Software for Spatial Analysis on a Network

(1)Potential Demand for Spatial Analysis on a Network Recently locational competition of retail stores in a densely inhabited region becomes very hard. For instance, in the central region of Tokyo (23 Wards; 621 squared km with 8 million inhabitants), almost five thousands convenience stores are competing their locations. A distinctive feature of this type of stores is small market areas. Because of this nature, marketing is concerned with microscopic geographical factors with a street network. Such marketing is called micro-marketing. GIS provide a powerful tool for micro-marketing, but a problem with that is poor analytical tools. The most traditional analytical tools are based upon the assumption that the market areas are homogeneous plane, and distance is measured in terms of the Euclidean distance. In a small area, however, irregular streets produce a heterogeneous plane and consumers access to stores through a street network. This suggests that there be great potential demand for analytical tools for micro-spatial analysis on a network where distance is measured in terms of the shortest-path distance.