The Village of Wheeling is currently putting together information to create a safe crossing zone in accordance with the Safe Routes to School Program. The village is looking into creating an improved cross walk at the intersection of Anthony Rd. and Schoenbeck Rd. due to its proximity to both Booth Tarkington Elementary School and Jack London Middle School. This would allow students who are walking to school to cross a major intersection more safely. One important aspect needed to determine if this would be an ideal location where an improved cross walk should be placed is a map showing the attendance boundaries for each school in the study. By knowing where the students are coming from, the village can determine if this intersection is appropriate for an improvement.
To help in the process, a map was created showing the attendance boundaries for the elementary and middle schools in each village. The attendance boundaries were merged together so that the elementary school districts fit into their respective middle school districts. This allows the map to show that, in the target study area, students from both Booth Tarkington Elementary and Jack London Middle School have to cross the intersection of Anthony Rd. and Schoenbeck Rd. to be able to walk to school. Without GIS, the planning department would have to spend time combining hand drawn maps to figure out the exact attendance boundaries for each school. By using GIS, the planning department was able to quickly determine the attendance boundaries, saving them a considerable amount of time.