ICA-Proc Proceedings of the ICA ICA-Proc Proc. Int. Cartogr. Assoc. 2570-2092 Copernicus Publications Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/ica-proc-2-125-2019 Geospatial Distribution and Accessibility of Primary and Secondary Schools: A case of Abbottabad City, Pakistan Sumari Neema Simon 1 2 Tanveer Hashir 1 Shao Zhenfeng 1 Kira Ernest Simon 3 State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing (LIESMARS), Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan, China Department of Informatics, Solomon Mahlangu College of Science and Education, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania Department of Education, Solomon Mahlangu College of Science and Education, Sokoine University of Agriculture P.O. Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania 10 07 2019 2 125 Copyright: © 2019 Neema Simon Sumari et al. 2019 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article is available from https://ica-proc.copernicus.org/articles/ica-proc-2-125-2019.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://ica-proc.copernicus.org/articles/ica-proc-2-125-2019.pdf

Quality education in isolated areas is a major issue in developing countries like Pakistan, as access to formal education is linked to improved life prospects for rural students. Among the factors for education, accessibility is school availability within a minimum spatial distance. The spatial distribution of schools is generally uneven in most of the cities of Northern Pakistan, thus limiting access to formal education at the primary and secondary level. This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of the primary and secondary schools found in the hilly terrain of Abbottabad city. Results show an uneven scattered pattern of schools and decreasing accessibility with longer travel times, at higher costs. Cost-weighted distance showed that this spatial distribution extends the travel distance by more than 5km for secondary school students living in the city. However, spatial restructuring and reorganization of schools in the study area would enhance student access to school facilities.