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Distance to Work

This variable presents the distance between a person's Place of Usual Residence (PURP) and Place of Work (POWP). It is applicable to all persons aged 15 years and over who stated their labour force status as 'employed'. The calculation of these new data items used existing Census data. This provided a way to increase the value of Census data without asking additional questions on the Census form.

How this variable is created

Distance to Work (ranges) (DTWP)

Distance to Work (DTWP) is a measurement of the distance travelled between a person's Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work. The data item was created using a combination of existing statistical and geospatial data to make new calculations. An assumption in the calculation of this data is that a person has followed the shortest path with no stops when commuting to work.

The data was calculated using the shortest path of a road network, or where this was not possible a straight line distance, between a person's Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work. As a straight line distance is likely to under represent the true distance of a commuting route, a correction factor was incorporated by multiplying the straight line distance by 1.3. This value was selected based on ABS analysis on the difference between road network and straight line distance, and the value also aligned closely with similar studies (Broscoe, Henry & Zdeb 2012; Goncalves & Neves 2014; Newell 1980). The source of road network data was Navteq July 2016, produced by HERE Technology.

The data should be considered an estimate as it was a measurement between the centre point (or centroid) of the Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work, noting that the location of the centroid in the Mesh Block was weighted based on the location of residential and commercial addresses respectively. Mesh Blocks are the smallest geographical area defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and form the building blocks for the larger regions within the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

Distance to work data has been presented in a hierarchical classification with four levels of distance ranges. Please see the Appendix for details on the classification of these ranges.

For persons who lived and worked in the same Mesh Block and their Mode of Travel to Work was not recorded as 'Worked from home', 'Did not go to work' or 'Mode not stated', a small distance has been calculated where the centre points for Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work were weighted to different locations.

The nil category includes:

• Persons who stated they 'Worked from home', 'Did not go to work' or 'Mode not stated' and their Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work were the same
• Persons with the same Mesh Block of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work where the centre points were not weighted to different locations

• Persons who were unemployed, not in the labour force, or whose labour force status was not stated
• Persons under 15 years of age
• Overseas visitors
• Persons who were coded to Special Purpose Codes

• Persons who were unemployed, not in the labour force, or whose labour force status was not stated
• Persons under 15 years of age
• Overseas visitors
• Persons who were coded to Special Purpose Codes
  
  

Mode of Travel to Work Codes (MTW15P)	Mode of Travel to Work Description (MTW15P)	Mode of Travel to Work Codes (MTW06P)	Mode of Travel to Work Description (MTW06P)
01	Train	1	Public Transport
02	Bus	1	Public Transport
03	Ferry	1	Public Transport
04	Tram	1	Public Transport
05	Taxi	1	Public Transport
06	Car, as driver	2	Vehicle
07	Car, as passenger	2	Vehicle
08	Truck	2	Vehicle
09	Motorbike/scooter	2	Vehicle
10	Bicycle	3	Active Transport
11	Other Mode	3	Other Mode
12	Walked only	4	Active Transport
13	Worked at home	5	Worked at home or Did not go to work
14	Did not go to work	5	Worked at home or Did not go to work
15	Mode not stated	6	Mode not stated

	1	Nil distance
		10	Nil distance
			100	Nil distance
				1000	Nil distance
	2	Over 0 to less than 2.5
		20	Over 0 to less than 1
			200	Over 0 to less than 0.5
				2000	Over 0 to less than 0.5
			201	0.5 to less than 1
				2010	0.5 to less than 1
		21	1 to less than 2.5
			210	1 to less than 2.5
				2100	1 to less than 1.5
				2101	1.5 to less than 2
				2102	2 to less than 2.5
	3	2.5 to less than 10
		30	2.5 to less than 5
			300	2.5 to less than 5
				3000	2.5 to less than 3
				3001	3 to less than 4
				3002	4 to less than 5
		31	5 to less than 10
			310	5 to less than 10
				3100	5 to less than 6
				3101	6 to less than 7
				3102	7 to less than 8
				3103	8 to less than 9
				3104	9 to less than 10
	4	10 to less than 30
		40	10 to less than 20
			400	10 to less than 15
				4000	10 to less than 11
				4001	11 to less than 12
				4002	12 to less than 13
				4003	13 to less than 14
				4004	14 to less than 15
			401	15 to less than 20
				4010	15 to less than 16
				4011	16 to less than 17
				4012	17 to less than 18
				4013	18 to less than 19
				4014	19 to less than 20
		41	20 to less than 30
			410	20 to less than 25
				4100	20 to less than 21
				4101	21 to less than 22
				4102	22 to less than 23
				4103	23 to less than 24
				4104	24 to less than 25
			411	25 to less than 30
				4110	25 to less than 26
				4111	26 to less than 27
				4112	27 to less than 28
				4113	28 to less than 29
				4114	29 to less than 30
	5	30 to less than 50
		50	30 to less than 50
			500	30 to less than 40
				5000	30 to less than 32
				5001	32 to less than 34
				5002	34 to less than 36
				5003	36 to less than 38
				5004	38 to less than 40
			501	40 to less than 50
				5010	40 to less than 42
				5011	42 to less than 44
				5012	44 to less than 46
				5013	46 to less than 48
				5014	48 to less than 50
	6	50 to less than 250
		60	50 to less than 100
			600	50 to less than 60
				6000	50 to less than 52
				6001	52 to less than 54
				6002	54 to less than 56
				6003	56 to less than 58
				6004	58 to less than 60
			601	60 to less than 80
				6010	60 to less than 62
				6011	62 to less than 64
				6012	64 to less than 66
				6013	66 to less than 68
				6014	68 to less than 70
				6015	70 to less than 72
				6016	72 to less than 74
				6017	74 to less than 76
				6018	76 to less than 78
				6019	78 to less than 80
			602	80 to less than 100
				6020	80 to less than 85
				6021	85 to less than 90
				6022	90 to less than 95
				6023	95 to less than 100
		61	100 to less than 250
			610	100 to less than 250
				6100	100 to less than 110
				6101	110 to less than 120
				6102	120 to less than 130
				6103	130 to less than 140
				6104	140 to less than 150
				6105	150 to less than 200
				6106	200 to less than 250r
	7	250 and over
		70	250 and over
			700	250 and over
				7000	250 to less than 300
				7001	300 to less than 350
				7002	350 to less than 400
				7003	400 to less than 600
				7004	600 to less than 800
				7005	800 to less than 1000
				7006	1000 to less than 3000
				7007	3000 and over
	@	Not applicable
		@@	Not applicable
			@@@ Not applicable
				@@@@Not applicable