6 Ways to Enrich Your Planning with Custom Data Layers
Data layers tailored to your needs
As transit planners, it’s important to understand the demographic conditions and city makeup of the communities that our transit projects impact. Remix helps agencies paint a rich picture with our collection of standard data layers pulling from US Census data— population, jobs, minority populations, and more — but planners from around the world are taking their analyses even further with custom data layers.
So what are custom data layers? Custom layers are polygon shapefiles that allow customers to see more than the standard data in the Layers menu, often unique to the city or agency. The process is simple: we just ask that the customer provide the data to their Customer Success Manager who will then upload the data into Remix.
We’ve seen a lot of creative ways agencies have used custom data layers to enrich their plans. Here are a few that can serve as inspiration as you tackle your planning:
1. Daily Boardings By Bus Stop (CU-MTD, Champaign-Urbana, IL):
Champaign-Urbana, IL, is using their boardings data in Remix to see what stops have the highest and lowest boarding numbers. As part of the consolidation process, this can help them determine the stops to keep and remove.
2. Land-Use and Bikeways (Valley Metro, Phoenix, AZ):
Land-use is one of the many layers Valley Metro is using custom layers to guide their planning process. Bikeways, too, are an important part of Phoenix’s cityscape. Visualizing how their bikeways interact with their fixed route system has helped them think holistically to enhance multimodal travel.
3. Population and Employment Forecasts (Puget Sound Regional Council, Seattle, WA):
Many agencies use Remix to support their Long Range Transit Plans, and Puget Sound Regional Council is a great example of an agency using long-term forecasts in conjunction with Remix maps. With this spatial data, PSRC planners can determine where to plan future service based on high concentrations of jobs and people.
4. Demand Response (Franklin Transit, Franklin, TN):
Franklin Transit used their demand response shapefile to determine pick-up and drop-off locations for paratransit riders. Based on high concentrations of pick-up locations, they can use this shapefile to determine what areas might benefit from having fixed service routes.
5. Political Boundaries (People Mover, Anchorage, AK)
People Mover wanted to see their political boundaries for spatial reference in their planning process.
6. School Locations (Collier CATS, Naples, FL):
CATS in Collier County, FL, used their school shapefiles (along with parks and libraries) to determine points of interest during their transit planning process.
Interested in seeing a custom layer in your Remix maps? Email us at team@remix.com or contact your Customer Success Manager to get started.
