This story map requires JavaScript, but running JavaScript is not currently allowed by your web browser. If you wish to view this story, please enable JavaScript in this browser or try a different browser.

Best Locations for a Proposed Golf Resort

An Esri Spatial Analysis Case Study Story Map

Add your image or video

This story map accompanies the Esri spatial analysis case study "Where are the best locations for a golf resort?" In the case study, a team of market analysts uses a story map such as this one to present their analysis to management and investors. (By the way, the case study includes a workflow and data so you can recreate the analysis.) While this fictional story is about siting a golf resort, the method--weighted raster overlay--can be applied to a wide range of projects.

What we needed to do

Our goal was to identify seven potential sites for the proposed golf resort, each 1500 acres in size, to provide options for the development team to consider. The team have narrowed the search area to two counties, with a third adjacent county as a backup option.

The three-county area of interest. The two preferred counties are outlined in bold.

The team also specified the criteria for a suitable site. Our analysis consisted of creating a map layer representing each criterion and assigning suitability scores to the values on each layer (for this initial set of steps we included the entire region, as you'll see). The scored layers were assigned weights, combined, and clipped to the two preferred counties to create a map showing areas having higher and lower scores. The final step was to identify the seven most suitable sites.

The Big Question: What Makes a Location Suitable?

The development team identified six criteria that, at a minimum, would make a location suitable as a site for the resort.  

Gentle slopes
Certain land cover types
Near (but not too near) an airport
Near a river
A view of mountain peaks
Surrounded by a variety of landscapes


Here's a closer look at the six criteria, starting with slopes.

Gentle slopes

Certain land cover types

Certain land cover types

Near (but not too near) an airport

Near (but not too near) an airport

Near a river

Near a river

A view of mountain peaks

A view of mountain peaks

Surrounded by a variety of landscapes

Surrounded by a variety of landscapes

So Where Are the Most Suitable Locations?

We are about to reveal that. First, though we thought you might want to know how we got from the maps showing suitability scores for the six criteria to identifying the most suitable locations.

Basically, we added the six maps together (we could do this since the maps all use the same scale, from 5 to 1). Here they are again, all in one place. Dark green areas are more suitable, yellow areas less. Areas in gray are considered not suitable at all.

When we added the layers we gave a higher weight to slope (a weight of 3) since it's really important to have gentle slopes for the golf courses. We also gave a weight of 2 to land cover and distance from airports as these were considered somewhat important factors. The other three criteria were not given additional weight.

But that's not all. Since the resort cannot be built on public land, we included a layer of privately-owned land to ensure suitable locations are confined to these areas.

The light green areas are privately-owned. All other areas within the three counties are public lands and are excluded as locations for the resort.

And, we limited potential sites to the two preferred counties.

At this stage, potential sites are limited to these two counties, based on the preferences set forward by the resort development team.

When you combine the scored layers and include the filters, here is the result.

What's Next?

The next step is to take a closer look at each of the sites. For a start, here are simulated aerial views of the two areas where the sites are located. The sites to the west are mainly located on shrub and grassland, but are near forests and a major river, with a view of a major peak. The sites to the east are located near agricultural land, and are near highways (red lines) and a river.

We'll also use GIS to compare the sites, looking at the total acreage of flat slopes, the amount of each land cover type, and distance from an airport. With the approval of management, the acquisitions team will start researching property ownership and valuations. The design team will follow with site visits.

An error has occurred

6%