Banking on location and demographics
A retired golf pro has teamed up with a national land development company to build a world-class golf resort in his home state. The resort will have three 18-hole courses, a hotel and lodge, and several restaurants, and will also offer horseback riding. The pro will assist in the design of the courses and the resort will bear his name. The development team is considering an area in the central part of the state, in one of three adjacent counties. There are already a number of golf courses in the area and it is becoming known as a vacation destination—anticipating the retirement of the baby boomers, the team believes there will be a market for more golf resorts in the region.
Seeking land that can be developed.
The development team is being courted by the chambers of commerce and government officials in all three counties. Much of the land in the area is forest or rangeland, with large tracts in public ownership. The resort will require at least 500 acres for the courses, buildings, and riding trails. The developers want to show the pro and his people which county has the most private land, giving them the greatest range of options in selecting a site for the resort. They believe the most effective way to present this information is a map showing the three counties with the public land removed, leaving only the private land displayed.
Removing public lands from consideration
To do this they will use the ArcGIS Erase tool. Erase removes features (or portions of features) from one layer using areas in another layer. In this case, the portion of each county that is public land will be erased, leaving only private land. This new layer will later be the starting point for finding a specific location for the resort, once the host county has been chosen.
Having obtained a county layer and a landownership layer from the statewide GIS data clearinghouse, the developers first select the three counties in which they are interested.
Next they select public lands from the ownership layer.
They then use the Erase tool to remove the portions of the counties that overlap the public lands. The resulting layer shows the portions of the three counties that are private land. At the next meeting with the golf pro, the developers display the layer along with a layer of existing golf courses and country clubs, and a basemap showing cities, highways, and topography. By selecting a county they can display the amount of private land in that county.
Economics versus vision
The developers believe it would be best to locate in the southwestern county, due to the presence of the main city in the region and the cluster of existing golf courses and clubs. While this county has the least amount of private land, there is still more than enough land to provide ample options for a site for the resort. They argue that even though the existing courses represent some competition, they will also attract golfers to the immediate area. Plus, the county—having a larger population and tax base—has offered more generous tax breaks.
However, the golf pro insists the resort not be near the existing golf courses and clubs. He wants the resort to stand alone and envisions it as a retreat that would be away from other development. He believes with his name attached to the resort it will be a big draw even if it is located some distance from the current golfing center of the region.
After a lengthy discussion, the developers agree to move forward with analyzing the two counties favored by the pro. For now they will keep the county they favor as an option should site analysis and market analysis show that the other counties do not have any viable sites. The next step will be to use the layer of private land in these analyses.
Workflow using ArcGIS Online
Find and display the portion of each county that is privately owned land
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Filter the statewide layer of counties to select the three counties of interest. Use the Add a set option to create the three expressions.
- Filter the landownership layer to select publically owned land.
- Use the Overlay Layers tool with the Erase option to create a layer showing the portions of the three counties that are privately owned.
Workflow using ArcGIS Desktop
Find and display the portion of each county that is privately owned land
- Use Select By Attributes to select the three counties of interest.
- Use Select By Attributes to select the publically owned land.
- Use the Erase tool to create a layer containing the portions of the three counties that are privately owned.
Calculate the amount of private land in each county, in acres
- Add a field to the layer containing the private land to hold the area values.
- Right-click the Acres field and use Calculate Geometry to calculate the amount of private land for each county, in acres.
Automation using ArcGIS Desktop
- The ArcGIS Desktop workflow can be automated, as shown in this diagram.
Workflow using ArcGIS Pro
Find and display the portion of each county that is privately owned land
- Use Select Layer By Attribute to select the three counties of interest.
- Use Select Layer By Attribute to select the publically owned land.
- Use the Erase tool to create a layer containing the portions of the three counties that are privately owned.
Calculate the amount of private land in each county, in acres
- Use the Add Geometry Attributes tool to calculate the amount of private land for each county, in acres.
