Milton Maps

Analysis of GIS geospatial data sources for Milton, MA in transparent and reproducible Python. Check out the source code on GitHub

Purpose

This repository contains an example analysis combining several publicly available geospatial datasets pertaining to the town of Milton, MA and surrounding communities. I had two goals in putting this together:

  1. Build awareness in the Milton community of civic organizations of available sources of map data and how they might be used to answer questions of local interest. Provide a starting foundation for anyone in town who may want to work with this data in Python.

  2. Provide an example of a Python project structure that is portable, transparent and reproducibile using modern tools for data versioning, document generation, and python environment management. Namely, dvc for data version control, sphinx for document generation, and poetry for environment management.

Datasets

The analyses in this project use the following public GIS data sets

Open space parcels

A shapefile of open and recreational space parcles in Massachusetts was obtained from the mass.gov website

It is provided with the following disclaimer:

These data are very useful for most statewide and regional planning purposes. However, they are not a legal record of ownership, and the user should understand that parcel representations are generally not based on property surveys.

Data documentation is currently provided online and a PDF copy of the website as it was accessed when the data was downloaded is saved locally in case the website is moved or modified.

The shapefile data can be re-downloaded from the mass.gov website by running

$ make refresh-openspace-data

Tax Parcels

Downloaded from mass.gov property tax parcel

The files are offered with the following disclaimer:

Assessor’s parcel mapping is a representation of property boundaries, not an authoritative source. The authoritative record of property boundaries is recorded at the registries of deeds. A legally authoritative map of property boundaries can only be produced by a professional land surveyor.

Data documentation is currently provided online and a PDF copy of the website as it was accessed when the data is saved locally in case the website is moved or modified.

Full data dictionary and other documentation are provided in the Parcel Standard. A PDF copy of the standard is saved locally in case the website is moved or modified.

Mass DOT Crash Data

A crash data report for Milton, MA was requested from the Department of Transportation (MassDOT) IMPACT Portal using the Data Extraction tool. Crash data for the years 2016-2022 in Milton, MA were requested via the web page, and a personalized download link was emailed shortly thereafter. Data documentation provided with the download link is saved in references/MassDOT_crashdata_support_information.pdf.

The data is provided with the following disclaimer.

MassDOT makes no representation as to the accuracy, adequacy, reliability, availability or completeness of the crash records or the data collected from them and is not responsible for any errors or omissions in such records or data. Under no circumstance will MassDOT have any liability for any loss or damage incurred by any party as a result of the use of the crash records or the data collected from them. Furthermore, the data contained in the web-based cras report tool are not an official record of what transpired in a particular crash or for a particular crash type. If a user is interested in an official copy of a crash report, contact the

Registry (http://www.mass.gov/rmv/).

The City of Boston Police Department may be contacted directly for official copies of crash reports and for crash data pertaining to the City of Boston. In addition, any crash records or data provided for the years 2020 and later are subject to change at any time and are not to be considered up-to-date or complete. As such, open years’ of crash data are for informational purposes only and should not be used for analysis.

The data posted on this website, including crash records and other reports, are collected for the purpose of identifying, evaluating or planning the safety enhancement of potential crash sites, hazardous roadway conditions or railway-highway crossings. Under federal law, this information is not subject to discovery and cannot be admitted into evidence in any federal or state court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages that involves the sites mentioned in these records (see 23 USC, Section 409).

Credits

This package was initialized with Cookiecutter

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