DS-19 · Fifteen minutes to a park

What fraction of Henrico residents live within a 15-minute walk of a public park or library, and how does that fraction differ across income and age groups?

Henrico open GIS parks, libraries, and boundaries (https://data-henrico.opendata.arcgis.com/). OpenStreetMap pedestrian network (https://www.openstreetmap.org/). Census ACS demographics (https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets/acs-5year.html).

Straight-line buffers ignore highways, rivers, and missing sidewalks — the classic "park across the interstate" error. OSM sidewalk data is incomplete in suburban areas, so a walkable network may be modeled where none exists. Park polygons include inaccessible land.

A network-based walkshed analysis with barriers respected, sidewalk data completeness assessed and reported, and access rates broken out by demographic group.

CT: understanding what a buffer assumes. CR: handling incomplete sidewalk data honestly. CO: ground-truthing a sample of walksheds with a partner. CM: a map for a parks department. CZ: park access is a well-documented equity issue.

A parks planner, GIS analyst, or public-health professional reviews the network method at Checkpoint 1 and the equity analysis at Checkpoint 2. School-supervised.

R1: walkshed, not buffer. R2: sidewalk completeness quantified. R3: straight-line buffer as baseline. R4: difference between methods reported. R5: a usable map. R6: names where data gaps could mask inequity.

(a) A half-mile circular buffer counts households separated from the park by I-64. (b) Missing sidewalks are treated as walkable and suburban access is overstated across the board.