Transport link scanner: simulating geographic transport network expansion through individual investments

This paper introduces a GIS-based model that simulates the early geographical expansion of transport networks. It progressively adds extensions to a growing network by choosing the most attractive investments from a limited choice set. Attractiveness is defined as a function of variables in which revenue and broader societal benefits may play a role and can be based on empirically underpinned parameters that may differ according to private or public interests. The choice set is selected from an exhaustive set of links and presumably contains those investment options that best meet private operator’s objectives by balancing the revenues of additional fare against construction costs. The investment options consist of geographically plausible routes with potential detours. Those routes are generated using a fine meshed regularly latticed network and shortest-path finding methods. Additionally, two indicators of the geographic accuracy of the simulated networks are introduced. A historical case study is presented to demonstrate the model’s first results. Those results show that the modelled networks are substantially more accurate than networks generated with random geographies. The paper concludes that the presented model can be a useful addition to the growing field of network studies. URI: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10109-016-0233-y?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAutho rOnlineFirst [1] Authors: JACOBS Christiaan KOOPMANS Carl Publication Year: 2016 Science Areas: Energy and transport [2] Innovation and growth [3]