Background

It is possible, using the openspace ranking system, to estimate the rate at which resources will be protected. This section uses the order that parcels are ranked to make estimates of the rate at which resources will be protected, and to understand the differences between scoring systems.

In order to accomplish this, I assumed that the parcels will be protected in the order in which they are ranked. This assumption is critical to all analysis in this section. More discussion of this assumption is in the limitations section.

For example, if the town purchases the parcel that is ranked the highest using the point system, it is possible using GIS to estimate which resources will be protected when that parcel is purchased. The parcel may be in a groundwater recharge area, have cultural significance, and have riparian habitat. It is also possible, using the tax assessors database to estimate the cost of purchasing that parcel. Using this this information, it is possible to predict that if a specific amount of money is spent based on a certain scoring system which types of resources will be protected, and how well they will be protected.

With GIS, it is possible to extend this analysis, from estimating what will be protected after the first parcel is purchased, to understanding how resources are protected at any given point in the program. This can be used to show the path that a scoring system takes to protecting every parcel. Analyzing this path can reveal which resources the scoring system tends to favor, and how many parcels have to be purchased before a certain percentage of a specific resource is protected.

These projections are linked to the tax assessors database to estimate the cost associated with the protection of each parcel. This adds another dimension to the analysis because it not only shows how many acres of a certain resource will be protected, but also the cost associated with achieving that level of protection.

This section uses this method to analyze the two scoring systems developed as part of this study.