Final Report
Cartographic Modeling of
Sidewalk Location Selection for
The City of San Marcos, Texas
Rachel Cavin, Manager
James Dodds, Assistant Manager
Taylor Dorn, GIS Analyst
Kyler McNew, GIS Analyst
 Our
purpose is to develop a GIS model to
select locations in need of pedestrian
infrastructure improvements within San
Marcos, Texas.
 The selection process is based on location
of pedestrian traffic generators throughout
San Marcos, such as schools, retail centers,
and parks.
 Additionally, a sidewalk length to street
length ratio was calculated for every cell to
reveal locations most deficient in pedestrian
infrastructure.
 City
facilities, schools, parks and trails, Texas
State University, street centerlines, and a
current sidewalk inventory were provided by
the City of San Marcos.
 Bobcat Tram and CARTS pickup points, medical
and pharmaceutical facilities, retail centers,
low-income housing, and trailhead layers were
created by our team.
 Aerial photography of San Marcos was
acquired from TNRIS.
 Divided
city limits into ¼ square mile
grid cells.
 Scored each grid cell by pedestrian
traffic generators contained.
 Calculated sidewalk length to road
length ratio.
 Compared highest scored cells to aerial
imagery.
 Selected areas in need of sidewalks.
Criteria
City Facilities
Schools
Trails/Parks
Transit
University
Medical
Retail
Low Income
Factor
Activity Center
Public Library
City Hall
Municipal Building
Greenhouse Interpretive Center
Dunbar Recreation
Downtown Police Patrol
Conference Center
Elementary Schools
Middle Schools
High Schools
Private/Other Schools
Parks
Greenspace
Trailheads
Texas State University-San Marcos Trams
C.A.R.T.S.
Weight
Value
Factor Rating
9
9
7
10
4
7
2
7
10
10
8
8
10
4
7
1
2
1
8
8
1
Texas State University-San Marcos
Hospital
Pharmacy
7
10
10
1
Physicians/Other Medical Offices
Grocery
Retail Centers
10
10
6
Low Income Housing
8
2
1
1
 Resulting
from our model was a system to
rank focus areas within which sites can
be selected for sidewalk development.
 We found that high scoring grid cells
were clustered in three parts of
town(seen in next graphic).
 We located gaps within the sidewalk
inventory that were near identified traffic
generators.
 Accurately
representing city needs in
ranking our factors.
 Designing the model to calculate the
sidewalk to road ratio.
 Time
• Within the scope and time constraints of this project
it is not feasible to identify all areas of missing
sidewalks throughout the city. However, in future
analysis this would provide the most accurate
analysis for exact locations to be improved.
 We
have overcome all issues that have
presented themselves
 Grid
cell locations influence results.
 Data isn’t all comprehensive and
temporally current.
• Point layers such as “Retail Centers” do not
contain all possible businesses throughout the
city.
• Aerial photograph is from 2008
 Accuracy of Google Earth
• Points created and imported are not always in
their true locations

Detailed Final Report (2 copies)
• In depth record of our decision making process, analysis steps, and results.

Website
• Company website that will contain team members’ backgrounds, copies of
reports and presentations, and an interactive web-based GIS software package
(Manifold)

Metadata (2 copies)
• Detailed Metadata has been created to track the sources of information, give
credit to authors of new data, track lineages and details of layers.

DVD (2 copies)
• The city of San Marcos will be provided a DVD containing all data, metadata, all
reports and presentations, and instructions on how to use the DVD(read-me file)

Poster for the Texas State University Geography Department and
Client
 San
Marcos is a diverse community and
improved pedestrian infrastructure can
benefit everyone.
 Our initial methodology was far too labor
intensive for the scope of our project.
 Despite a few setbacks, our project was a
success.
 The group benefited in many ways
including strengthening our team work
skills, learning the GIS implementation
process, and understanding how to
problem solve in GIS more effectively.
Cypress Cartographic Solutions would like
to thank Dr. Alberto Giordano, Ryan
Schuermann, Kenny Skrobanek, and Joan
Hickey for all of their help and support
throughout this project.
Thank you.