The Baltimore Accessibility Maps Web Site lets you create a series of accessibility maps for Baltimore Transportation Analysis Zones. You can compare access to services (Retail, Office or Industry) for all TAZs or for a specific neighborhoods (e.g. West Baltimore). You can compare access to services by private car vs. public transport.

You choose the type of service (e.g. Retail), the location (e.g. “All Zones”) and the transportation mode (“Private Car”) and then click “Go” to create the map.

TransCAD will compute an accessibility measure (a number between 0 and 1).

Map of access to retail from all zones by car

The measure is a function of the number of services in each TAZ, the population in each zone, and the transportation network that connects each zone.

When the map is ready, the accessibility measure will be color coded in each TAZ from blue (0) to red (1).

You can then use the (i) info tool and click on two or more zones on the map to compare the value of accessibility measure. In general, zones with more services are more accessible if more people can reach them via the chosen transportation mode.

The web site lets you also create maps for specific neighborhoods. Instead of “All Zones” start typing a neighborhood name. e.g. “Aberdeen”, “Greater Rosemont” or “West Baltimore”. When you choose a specific neighborhood, the accessibility measure reports how accessible are the other zones to your neighborhood.

Try it out now:  http://maps.caliper.com/TransCAD/AccessMaps

Additional screenshots:

Accessibility Map Screenshot

Retail From West Baltimore