Research for Community Access Partnership Status Review of the Updated Rural Access Index
Rural Access Index (RAI) is the percentage of rural people who live within 2 km (typically equivalent to a walk of 20 minutes) of an all-season road as a proportion of the total rural population. After a review of the RAI was undertaken in 2015-2016, a new way of tracking was proposed. Called the Spatial Rural Access Index, this new approach updates the RAI based on new spatial data and techniques, i.e., satellite imagery, while using the original definition.