Research Trends in Automobile Transportation Geography

Abstract

In this automobile age many different problems concerning automobile transportation have been studied by many researchers in related fields of science to great effect. Also in the field of geography since the 1920s, many people have discussed this type of research from a point of view in that the organization of area is a function of automobile transportation networks and systems. In the present paper research on automobile transportation carried out by not only Japanese and English-speaking geographers, but the researchers of traffic engineering, economics and sociology have been classified systematically and the research trends have been traced. When rearranging the results, five directions were recognized.First, in research on motorization or increase in volume of automobile transportation in regional transportation, the ownership and the use of vehicles have been analyzed. The central study problem is to describe areal variations of motorization and then to explain such variations. Measuring the degree of motorization, indices like car ownership rate per household or per 10, 000 population, percentage of car use in commuting, and gasoline consumption rate per household have been employed.Second, in the research on transport networks, the geographical distribution of node accessibility and its temporal change in road networks or in bus line networks, the regionalization of road networks derived from node classification based on accessibility, and the areal variations of connectivity of road/highway networks have been considered using graph theory techniques. Transport networks transformed into simple topological graphs from which a set of indices can be calculated, quantitative methods such as matrix algebra, factor analysis or MDS have been applied in most research.Third, in the research on traffic flow, the areal pattern of automobile movement has been described, or the automotive traffic region has been delimited and its internal structure, arrangement and geographical distribution have been examined. This kind of research refers to nodal regionalization of the study area, which is one of the central problems of human geography in general. Additionally the distance-decay function of traffic volumes has been specified bv a series of spatial interaction models and the physical properties of automobile transportation have been discussed in the research, where the modelling and the statistical examination of distance parameters become a matter of primary concern.The fourth direction, impact studies, consists mainly of two types. One has dealt with the influence of introduction and propagation of automobiles upon an area, region or nation, while the other has dealt with the influence of modernization of traffic facilities upon the regional economy, society and natural environment. By the modernization of traffic facilities we mean pavement, enlargement or construction of roads.Though the fifth direction differs from the previous four in having far more research foci, it corresponds with a set of modal analyses in the basic framework for transport systems analysis proposed by Eliot Hurst (1974). This research could be generally called general and historical description. In such research problems such as development and present condition of bus, car and truck transportation, the relationship between industry activities and utilization of roads, areal pattern of outbreaks of traffic accidents, historical evolution and spatial diffusion of cars have been approached.As we have now entered into the automobile age, this field must perform its mission. It is necessary for us to solve the following problems in expectation of the field's furter development. To begin with, by accumulating case studies steadily step by step it is hoped that a transportation theory peculiar to geography will be built.