I previously wrote about the Germantown 2013 litter code violation map. In this post, I want to provide a short how-to for this E Mt Airy 2013 Litter Code Violation Map so that others can produce similar maps for their neighborhoods.
GIS Requirements
I started using ESRI’s ArcMap after working with ESRI’s free ArcGIS Desktop Explorer for about a year. I love both products, with ArcMap providing the critical geoprocessing tools I needed to drill down into Philadelphia’s litter problem.
You’ll need a full GIS tool to be able to analyze Philadelphia litter data the way I have.
Litter Data Data Requirements
You need 3 data shapefiles to reproduce the E Mt Airy Litter code Violation map for your neighborhood. Here are the files with links tht you need:
- City Code Violation Notice Data Shapefile
- City Neighborhood Boundaries Shapefile
- City Street Centerlines Shapefile
Working with Code Violation Notice (CVN) Shapefile
The City’s CVN shapefile is pretty good size for my desktop PC at 450 thousand records. Once you load the CVN shapefile, I suggest that you open the CVN attribute table and select just 2013 CVNs for these litter codes:
- 10702 – Littering in Public
- 10703 – Litter in Receptacle
- 10705 – Litter swpt to gutter
- 107032 – Misuse of City Lit Bask
- 107041 – Sidewalk not litter free
- 107042 – Recpl not supplied
- 107141 – Premises not litter free
- 107142 – Recp not litter free
Once you have selected just the litter CVN for 2013, you save this data set as a new shapefile and use it as a layer for further analysis. Use the data > export option , give the export an understandable name and you now have just City wide 2013 litter CVNs.
Selecting 2013 Litter CVNs in your Neighborhood
You now want to select just those 2013 CVNs in your neighborhood. To do this, activate the neighborhoods layer you downloaded from Open Data Philly and select your neighborhood. One way you can do this is to click the Selection menu, choose Interactive Selection and go to desired neighborhood polygon and right click to select the desired polygon.
You now want to make a boundary layer for your desired neighborhood. Please note that you could add additional neighborhoods if you wanted. Once you have your neighborhood(s) selected, right click your City neighborhoods layer and select Data to export your neighborhood boundary as a separate layer. Be sure to name it with a useful neighborhood id so that you can retrieve it later.
Clip City 2013 Litter CVN Data to your Neighborhood Boundary
You now have a layer with just 2013 litter CVN data for the City and your desired neighborhood layer. To get just the litter CVNs in your neighborhood, you need to clip the City 2013 CVN layer with your neighborhood boundary.
Be sure to save your new clipped data layer with a recognizable name.
Map and Analysis
You now have a layer with just 2013 litter CVNs for your neighborhood. You are ready to produce your neighborhood map. You can use either one of the available basemaps or use the a clipped layer from the City’s centerline layer.