Date of Award

2016

Degree Name

Geography

College

College of Liberal Arts

Type of Degree

M.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Godwin Djietror

Second Advisor

Anita Walz

Third Advisor

James Leonard

Abstract

Will the implementation of a grocery shuttle impact supermarket access for residents of Cabell County, West Virginia? The concentration of supermarkets in the City of Huntington has led to a service gap in the outlying census block groups of the study area. Supermarket access is concentrated in the City of Huntington and may provide a positive outcome for families living within the city. The study assesses the impact of the implementation of a supermarket shuttle on supermarket access within the study area, through spatial analysis of supermarkets, transportation networks, and census block groups. The transportation network data and census block group data used were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau database. The vehicle availability, percentage of the population living under the poverty line and population data sets were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau using the Summary File Data Retrieval Tool V1.0.0.8. Supermarket locations were obtained from business directories and were subject to ground truthing. The supermarket locations were geocoded and a 3,200 meter network distance buffer was applied to calculate the supermarket service areas within the study area. The supermarket shuttle locations were added to the supermarket locations and the 3,200 meter network distance buffer was again applied to create the supermarket and supermarket shuttle service areas. The supermarket shuttle locations expanded supermarket access in 19 census block groups within the study area. The proposed supermarket shuttle raised six census block groups above the 50% coverage threshold and these areas would no longer be classified as areas with low supermarket access. The supermarket shuttle model increased supermarket access for 13,238 persons within the study area.

Subject(s)

Geographic information systems -- West Virginia -- Cabell County.

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