Day: November 17, 2010

Logistics Software is Free for Single-Vehicle Use

/ Matt Artz

Anyone in the United States who needs to schedule and route multiple stops throughout the day for a single vehicle can now use ArcLogistics free of charge. ArcLogistics is cloud-based vehicle routing and scheduling software that creates optimum routes and schedules based on specific business operations including vehicle capacities, driver specialties, street network restrictions, and customer time windows.

The free single-vehicle subscription is ideal for sales professionals, lawn and pool services, or anyone who needs to find the best routes for a single vehicle. The solution helps organizations deliver services and move goods to the right place at the right time for minimum cost. Customers who use ArcLogistics to plan their routes typically save up to 30 percent on vehicle-related costs.

The latest version of ArcLogistics includes the following key enhancements:

  • Setup wizard—A wizard sets up the basic attributes of the fleet, reducing the time it takes to import vehicles, drivers, and orders.
  • Improved address management—If an address is manually edited or moved, ArcLogistics will remember the edit and place it in the desired location next time it is imported or entered.
  • Secure services—Esri-hosted mapping, routing, and geocoding services use secure HTTPS protocol.

To start a free single-vehicle subscription, visit esri.com/arclogistics and sign up for a 30-day trial. The 30-day free trial allows the routing and scheduling of up to 50 vehicles. When the trial expires, it automatically converts to a free one-vehicle subscription.

[Source: Esri press release]

If You’re a Turkey in the U.S., Where’s the Best Place to Hide over Thanksgiving?

/ Matt Artz

“Americans love turkeys, domestic and wild. We buy them, and hunt them. While the fate of most turkeys is certain, this maps shows where a turkey might find some safety.

View the map: PDF [5.35 MB], GIF [370 KB]

“For this map, we combined data for consumption of turkey, gravy and stuffing, with data on where people hunt with shotguns. Locations with low consumption or low hunting provide a margin of safety. People in cities and suburbs tend to eat more domestic turkeys, while people in rural areas hunt more.

“Data sources: Esri Updated Demographics (2010), GfK MRI.”

Spatial Analysis of Property Crimes on Foreclosure and Other Socio-Economic Variables: An Examination of Garfield Heights

/ Matt Artz / 1 Comment

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the ASC Annual Meeting, Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia, PA. 2010-11-15

Harry Wilson and Kevin Cieplowski

“Spatial and temporal changes in crime have important consequences affecting the criminal justice system and other critical policy sectors. After declining through the 1990s and remaining stable for over a decade, violent crime rates climbed in many cities. Very little is known about the factors driving crime trends, and recent studies on this topic tend to be limited to descriptive and explanatory approaches. Spatial-oriented analyses are rarely used to scrutinize the relationship between recent crime trends and socio-economic factors, including foreclosure. The current research focuses on spatial analysis of property crimes in Garfield Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, 2004-2009”

A Geographic Analysis of Public-Private School Choice in South Carolina, USA

/ Matt Artz

International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, Vol. 1, Issue 4, 2010

Haifeng Zhang, Lorin Anderson, David Cowen, and Lisle Mitchell

“Despite years of research and debate, household choice between public and private schools is not well understood. This article investigates factors associated with parental choice between public and private schools using unique census-based school enrollment data for school districts in South Carolina and for neighborhoods in the Columbia Metropolitan Area. This study extends the existing literature by examining patterns of public-private school choice for whites and blacks separately in order to control racial disparities in school choice. Results of multiple regression analyses for the whole population and subdivided racial groups generally support the assumption that public-private school enrollment rate is subject to socioeconomic status, racial proportion, and public school quality. Findings of this study not only suggests the reconciliation of the market-based theory and the racial preference theory, but also provides insights into education policies in terms of stemming white enrollment losses and fostering public school education in the United States.”