[GIS] Road density calculation

densityqgisroad

I have a vector layer of about 62km^2. I have a vector layer of roads within that area. How do I calculate the road density (km/km2)? I did a union between the road layer and the area layer, then I calculate the total line length in the area? I'm working in QGIS.

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Assuming that the polygon and road layers cover the same extent, and are projected to the same Coordinate Reference System (that uses feet or meters as the unit of measure), no overlay operation, such as Union, is required. Simply (1) calculate the total road length (feet, miles, km, etc), and (2) calculate the total polygon area, using the same units of measure (square feet, miles, km). Then divide length by area to get road density.

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[GIS] road density km/km2 calculation

in my point of view, you should decide your unit area (it could be county boundary or certain grid). after that, do some geoprocessing to divide roads in each unit area. Then you calculate each of roads length in each unit area and divide with the hectarage (or km2).

Population Density – Calculating 1000 People per km²

Population density is simply calculated by:

Number of People / Land Area

Therefore, 1000 people/km2 is the population density in your case.

Often, population density is measured in km^2 or mi^2 as finer measurements such as people/m^2 or ft^2 would not be very useful in interpretation.

According to the US Census Bureau:

Population density allows for broad comparison of settlement intensity across geographic areas. In the U.S., population density is typically expressed as the number of people per square mile of land area. The U.S. value is calculated by dividing the total U.S. population (316 million in 2013) by the total U.S. land area (3.5 million square miles).

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When comparing population density values for different geographic areas, then, it is helpful to keep in mind that the values are most useful for small areas, such as neighborhoods. For larger areas (especially at the state or country scale), overall population density values are less likely to provide a meaningful measure of the density levels at which people actually live, but can be useful for comparing settlement intensity across geographies of similar scale.

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[GIS] road density km/km2 calculation

Population Density – Calculating 1000 People per km²

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