| Title Finding a Suitable Location for a DMV Office in Reedley | |
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Author Laura Aguillio American River College, Geography 350: Data Acquisition in GIS; Fall 2005 | |
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Abstract Looking at the Reedley area and finding a suitable location for a new DMV office based on population and transaction information. | |
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Introduction The lessor of our Reedley office has notified us that they will not be renewing our lease that is set to expire in May 2006. As the GIS Specialist for DMV, I will conduct analysis on population and transaction data and provide maps to upper management in order for them to identify options on how to continue serving the Reedley customers. | |
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Background The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) directly services over 37 million customers each year. Although some services can be provided by mail, phone, or via internet, a segment of our customer base require face-to-face transactions that can only be completed in our DMV offices. DMV’s building inventory consists of 215 offices, 176 are field offices and the remaining 39 are either program offices or Headquarter offices. (DMV Five-Year Plan, 2006/07, Author Infrastructure Planning Unit of DMV) These offices are either owned by the state or leased to us. Many times lessors are not willing to extend our lease, which leaves us to look for another location for our office. This is the current situation for our Reedley Office. | |
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Methods To ensure success of my analysis I needed to obtain past population and transaction data and project future population and transaction data. Below is a list of data that I acquired:
Population data was purchased from ESRI, www.esribis.com. This data includes population projections at the zip code level. We use zip code level since that is the unit of geography used by the DMV Office application in ArcView 3.2. Zip code data was purchased from Teleatlas, www.teleatlas.com Our Technical Support Division developed an automated routine to extract transaction records on a daily basis. Each transaction was stored as a single record and included:
For the population data, I updated my population worksheet in excel with 2004 data and edited the formulas to project population projections out to 2021. As a standard, DMV includes population projections out to 15 years. Since the process for acquiring an office can take up to seven years, it is important that we look beyond the 7 years so that the office can accommodate future population growth. Within the excel worksheet I created a column and formula to calculate the population percent change from 1999 to 2021. I then converted this worksheet to a database format for use in GIS. In order to determine future transaction amounts, I updated my transaction worksheet with 2004 data and edited formulas to calculate future transaction amounts to 2021. Using a linear regression model, a strong statistical relationship exists between population and transaction data (.958 correlation, 1993 – 2003). The relationship is identified by a formula, which predicts transactions using population as the independent variable. I used the latest updated service area shape file to create a map showing the service area for Reedley and the surrounding DMV offices (see Figure 2). This shape file is updated once a year based on the prior year’s transaction data and using the DMV Field Office Extension. The process for updating this shape file is lengthy but its purpose is to build service areas for each field office out of zip codes. Each zip code is analyzed to see to which office transactions went. In some cases a great majority went to a single office, in others it was more fragmented. In the latter case I could split the zip code and assign portions to different offices using the custom toolbox in the extension. This information shows what areas and offices are impacted if we need to open, close or relocate an office. | |
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Results I created 3 maps for upper
management. The first one (Figure 1) shows where the Reedley office is
located and a photo of the office. The population map (Figure 2) shows the
population growth for the Reedley area. We can look at our current offices
in the area and see if they are still in a location that will serve the
growing population. The Service Area Map (Figure 3) provides the
foundation for looking at how closing the office would impact the
surrounding DMV offices and see to which office the current customers for
the Reedley office may go if we were to close or relocate it.
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Figures and Maps | |
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Figure 1 < > |
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Figure 2 < > |
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Figure 3 < > |
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Analysis GIS is a great tool to map DMV
locations and their service areas. Population data can be outdated, but we
have developed a formula that provides us reasonable projections which
enable us to look at future transaction growth and suitable locations for
our offices. When we look at transaction growth and projections it also
allows us to see which of our offices are space deficient currently and
which ones will be deficient in the future. | |
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Conclusions Through meetings with the
lessor, DMV was able to extend the lease to May 2008. In the meantime, DMV
has recently hired a consultant to develop and assist with the
implementation of a statewide strategic facility plan. During this study,
the consultant will determine the viability of new offices statewide.
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References Census Bureau DMV, 2005, DMV 5-Year Infrastructure Plan Fresno Council of Governments | |
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Appendices Material may be included in various appendix sections at the student’s option. | |