MODELING HIGH-RESOLUTION GRIDDED POPULATION SURFACE IN ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA By PENG JIA A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 © 2012 Peng Jia 2 To my mom and dad who always support me unconditionally 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is with a great deal of gratitude that I would like to acknowledge a group of individuals in the Department of Geography for my impressive graduate education experience. First, I want to personally thank Dr. Youliang Qiu, my thesis advisor, for helping me in large and small ways. Through working as his teaching assistant and discussing with him about research, he gave me both criticism and encouragement and looking back, I can see that I gained a lot. I am proud to say he is not only an excellent advisor, but also a reliable friend. I would also like to thank Dr. Peter R. Waylen and Dr. Liang Mao for serving on my thesis committee. Dr. Waylen was understanding and gave me support in both my academic and personal path. Dr. Mao's logical thinking and challenging questions made me never stop expanding and refining my ideas and research. This thesis would not have been possible without their help and support. Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr. Richard Rheingans in the Department of Environmental and Global Health. I met him at my turning point and I found my way that was really fit to me through working and discussing with him. Not only did he provide me an excellent working atmosphere to do my research and complete this thesis, he provided me with a flexible working schedule and the freedom to pursue my wide range of interests as well. I wish to extend my sincere appreciation to Dr. Corene J. Matyas who first encouraged me to come to the University of Florida. Although developing different interests from her afterwards, her kindness, consideration and serious instructions really helped me become accustomed to American ways of thinking and communicating since I arrived at the U.S., which I will forever be grateful for. 4 Special thanks to Dr. Robert V. Rohli in the Department of Geography & Anthropology at LSU and Dr. Andrew Tatem at UF who gave me generous help and instructions during my tough time of greatest need. Thank you to Dr. Timothy Fik who introduced me to the statistical world in a unique way. I got a lot of knowledge from his classes and he is a professor I greatly admire. Thank you also to Dr. Jane Southworth, Ms. Julia Williams, Ms. Desiree Price and Ms. Rhonda Black, who provided me much advice and ease during my graduate study. Many thanks to my friends for their help and company: to John D. Anderson, my close colleague in the Emerging Pathogens Institute who gave me much help with my work and also gave me a unique opportunity to celebrate a Thanksgiving party; to Mia Jakubisin, my good friend who gave me a great deal of help with my language; to Mario Mighty, who helped me a lot while working as a teaching assistant; to Yilun Sun in the Department of Biostatistics, my great collaborator whose expertise is complementary to mine; and to some of my friends, Zhuojie Huang, Jing Sun, Qiuyin Qi, Yang Yang and Ying Wang, for a lot of fun when we gathered. Last but not least, I would like to show my biggest appreciation to my parents Xiu Lee and Hongwei Jia for their care and understanding throughout my life. Because of their support, I could always develop my own interests and pursue my dreams since my childhood. Talking with them on the phone always encouraged me and calmed me when I was disappointed or frustrated as they always know just what to say. I appreciate the life they gave me from the bottom of my heart. Although they could not read my thesis easily, they always knew exactly what I was doing. "It is absolutely an important element for a digital city." Dad said. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. 9 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 12 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................... 16 Demographic Products ........................................................................................... 16 Dasymetric Methods ............................................................................................... 17 3 STUDY AREA AND DATA ...................................................................................... 23 Study Area .............................................................................................................. 23 Census Data ........................................................................................................... 23 Tax Parcel Data ...................................................................................................... 24 4 METHODS .............................................................................................................. 27 5 RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 35 Population Density Fraction .................................................................................... 35 Dasymetric Mapping ............................................................................................... 37 Case Study 1: Estimation of Bus Passengers ......................................................... 38 Case Study 2: Estimation of Population at Risk to Environmental Pollution ........... 40 6 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................... 57 7 DISCUSSIONS ....................................................................................................... 59 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 68 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 71 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Proportion of area and population of different property types in the urban area of Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida ...................................................... 25 5-1 Inhabitable property types .................................................................................. 44 5-2 Absolute aggregated density .............................................................................. 45 5-3 Relative density .................................................................................................. 46 5-4 Numbers of actual passengers and estimated population within the buffer zone of each route .............................................................................................. 46 5-5 Numbers of actual population and estimated population within the buffer zone with different radii ....................................................................................... 47 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 3-1 Urban area of Gainesville, Alachua County ........................................................ 25 3-2 Overview of Florida Real Property (Source: Property Tax Oversight, Florida Department of Revenue) .................................................................................... 26 4-1 Flowchart of dasymetric mapping ....................................................................... 32 4-2 Mismatch of boundary between two sources of data .......................................... 33 4-3 Mismatch of boundary between two sources of data .......................................... 34 5-1 Choropleth map of population density in Alachua County .................................. 47 5-2 Dasymetric map of population density in Alachua County .................................. 48 5-3 Courses of 13 bus routes ................................................................................... 49 5-4 Routes 20 (blue) and 21 (orange) ....................................................................... 49 5-5 Route 8 (orange) and 29 (dark yellow) ............................................................... 50 5-6 Route 9 (green), 35 (blue) and 36 (purple) ......................................................... 50 5-7 Choropleth map of population density in the urban area of Gainesville .............. 51 5-8 Dasymetric map of population density in the urban area of Gainesville ............. 52 5-9 Overview of the Cabot-Koppers Superfund Site on Google Earth (Source: http://aquaticpath.phhp.ufl.edu/waterbiology/handouts/CabotKoppers.pdf) ........ 53 5-10 Visual comparison of the choropleth (up) and dasymetric map (down) within the buffer with a 0.5 miles radius centered on the Cabot-Koppers Site .............. 54 5-11 Visual comparison of the choropleth (up) and dasymetric map (down) within the buffer with a 2.5 miles radius centered on the Cabot-Koppers Site .............. 55 5-12 Visual comparison of the choropleth (up)