Opioid Innovation Fund – Franklin County Opioid Crisis Activity Levels (FOCAL) map

OSU’s Opioid Innovation Fund is supporting CURA’s project, the Franklin County Opioid Crisis Activity Levels (FOCAL) map. We will be building mapping and spatial analysis tools to understand the social factors associated with opioid overdoses and barriers to effective treatment.  This campus-community partnership involves Harvey Miller (CURA), Ayaz Hyder (College of Public Health), Lauren Southerland (OSU Wexner Medical Center). David All (WellHQ), Gretchen Hammond (Mighty Crow Media) and Sherri Kovach (Central Ohio Trauma System).

Media:

Measuring the impacts of new public transit services on space-time accessibility

Lee, J. and Miller, H. J. (2018) “Measuring the impacts of new public transit services on space-time accessibility: An analysis of transit system redesign and new bus rapid transit in Columbus, Ohio, USA,” Applied Geography, 93, 47-63.

Highlights

  • Lack of access to opportunities contributes to poor social and health outcomes.
  • Columbus, OH introduced a transit route and schedule redesign and bus rapid transit.
  • We analyze impacts on accessibility to opportunities in a deprived neighborhood.
  • Detailed route and schedule data allow high resolution accessibility analysis.
  • The new bus rapid transit has a much greater impact on accessibility

Abstract

The absence of effective access to opportunities and services is a key contributor to poor socio-economic and health outcomes in underserved neighborhoods in many cities. The city of Columbus, Ohio, USA is attempting to enhance residents’ accessibility by providing new public transit services. These new services include a major Transit System Redesign (TSR) of the conventional bus network and the introduction of a new bus rapid transit, named CMAX. Using a high-resolution space-time accessibility measure, we analyze whether these new public transit services will change residents’ accessibility to job and healthcare in an underserved neighborhood of Columbus. Also, we assess whether enhancing the CMAX service to reduce delays (e.g., reserved lane, off-board payment system) will improve accessibility. The high-resolution space-time accessibility measure in this study uses published public transit schedules via the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). We use multiple departure times during a day to account for the temporal fluctuations of accessibility based on the transit schedule changes. We also consider the operating hours of job opportunities and healthcare services. Results suggest that the TSR yields ambiguous benefits for accessibility to jobs and healthcare. However, the new CMAX service and its potential upgrades lead to a substantial increase in both job and healthcare accessibility. The results can be used for city officials and urban planners to evaluate the effectiveness of public transit innovations in improving accessibility.

Keywords: Transportation; Space-time accessibility; Public transit; Bus rapid transit; Jobs; Healthcare

CURA is hiring a GIS Research Analyst to develop and manage community and campus outreach

The Ohio State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) seeks a GIS Research Analyst to develop and manage community and campus outreach in GIS, mapping and spatial data analytics.

The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), part of the Ohio State University’s College of Arts and Sciences, seeks a GIS Research Analyst to join our team. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college and the academic heart of the university. The College hosts 81 majors. With 38 departments, 20+ world-class research centers, and more than 2,000 faculty and staff members, students have the unique opportunity to study with the best artists, scholars, and scientists in their field. The College values diversity and offers a supportive, open, and inclusive community.

Responsibilities include developing and managing partnerships with community organizations, NGOs and local/state government in areas of strategic importance in the application of GIS and spatial data for policy support, delivering educational and outreach events to promote GIS and The Ohio State University’s urban mission and technical support and management of ESRI software and related resources for campus.  Required qualifications include a Master’s degree in GIS, computer science or related field or an equivalent combination of education and experience; experience developing and managing partnerships with government and/or community organizations; considerable experience in research involving GIS, mapping and geospatial data; experience with ESRI GIS software (ArcGIS Desktop), Javascript and related we programming tools; familiarity with spatial database technologies (SQL Server, PostgreSQL with Post GIS spatial extensions), SQL, Python, R or other query and Scripting languages.  Desired qualifications include Geographic Information Science Professional Certification; experience with ESRI GIS Software Insights and Portal.  This is a term position for two years with the possibility of continuation for a third year.

Review of applications will begin after 28 January 2018

More information about CURA: https://cura.osu.edu/

More information about the position and to apply: https://www.jobsatosu.com/postings/83608