Development of GIS-Based Methods to Determine Optimal Routes to POIs: A Case Study of Katowice (Poland)

With the increasingly strong affirmation of sustainable mobility principles, there is a need to investigate existing urban planning to envisage, where necessary, improvements aimed at ensuring these assumptions. In line with this, the present paper sees the development and implementation of GIS methods, through the use of core tools and Python script, in order to identify optimal routes from starting points (centroids) to different points of interest (POI) scattered throughout the urban territory. These analyses were implemented in a real urban environment, such as the city of Katowice in Poland. Main idea was to use free software and open data. The use of the Open-Source software QGIS made it possible to carry out a spatial analysis of the road network of the case study and thus define an accessibility model taking into account socio-spatial data and route optimization criteria such as distance, time of the journey, and type of route. One of the most universal open data about roads network is Open Street Map database. This source was used in the case. From the results obtained, the open-source tool, QGIS, has proved to be one of possible solutions and has succeeded in providing effective evidence to define accessibility, which is a valid tool for urban mobility management and policy. The usability of the OSM database depends on the completeness of the data, which may result in limitations in application or inaccurate results.