The closure of the Manawatu Gorge in August 2011 caused a change in the travel time for patients living in the eastern area of the MidCentral Health District to their main hospital and health services located in Palmerston North. This presented an opportunity to study the effect a change in travel time and spatial access had on a population before and after such an event. This study used a retrospective cohort design, using routinely collected data from general practice, emergency department, hospital admissions and outpatient services. The investigation was completed using novel geospatial information systems methods to produce high fidelity data for analysis with free and open source software by developing and validating two new methods of improving geocoding data quality and a new travel time prediction model. Potential and realised spatial accessibility measures were calculated for 101,456 patients over 3.5 years while the gorge was both open and closed. Catchment sensitivity analysis and two-step floating catchment area using distance decays presented complimentary evidence of accessibility change during the Manawatu Gorge closure. Analysis of utilisation measures in both primary and secondary care were correlated with travel time. Utilisation of general practice services appeared to be negatively impacted by increased travel time when comparing realised accessibility in a control and intervention group during the gorge closure. It appeared as though other factors affected access to health services to a greater degree than an increase of up to fifteen minutes travel time.

In developing countries rural communities are normally geographically isolated contributing to both poverty levels and the deficiency in the participation of social and economic activities. Accessibility to education constitutes one of the primordial links between the economic growth of a country and the development of high skilled population. Given South Africa's unique history, divisions throughout the landscape incapacitate inhabitants of rural communities in reaching opportunities and services, therefore, aggravating issues related to social exclusion and inequality. This study aims to determine accessibility levels in South African rural regions by looking at different aspects that entangle the theory behind it, specifically: the zone attractiveness and impedance. With that in mind, the investigations carried out are firstly directed towards accessibility at the provincial level and thereafter a focus area is determined. At the provincial level, it was found that the Northern Cape presented the greatest disadvantages. However, given insufficient resources and data related to this province, the Cape Winelands Municipality District was chosen as the area to extend the investigations. When assessing the focus area, the study deployed a GIS-based analysis wherein potential and real accessibility were determined. Initially using the gravity measure, and subsequently using a survey carried out in the region. The study has revealed that Stellenbosch and Robertson are the towns experiencing high accessibility levels. Notwithstanding, most principal towns still experience critically low accessibility indexes. The findings of this study can, therefore, be useful in indicating areas that need further studies or are experiencing disadvantages regarding accessibility.

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National parks have famously been called "America's best idea" and preserve the nation's natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of all. One of the current working priorities of the National Park Service (NPS) is enhancing the relevancy and engagement of the national parks with diverse audiences, especially for underserved groups. To address this priority, transportation is needed to provide access to national parks, but transportation may not be equally accessible to all groups in society. Understanding the effects of transportation on visitation to the national parks by racial/ethnic groups is essential for the NPS to improve the accessibility of transportation systems and encourage greater visitation by racial/ethnic minority groups. Moreover, transportation can be more than a means of access, it can also be a form of recreation itself, providing opportunities for visitors to experience and appreciate parks and related areas. But, differences in desirability of transportation recreation opportunities across recreation settings and among racial/ethnic groups are rarely addressed. The intent of this dissertation is three-fold: 1) identify transportation related barriers impacting visitation to national parks by racial/ethnic groups, and the effects of transportation on the visiting national parks, 2) identify the differences in indicators of the transportation recreation opportunity spectrum among racial/ethnic visitors and across recreation settings, 3) measure spatial accessibility of national parks and the effects of spatial accessibility and other factors on visitation to national parks among racial/ethnic groups. The first phase of research is designed to identify barriers to visiting national parks that are related to marginality, subculture, and discrimination hypotheses, and examine the effects of transportation incentives on visitation among racial/ethnic groups. Study results found that racial/ethnic minority groups visited national parks less frequently than Whites. Hispanics were more likely to perceive transportation-related barriers to visiting national parks than Whites. Moreover, providing transportation incentives can increase visitation by Hispanics significantly. The second phase of research developed indicators for a transportation recreation opportunity spectrum (T-ROS), and examined the differences in desirability for T-ROS indicators among alternative transportation modes, different types of recreation settings, and different racial/ethnic groups. Study results identified the important indicators for transportation service in different types of recreation areas, which can help inform transportation planning and management for the NPS. The final phase of research examined the spatial accessibility of national parks from different geographic locations by incorporating geospatial analytics, assessed the spatial accessibility of different types of national parks among racial/ethnic groups, and estimated the effects of spatial accessibility on visitation to national parks. Results showed that Hispanics and Blacks had higher accessibility to national parks than Whites within short distance radii, however, Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to perceive distance as a barrier to visiting national parks than Whites. Study results can help the NPS understand the spatial structure of national parks, provide visual information for visitors about proximate national parks and recreation opportunities, and identified effective management strategies for enhancing visitation of racial/ethnic minority groups from different geographic areas.

No description available.

Primary health care (PHC) is a term used to refer to the parts of the health system that people interact with most of the time when health care is needed. It is considered the first point of contact for health services in Canada. Access to PHC services is an important issue regarding health care delivery in Canada today. There is a need to advance current understanding of access to PHC providers at local scales such as neighbourhoods. The primary objective of this study is to examine the variation in geographic (spatial) accessibility to permanently located primary care services in the Canadian urban environment. Furthermore, the analysis of spatial patterns of accessibility, both visually and statistically using GIS, is to provide a better understanding of among and between neighbourhood variations. This research took place in the 14 urban areas across Canada: Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Hamilton, and Toronto, Ontario; Montréal and Québec, Quebec; Halifax, Nova Scotia; St. John’s, Newfoundland; Saint John, New Brunswick; and Ottawa–Gatineau, Ontario and Quebec. A GIS based method, the Three-Step Floating Catchment Area (3SFCA), was applied to determine the spatial accessibility to PHC services (accessibility score). First, for increasing geocoding match rates with reduced positional uncertainty, an integrated geocoding technique was developed after an empirical comparison of the geocoding results based on manually built and online geocoding services and subsequently applied to generate geographic coordinates of PHC practices which are an essential element for measuring potential access to health care. Next, the results of the Three-Step Floating Catchment Area (3SFCA) method was compared with simpler approachs to calculate the City level physician-to-population ratios and this research highlights the benefit of using the 3SFCA method over simpler approaches in urban areas by providing similar or comparable results of City level physician-to-population ratios with the advantage of intra-urban measurements. Further, the results point out that considerable spatial variation in geographical accessibility to PHC services exists within and across Canadian urban areas and indicate the existence of clusters of poorly served neighbourhoods in all urban areas. In order to investigate the low accessibility scores in relation to population health care needs, spatial statistical modeling techniques were applied that revealed variations in geographical accessibility to PHC services by comparing the accessibility scores to different socio-demographic characteristics across Canadian urban settings. In order to analyse how these relationships between accessibility and predictors vary at a local scale within an urban area, a local spatial regression technique (i.e., geographically weighted regression or GWR) was applied in two urban areas. The results of GWR modelling demonstrates intra-urban variations in the relationships between socio-demographic variables and the geographic accessibility to PHC services. In addition, the influences of “unit of analysis” on accessibility score were analyzed using spatial statistical modeling that emphasize the use of units of analysis that are pertinent to policy and planning purposes such as city defined neighbourhoods. Overall, this research shows the importance of measuring geographic accessibility of PHC services at local levels for decision makers, planners, researchers, and policy makers in the field of public health and health geography. This dissertation will advance current understanding of access to primary care in Canadian urban settings from the perspective of the neighbourhood.

Submitted by Edmilson Queiroz Dias (edmilsonqueirozdias@gmail.com) on 2016-04-18T20:07:10Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTAÇÃO EDMILSON QUEIROZ DIAS.pdf: 8167458 bytes, checksum: f76540745d5af5c77b3fb29a87fc1f69 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-04-19T17:40:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 dias_eq_me_bauru.pdf: 8167458 bytes, checksum: f76540745d5af5c77b3fb29a87fc1f69 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-19T17:40:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dias_eq_me_bauru.pdf: 8167458 bytes, checksum: f76540745d5af5c77b3fb29a87fc1f69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-18 / Os edifícios escolares projetados e construídos em períodos anteriores à leis e normas técnicas de acessibilidade podem comprometer o aprendizado e a inclusão dos alunos com algum tipo de necessidade especial nas escolas de educação infantil. Diante desta realidade, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar o grau de inclusão escolar através da análise da acessibilidade espacial em edifícios escolares de ensino infantil do município de Bauru, para alunos com deficiência física e visual. O estudo de caso foi realizado em cinco escolas municipais de ensino infantil, localizadas no município de Bauru, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Para esta análise foram utilizados os seguintes métodos: análise da acessibilidade espacial nas edificações através da utilização da técnica de vistoria técnica, cálculo do índice de acessibilidade espacial das escolas; análise dos deslocamentos lineares e utilização dos ambientes através da leitura da planta humanizada e registro fotográfico. Os resultados obtidos nesta pesquisa conduziram às seguintes conclusões: i) as escolas municipais de ensino infantil estão recebendo alunos deficientes (físico, visual, intelectual, etc.); no entanto, nem todos os espaços foram projetados ou adaptados para receber estes alunos; em alguns casos, estas adaptações não contribuem para a efetiva inclusão escolar; e ii) a partir dos problemas elencados nesta pesquisa, o município pode formular e implantar ações a curto, médio e longo prazos para tornar as escolas infantis acessíveis e mais includentes. / School buildings designed and constructed in previous years the laws and technical accessibility standards can compromise learning and the inclusion of students in preschools. Given the above, this research aims to verify the degree of school inclusion by analyzing the spatial accessibility in a children’s school, located in the city of Bauru, São Paulo State Brazil; for students with physical and visual disabilities. For this analysis the following methods were used: analysis of spatial accessibility in buildings through the use of technical inspection, determination of the spatial of accessibility index of preschools; analysis of linear displacements and environments through the use of reading and humanized plant and photographic record. The results obtained in this study led to the following conclusions: i) municipal children's education schools have been receiving disabled students (physical, visual, intellectual, etc.), however, not all spaces have been designed or adapted to receive these students; in some cases, these adaptations do not contribute to the effective school inclusion; and ii) from the listed problems in this research, the municipality can formulate and implement actions in the short, medium and long term to make children’s schools more accessible and more inclusive.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-09T10:45:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 miriamcarladonascimentodias.pdf: 10021196 bytes, checksum: 7f0a142db8737511c376c9786a6a1d41 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-09T13:48:16Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 miriamcarladonascimentodias.pdf: 10021196 bytes, checksum: 7f0a142db8737511c376c9786a6a1d41 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-09T13:48:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 miriamcarladonascimentodias.pdf: 10021196 bytes, checksum: 7f0a142db8737511c376c9786a6a1d41 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-04 / Baseado no conceito de acessibilidade espacial e seus elementos componentes de comunicação, orientação espacial, circulação e utilização, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de aplicativo móvel capaz de associar a tecnologia de geolocalização com a leitura de QR Code, a fim de tornar-se uma ferramenta auxiliar nas ações de acessibilidade, com seu referencial teórico baseado em pesquisas sobre a Tecnologia Mobile, acessibilidade universal e prototipagem, visando facilitar a acessibilidade dentro de um ambiente universitário. O método utilizado incluiu avaliação e registro das condições ambientais e da acessibilidade no campus da UFJF, o que permitiu a atualização dos mapas existentes e uma pré-marcação dos pontos referenciados para geolocalização e recomendação de possíveis rotas para caminhantes, aplicação de QR Code para fins de endereçamento e utilização de pictogramas, voltados para facilitar a visualização e interpretação das informações. Esta pesquisa visa contribuir, através dos resultados dos levantamentos e análises, com a implementação de um programa de acessibilidade para o Campus da UFJF, proporcionando para os seus usuários, independente de serem pessoas com ou sem deficiência física ou mobilidade reduzida: estrangeiros, visitantes ou nativos, condições igualitárias para se orientar em ambiente construído e para localizar nos edifícios, os acessos, equipamentos urbanos e as melhores rotas para chegar em seu destino. Foi desenvolvido um protótipo denominado Alfa que permitiu analisar a importância do uso da tecnologia da informação para a acessibilidade espacial e comparar as formas atuais de endereçamento em um campus universitário com as possibilidades vislumbradas com o advento tecnológico, portanto, acredita-se que os objetivos desta dissertação foram alcançados, deixando a proposta de desenvolvimento do protótipo Beta para que os resultados sejam vislumbrados em sua plenitude. / Based on the concept of spatial accessibility and its component elements of communication, spatial orientation, movement and use, this research aims to develop a mobile application prototype able to associate geolocation technology to read QR Code, in order to become an auxiliary tool in the accessibility shares with his theoretical framework based on research on Mobile Technology, universal accessibility and prototyping, to facilitate accessibility of a university setting. The method used included evaluation and record environmental conditions and accessibility on campus UFJF, which allowed the updating of existing maps and a pre-marking of the points referred to geolocation and recommendation of possible routes for walkers, applying QR Code for purposes addressing, and use of pictograms, meant for easy viewing and interpretation of information. This research aims to contribute through the results of surveys and analyzes, with the implementation of an accessibility program for the Campus UFJF, providing to its users, whether they are people with or without disabilities or reduced mobility: foreigners, visitors or native, equal conditions for guidance in the built environment and to locate buildings, accesses, urban equipment and the best routes to arrive at your destination. We developed a prototype called Alfa that allowed to analyze the importance of the use of information technology for space access and compare the current ways of addressing on a college campus with the possibilities glimpsed with the technological advent, so it is believed that the objectives of this dissertation were achieved, leaving the Beta prototype development proposal for the results to be glimpsed in its fullness.