1. Communities Mapping Communities
Ottawa Greenspace Mapping Project

2. Outline Background Purpose Method/Results Discussion Next Steps
Conclusion

3. Ottawa Greenspace Master Plan
A target of 4 hectares per 1000 population, or approximately 16 to 20 percent of gross land area
Council supports a target of providing the open space and leisure land that is referred to in policy 5, within 400 metres of all homes in primarily residential areas in the urban area
With a population expected to grow by more than 50% by 2021, it’s important now more than ever to monitor and maintain the city’s greenspaces. To ensure the city has access to greenspace as population increases, the Ottawa Greenspace Master Plan outlines several greenspace targets

4. Greenspace natural land, open space and leisure land
open space and leisure lands that is in public ownership and is generally accessible to the public
Parks
Major recreational pathways
Land designated as Urban Natural Features or Major Open Space
Flood plains and other hazard lands
Storm water management facilities

5. Purpose Answer two questions: How close are we to this area target?
How close are we to this accessibility target?
Monitor the change in greenspace over time

6. Data Sources City of Ottawa Urban Boundary
Open Space and Leisure Lands
Ministry of Natural Resources
Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest
Statistics Canada
Ottawa Census 2016

7. Data Preparation Open Space and Leisure Lands
Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest
Clipped data to urban boundary, then I added attributes to the city data including urban natural area, open, space and school grounds to determine which spaces were accessible versus restricted in the open space and leisure lands file
Merged open space and leisure lands with the ANSI data to create an Ottawa greenspace dataset

8. 3,169.688 hectares of greenspace
Target Area
Ottawa urban area has a population of 792,422* 4 hectares per population
3, hectares of greenspace
3, hectares of greenspace

9. How close are we to target area?
Now that I could identify which greenspace were accessible versus restricted, I could run a script to sum the total area of greenspace in hectares

10. How close are we to target area?
hectares of accessible greenspace
3, hectares of greenspace. Ottawa exceeds their greenspace target by 3 times the amount of their targeted space

11. Greenspace by Ward
In addition to looking at the greenspace targets for Ottawa’s urban boundary, I also wanted to evaluate how individual wards within the urban boundary performed because population density in the downtown core would much greater than that on the fringe of the urban boundary, and therefore have a greater greenspace requirement. In order to this, I joined the SC Census 2016 data with the Wards data. I then unioned the greenspace and ward files, and dissolved by ward to get the total amount of greenspace in each ward. I also calculated the required amount of greenspace per 1000 population for each ward. and evaluated whether the total greenspace was greater than the target. Where total greenspace exceeded the target and therefore met the target, I assigned a value of 1. Wards not meeting the target were assigned a 0.

12. Greenspace by Ward
As you can see, wards in the downtown core with the highest population density also lack the most greenspace. In addition, ward _ in the west of Ottawa also does not meet the target.
Does not meet criteria

13. Method: Distance to Residents
To answer whether there was accessible greenspace within 400 metres of all residential homes in the urban area, I buffered accessible greenspace by 400 metres. I then ran the select by location tool and created a selection of all residential homes not within 400 metres of accessible greenspace.

14. Results: Distance to Residents
Ottawa performs rather well, with over 87% of all residential homes being within 400 metres of accessible greenspace.
87.68% of residential homes are within 400 metres of accessible greenspace

15. Discussion
While overall the city exceeds gross targeted greenspace, and most wards meet their greenspace requirement. Areas with homes not within 400 meters of accessible greenspace are also those that meet their total target – meaning that there is sufficient greenspace, but it is not ‘accessible’ in terms of walkability

16. Next Steps Open Street Maps tagging scheme
This analysis will form the basis of a community mapping project using regularly updated data from Open Street Maps. Monitoring evolution of greenspace over time through community input, open source software.
Open Street Maps 2018

17. Community Mapping
Ottawa Mapathon project
Bike Ottawa November 2017

18. Conclusion
Ottawa performs well against the targets outlined in Greenspace Master Plan
Monitor how the city is performing with respect to targets
Hold city accountable for providing adequate greenspace
Community mapping strengthens and empowers the public
The city is interested in this data.
Community mapping can empower the public by providing opportunities to have a lasting, positive influence on their community. The maps that are generated can be used to document community needs to and assist with consensus-building and decision-making for improving program design and public policies aimed at improving health and decreasing disparities.

19. Questions?