Selected work · GIS
Chattanooga Park Access Map
An interactive ArcGIS web app analyzing walkable park access across Chattanooga — joining park locations with census-tract demographics to surface equity gaps in who actually lives within a short walk of green space.
About the project
What you're looking at.
Public parks are one of the most visible public investments a city makes — but whether they actually serve residents depends on who can walk to one. This project layers Chattanooga's park inventory on top of census-tract demographics to ask a simple question: which neighborhoods have walkable access to a park, and which don't?
Park polygons and entry points were joined to a network-based walkshed (roughly a 10-minute walk) and intersected with tract-level population, age, and income data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The result is a map that shows both the parks themselves and the human context around them — total population served, share of residents under 18, and median household income inside each walkshed.
The pattern that emerges is not just "where are the parks" but "where does park access line up with the people most likely to rely on free public space" — a more useful frame for planners, parks departments, and community advocates.
How to explore it
Getting the most out of the map.
- 1
Pan and zoom the map to your neighborhood. The default view is centered on downtown Chattanooga at roughly a neighborhood-level zoom.
- 2
Click a park or tract to open the sidebar pop-up. You'll see park attributes (name, type, amenities) and, for tracts, the demographic summary used in the equity analysis.
- 3
Toggle layers in the legend to switch between park footprints, walkshed buffers, and the demographic choropleth. Comparing layers is where the equity story actually shows up.
- 4
Use the search bar to jump to an address and see whether it falls inside a walkable park service area.
Tip: the embed works best on a desktop browser. On mobile, tap the link above to open the full ArcGIS experience in a new tab.