A Modified Gravity p-Median Model for Optimizing Facility Locations

Tao Zhuolin (), Zheng Qingjing () and Kong Hui ()
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Tao Zhuolin: College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing100871, China
Zheng Qingjing: China Academy of Urban Planning and Design, Shenzhen518034, China
Kong Hui: Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Center, Singapore138602, Singapore

Journal of Systems Science and Information, 2018, vol. 6, issue 5, 421-434

Abstract: The gravity p-median model is an important improvement to the widely-used p-median model. However, there is still a debate on its validity in empirical applications. Previous studies even doubt the significance of the gravity p-median model. Using a case study of tertiary hospitals in Shenzhen, China, this study re-examines the difference between the gravity p-median model with the p-median model, by decomposing the difference between the two models into gravity rule and variant attraction. This study also proposes a modified gravity p-median model by incorporating a distance threshold. The empirical results support the validity of the gravity p-median model, and also reveal that only when the attractions of candidate facility locations are variable will the gravity p-median model lead to different results with the p-median model. The difference between the modified gravity p-median model and the gravity p-median model is also examined. Moreover, the impacts of the distance-decay parameter and distance threshold on solutions are investigated. Results indicate that a larger distance-decay parameter tends to result in a more dispersed distribution of optimal facilities and a smaller average travel time, and a smaller distance threshold can better promote the spatial equity of facilities. The proposed method can also be applied in studies of other types of facilities or in other areas.

Keywords: location-allocation; spatial optimization; gravity p-median; distance threshold; Shenzhen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bpj:jossai:v:6:y:2018:i:5:p:421-434:n:3

DOI: 10.21078/JSSI-2018-421-14

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