Problem:  The Mertz's have recently moved to Western North Carolina.  This project will help them identify the Most Suitable Area in Buncombe and Surrounding Counties for buying and/or building their dream house.


Data:  The data required for this project have been located in NC State's CGIA.  All data files are in the same projection  (Geographic Coordinates, State Plane 1983, Meters).  Also, all data will need to be converted to Coverages via Arc Toolbox:

	cbdot.e00 (a.k.a. cbdot polygon) - County Boundaries in North Carolina (polygon)
	mbpow99.e00 (a.k.a. mbpow99 polygon) - Municipal Boundaries in North Carolina (polygon)
	prds.e00 (a.k.a. prds arc) - Primary Roads in North Carolina (line)
	schlpl.e00 (a.k.a. schlpl point) - Schools in North Carolina (point)
	hls.e00 (a.k.a. hls point) - Hospitals in North Carolina (point)


Analysis Questions:

1)  How many records from the "Roads" layer are part of either the Interstate or the Blue Ridge Parkway?

The question will be answered by performing a Select by Attributes to find and create each layer individually.  Then, the sum of the records from these two layers will yield the answer.

2)  What is the Total Suitable Area within Western North Carolina meets the Mertz's criteria?

The question will be answered by the following criteria:
	Find Areas in Buncombe and Surrounding Counties that:
	a)  are within 5 miles of a City, inclusive.
	b)  are within 5 miles of a Hospital.
	c)  are within 2 miles of a School.
	d)  are within 2 miles of a Road.

	Procedures to be used:  Querying layers, Buffer Wizard, Geoprocessing Wizard (Clipping Layers)
	The area will be recalculated in Square Meters.

3)  What is the polygon that has the Largest Suitable Area for buying and/or building a house in Western North Carolina?
	
	Resulting Shapefile from Question #2 (CityHospSchRoad.shp) will be used in Question #3.


Prodcedure Log:

Add Coverages to ArcMap; set map units to Meters; set display units to Miles

Use Open Attribute Table to select Buncombe and surrounding counties from the cbdot polygon layer:

	Layer to select from:  "cbdot polygon"
	Method:  Click on the records with the following FID's:  40, 43, 44, 55, 61, 62, 71, 79, 85, 86
	Result:  10 records selected from "cbdot polygon" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Buncombe and surrounding counties - name: "BuncombeSurround" (10 records)

Use Select by Location to find Hospitals located within the BuncombeSurround layer:

	Target layer:  "hls point"
	Selection option:  Select features from
	Selection option:  Intersect
	Selection layer:  "BuncombeSurround"
	Result:  13 records selected from "hls point" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Hospitals within BuncombeSurround layer - name: "Hospitals" (13 records)

Use Select by Location to find Schools located within the BuncombeSurround layer:

	Target layer:  "schlpl point"
	Selection option:  Select features from
	Selection option:  Intersect
	Selection layer:  "BuncombeSurround polygon"
	Result:  157 records selected from "schlpl point" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Schools within BuncombeSurround layer - name: "Schools" (157 records)

Use Select by Location to find Roads located within the BuncombeSurround layer:

	Target layer:  "prds arc"
	Selection option:  Select features from
	Selection option:  Intersect
	Selection layer:  "BuncombeSurround polygon"
	Result:  728 records selected from "prds arc" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Roads within BuncombeSurround layer - name: "Roads" (728 records)

Use Select by Attributes to select Interstates from the Roads layer:

	Target layer:  "Roads"
	Method:  Create a new selection
	Query:  "INTERSTATE-RT#" <> '0'
	Result:  200 records selected from "Roads" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Interstates from the Roads layer  - name: "Interstates" (200 records)

Use Select by Attributes to select the Blue Ridge Parkway within the Roads layer:

	Target layer:  "Roads"
	Method:  Create a new selection
	Query:  "US-RT#" = '9999'
	Result:  116 records selected from "Roads" layer

Create new (selection) layer of the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Roads layer - name: "Blue Ridge Parkway" (116 records)

Result of Analysis Question #1:  316 Records are part of either the Interstate or the Blue Ridge Parkway


Use Select by Location to find Cities located within the BuncombeSurround layer:

	Target layer:  "mbpow99 polygon"
	Selection option:  Select features from
	Selection option:  Intersect
	Selection layer:  "BuncombeSurround polygon"
	Result:  97 records selected from "mbpow99 polygon" layer

Create new (selection) layer of Cities within BuncombeSurround layer - name: "Cities" (97 records)

Create 5 Mile City buffer: Tools > Buffer Wizard:

	Layer to buffer:  "Cities"
	Buffer distance:  5 miles
	Dissolve barriers: yes
	Create buffers so they are:  Outside polygons and include inside
	Output shapefile: City5Buf.shp (3 record)

Clip the "Cities" layer by using the City5Buf layer:  Tools > GeoProcessing Wizard

	Input layer to clip:  "Cities"
	Polygon clip layer:  City5Buf.shp
	Output shapefile:  Bunc_CityClip.shp (19 records)

Create 5 Mile Hospital buffer: Tools > Buffer Wizard:

	Layer to buffer:  "Hospitals"
	Buffer distance:  5 miles
	Dissolve barriers: yes
	Create buffers so they are:  Outside polygons and include inside
	Output shapefile: Hosp5Buf.shp (9 records)

Clip the "Hospitals" layer by using the Hosp5Buf layer:  Tools > GeoProcessing Wizard

	Input layer to clip:  "Hospitals"
	Polygon clip layer:  Hosp5Buf.shp
	Output shapefile:  City_HospClip.shp (13 records)

Create 2 Mile School buffer: Tools > Buffer Wizard:

	Layer to buffer:  "Schools"
	Buffer distance:  2 miles
	Dissolve barriers: yes
	Create buffers so they are:  Outside polygons and include inside
	Output shapefile: Schools2Buf.shp (35 records)

Clip the "Schools" layer by using the Schools2Buf layer:  Tools > GeoProcessing Wizard

	Input layer to clip:  "Schools"
	Polygon clip layer:  Schools2Buf.shp
	Output shapefile:  CityHospSch.shp (21 records)

Create 2 Mile Roads buffer: Tools > Buffer Wizard:

	Layer to buffer:  "Roads"
	Buffer distance:  2 miles
	Dissolve barriers: yes
	Create buffers so they are:  Outside polygons and include inside
	Output shapefile: Roads2Buf.shp (1 record)

Clip the "Roads" layer by using the Roads2Buf layer:  Tools > GeoProcessing Wizard

	Input layer to clip:  "Roads"
	Polygon clip layer:  Roads2Buf.shp
	Output shapefile:  CityHospSchRoad.shp (22 records)

Determine area of each suitable area polygon (CityHospSchRoad.shp):

	Open CityHospSchRoad attribute table and add field:
		Name: area_sqmt
		Type: Double
		Precision: 12
		Scale: 2

	Calculate values for area_sqmt field: Pre-Logic VBA Script Code:
		Dim dblArea as double
		Dim pArea as IArea
		Set pArea = [shape]
		dblArea = pArea.area
		In text box: area_sqmt = dblArea

Find the Total Suitable Area in the CityHospSchRoad layer (Analysis Question #2):

	Open CityHospSchRoad attribute table and right-click the area_sqmt field;
	Select Statistics and the Total Suitable Area will be located beside the "Sum=" string.
	Result:  The Total Suitable Area to buy or build a home in Buncombe and Surrounding Counties has an area of  1149844814.81 sq. meters (or ~1149844.82 sq. kilometers).

Find the polygon in the CityHospSchRoad layer that has the largest contiguous area (Largest Suitable Area) (Analysis Question #3):

	Open CityHospSchRoad attribute table and right-click the area_sqmt field;
	Select Sort Descending and the top record will have the largest contiguous area in the area_sqmt field.
	Result:  The Most Suitable Area to buy or build a home in Buncombe and Surrounding Counties has an area of  238199623.22 sq. meters (or ~238199.62 sq. kilometers).  The FID = '6'.

In order for the Legend in the Transportable Map to be self-explanatory, the CityHospSchRoad layer was renamed "Most Suitable Areas" and BuncombeSurround was renamed "Bunc./Sur. Counties".