature review Example Finding meaningful data about people’s access to urban green spaces with regard to the people’s reasons for using such spaces and when and how they use them is considerably weighed down by the fact that survey data from local authorities is rather inconsistent. Various methods have been developed to help in data collection on local green space needs. Methods such as Best Value processes are viable in realising green space needs for populations in areas such as the Madinah region of UAE. The benchmark questions used in the Best Value User Satisfaction Survey are relatively basic meaning that more viable information should be sourced from the literature review of past surveys, as well as the analysis of other similar areas around the world (Cope 2009, 174). Telephone surveys with the public can be used to find out or estimate the number of urban green space users for every green space located in their vicinity. This module of data preparation is perhaps best for the quant ification of urban dwellers’ access to green spaces and the estimation of future green space needs and the capacity of current green spaces to meet these needs. In England, for example, a telephone survey showed that 2.25 million people make a minimum of 184 visits to the nearest urban space annually (Knigge and Cope  2006, 2031). ... This is crucial in network analysis as it allows for the identification of peak times when green spaces are mostly used, as well as the documentation of whether or not the green spaces have the capacity to hold populations during peak visits (Neimeier 1997, 381). Afternoons, weekends and holiday times, are notably the key times for green space use. Other people have seasonal green space use patterns, which are largely influenced by prevailing weather patterns. Notably, men are slightly higher users if green spaces than their female counterparts. However, most local authority surveys do not give an indication on whether ethnic minority groups or disabled persons are equitably represented among green space users. This is perhaps the greatest limitation of using local authority surveys in data collection and network analysis of urban green spaces (Forman 2005, 203). As earlier cited, data preparation can take several formats. Thematic data generation is one such method. This entails the generation of area maps and conduct of an analysis of the region’s remote sensing data. Here, urban green spaces are digitised and categorised using visual interpretation methodology like Cartosat II and LISS-IV merge product in Arc GIS Ver.9.3 (Van Herzele 2003, 119). Under this module, urban green spaces are categorised as among others railway green, playgrounds, open green, water bodies, industrial green, built ups, parks and roadside green (Barbosa, Tratalos, et al, 2007, 189). Using the â€Å"selection by attribute† query within Arc GIS, the different categories of urban green spaces are separated and exported into different categories of either public and green spaces. All types of green spaces are then assigned different