Navigation in large subway networks: An informational approach

Josep Barberillo and Joan Saldaña

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2011, vol. 390, issue 2, 374-386

Abstract: The structural properties of the subway network are crucial in effective transportation in cities. This paper presents an information perspective of navigation in four different subway networks: New York City, Paris, Barcelona and Moscow. We addressed our study to investigate what is that makes it complicated to navigate in these kinds of networks and we carried out a comparison between them and their intrinsic constraints. Our methodological approach is based on a set of cost/efficiency indicators which are defined in the complex networks literature. We find that the overall complexity in finding stations measured by the average search information S linearly increases as a function of the network size N. The direct implication of this finding is that from these basic levels of required information, the average value H(k) can be represented as a function of the node degree k. Finally, through analyzing subway networks in space P, we reveal the existing service modularity among subway routes using a rescaled expression of S.

Keywords: Complex networks; Navigation; Route modularity; Search information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378437110007971
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:390:y:2011:i:2:p:374-386

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2010.09.017

Access Statistics for this article

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications is currently edited by K. A. Dawson, J. O. Indekeu, H.E. Stanley and C. Tsallis

More articles in Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().