Air travel, spatial structure, and gravity models

Abstract

This paper is a continuation of some previous investigations 2 into the influence of spatial structure on spatial interaction. R takes as its point of departure two of the implicit assumptions of the gravity model: i) uniformity among cities of the effects that their populations have on intercity travel and 2) the lack of effect of spatial structure on such travel. Despite shortcomings the gravity model 3 has been a useful integrative approach in the search for regularity in spatial phenomena: linking in a common mold movements through s~ace of travelers, shoppers, and migrants, 4; commodities within countries, o; and international trade between countries. 6 In most investigations utilizing this model masses of all terminals of movements under study are implicitly taken to have effects of the same magnitudel a single coefficient, b, is taken to measure the effect of terminal masses on interspatial flows as in (MiMj) b