15 cars and 15 restless riders

June 16, 2009 9:19 PM

[Chicagofilter] Is it possible to search for businesses near an entire El line, rather than just an individual stop?
posted by nayrb5 to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

I use Google Maps for this. Example.

It works in a bunch of other cities, too, to varying degrees of utility.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 9:41 PM on June 16

Google maps allows you to click on a spot a "search nearby" - it would be a little tedious, depending on exactly the scope of your search.

The problem is that most people don't place importance on the line itself, just the stops... but you probably know that already.
posted by wfrgms at 9:43 PM on June 16

Yelp. Here is an example for the Kedzie Brown Line Stop. You can plug in the nearest intersection (or sometimes even type the El Stop name, as I did here.)
posted by jeanmari at 5:36 AM on June 17

Please ignore my answer. It's early. I haven't had coffee. So sorry.
posted by jeanmari at 5:36 AM on June 17

Though, you can also throw in the name of the El Line (Brown Line), pick various stops and under the map for each one, click "Search Nearby: All".

Lamer than a comprehensive list on one page, but I'm trying to redeem myself.
posted by jeanmari at 5:40 AM on June 17

What you're looking for is "businesses of type X within a buffer along path Y, which is made up of line segments A1, A2, A3..." This is essentially a SQL statement in normal English. This would be so trivial in GIS, assuming one had the datasets, that I'd be surprised if someone hasn't made this map yet. If I had more time I'd do it myself. I'll post your question on Twitter and report back; I have a bunch of GIS contacts there, some from Chicago.
posted by desjardins at 9:33 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]

Here's the tweet - I rephrased the question to condense it.
posted by desjardins at 9:39 AM on June 17 [1 favorite]