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Client: Darren Clarke, Facilities Branch, Department of Education and Training

With booming inner-city residential development, the population of inner-city Melbourne has grown enormously over the last decade. Concerned that a related increase in the number of primary school-aged children may also be taking place, the Facilities Branch of the Department of Education and Training engaged Spatial Vision to undertake a research project to review long term demand for inner-city primary school facilities.

The Department of Education and Training approached Spatial Vision to assess the extent to which the residential boom would translate into increased primary-aged residents. This was achieved in part by assessing demographic trends, taking in to account other outside influences such as urban renewal and public housing redevelopment programs. Another key research task lay in determining the geographic spread of enrolments at some 30 inner-Melbourne primary schools. This necessitated obtaining and geocoding over 8,000 address points.

As part of the project, Spatial Vision consulted with the Department of Human Services, the City of Melbourne’s Strategic Research Section, the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Planning Division, the Catholic Education Office, and representatives from each of the 30 primary schools in the study area outlined. Careful procedures were put in place regarding the handling of potentially sensitive information.

The results of the study enabled the Department of Education and Training to better predict the long-term enrolment demands for individual schools, thus allowing the development of policies and plans to meet future demand. Spatial Vision also produced individual school reports showing historic and forecast enrolments, key demographic variables and a map of the current distribution of enrolments.

Demonstrated Capabilities

• Expertise with a variety of census, and other sources of demographic data
• Delicate consultation with stakeholders and public interests
• Geo-referencing and address matching
• Detailed spatial analysis of geo-statistical data

Resources

Glenn Cockerton and Cam Botherway were the primary Spatial Vision staff for this project.

Milos Pelikan and Amanda Tyrer provided additional GIS support.

Technologies Applied

• ArcInfo and ArcMap
• Adobe Acrobat