Welcome to the 2026 GIS in Action Annual Conference hosted by the Oregon & SW Washington Chapter of the Geospatial Professional Network & Cascadia ASPRS.
My project evaluates whether the idea of a “15 minute neighborhood” is meaningful and achievable in Seattle. As an international student from China, I have experienced how life feels when daily needs like grocery stores, clinics, schools, and parks are within a short walk. In Seattle, the contrast is clear: cars dominate, and distance is measured in drive time instead of walk time. I want to move from the slogan to a concrete, testable method that shows where 15 minute access already exists, where it almost exists, and what it would take to close the gaps. I will also compare my results to local planning goals and investments to see whether planned actions are targeting the same “gap” areas that the accessibility measures identify. Using GIS analysis, I will estimate access to basic daily needs for each census tract in Seattle under two scenarios: walk only and walk + transit/micromobility. I will identify “near miss” tracts that are close to meeting 15 minute standards and design small, realistic intervention scenarios, such as adding a grocery store, improving a key bus route, or adding a safe connector path. To connect mapped access with lived experience, I will also conduct a small set of interviews or surveys in contrasting tracts to understand how people actually move, what routes they avoid, and what changes would make their neighborhood feel like a true 15 minute place. The goal is a replicable method that can guide targeted improvements instead of abstract debates.
