STHC - MapInfo GIS Output

Standard STHC Analysis Output - MapInfo GIS Files

The comprehensive range of GIS data supplied back to officers will become a major information resource of interest to all the those interetsed in sustainable travel in the client authority. If officers do not already have ready access to digital mapping functionality to at least visualise this data (but ideally GIS so that they can carry out further spatial analysis), then there is definitely a business case for making it so. The GIS team should certainly be made aware of it’s existance in the first instance.

The GIS files fall into the following general categories:-

Note: Sample MapInfo GIS data can be obtained from our Download page...

Pupil Point Data

Consists of a data point for each pupil record in the form of a coloured symbol depicting the pupils recorded mode of travel (see table opposite). The data point is located at the centroid of the pupil's home postcode i.e. not the pupil's actual home itself. Points have also been dispersed around the postcode centroid to further disguise the pupil origin and also to enable the icons to be seen more easily on the map when there are 2 or more pupils with the same postcode. Tabular data attached to the point is the census data supplied plus geoanalysis results.

* denotes a customised symbol created by us that users needs to load into their MapInfo Custom Symbol directory.

School Census Code	Mode of Travel Description	Symbol used in MapInfo GIS files
WLK	Walk
CYC	Cycle
CAR	Car or Van
CRS	Car Share (with different household)	*
PSB	Public Service Bus
DSB	Dedicated School Bus
BNK	Bus (Type Not Known)
TXI	Taxi
TRN	Train
LUL	London Underground
MTL	Metro/Tram/Light Rail
BDR	Boarding	*
OTH	Other	*
UNK	Unknown

Pupil Line Data

Straight ("as-the-crow-flies") lines of travel between the pupil data point and the school they attend, again colour coded (as for the symbols above) by mode of travel. These "spider" lines provide an immediate visualisation of the journey origin and end point.

Pupil Nearest School Data

A variation on the previous two has the point symbols or lines for pupils who do not go to their nearest school coloured in grey. The "greyed" plots provide an immediate visualisation of the scale of the longer term issue of additional travel due to people not choosing to utilise local services.

School Phase	Example of LEA-specific School Type	Symbol used in MapInfo GIS files
Primary	Nursery, Infant, First, Junior, Primary
Middle	Middle (both "deemed Primary" and "deemed Secondary")
Secondary	Secondary, Comprehensive, Grammar, Upper
Sixth Form	Sixth Form, Upper
Special	Special
FE College	Further Education College

School Point Data

Consists of a data point for each school record in the school gazetteer supplied. The point is located within the school building, and depicts the school as a coloured symbol depending on "type" (see table below). Data attached to the point is either the school level census information supplied by the client authority or the analysis data from the individual school summary spreadsheet.

School Polygon (Walk Threshold) Data

Consists of a circular polygon around each school, coloured to match the school "type" symbol, with a radius equal to the generic walk threshold (800m for Primary and 2000m for Secondary). Middle and Special schools show both walk thresholds as they have pupils that fit in both phases. Data attached to the polygon is again the school summary data.

LEA Polygon Data

Consists of boundary files for all the LEAs in the region, with boundaries being taken from the OS BoundaryLine product, the official source of digital map boundaries for administrative and political regions in the UK. Boundaries of both single LEAs and the whole region are provided, with the boundaries of those authorities participating in the regional consortium shown in a different colour. The data attached to each LEA polygon is either just that from BoundaryLine itself, or the LEA level Mode of Travel analysis stats.

“It was extremely informative to go through the range of analysis for the schools in South East Dorset. It provided a lot of 'food for thought' for us in the development of the transport strategies for the South East Dorset area to 2026.”

“We have had to prepare the transport model from scratch and have therefore been involved in an extensive and expensive data collection programme in order to assemble a comprehensive picture of travel patterns and behaviour across South East Dorset. We were therefore delighted to learn about the journey to school data which provided a fully observed picture of travel to school by the variety of modes. The journey to school data was particularly useful in filling in gaps in the travel demand matrices for journeys by private car and public transport. The level of detail and the comprehensive nature of the data meant that it was an ideal basis to supplement the other sources of data.”

“The Journey to school data was vital for us to be able to fill in the gaps between the different roadside interview sites. In other studies we have had to make simplifying assumptions about travel between the interview sites; to be able to use the Journey to School database was a real bonus for us.”
Abridged comments from Robert Thompson, Business manager Policy and Plans, Atkins Transport planning, commenting on the contribution the STHC has made to the South East Dorset multi modal study (underpins LTP3 and MAA).