Road Network Accessibility Research Articles

Measuring Street Quality: A Human-Centered Exploration Based on Multi-Sourced Data and Classical Urban Design Theories

Advancements in analytical tools have facilitated numerous studies on perceived street quality. However, most have focused on limited aspects of street quality, failing to capture a comprehensive perception. This study introduces a quantitative approach to holistically measure street quality by integrating three key dimensions: visual perception, network accessibility, and functional diversity. Using Beijing and Shanghai as case studies, we employed artificial neural networks to analyze street view images and quantify the visual characteristics of streets. Additionally, street network accessibility was assessed through spatial design network analysis, and functional diversity was evaluated using the entropy of points of interest (POIs) data. The evaluation results were combined using the analytic hierarchy process. The reliability and accuracy of this method were validated through further testing. Our approach offers a human-centered, large-scale measurement framework, providing valuable insights for urban street renewal and design.

Do informal settlements contribute to sprawl in Sub-Saharan African cities?

Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are recognized as drivers of development but also as internally disconnected and sprawling. Informal or “unplanned” settlements are often suggested to hamper sustainable growth, while commonly being labeled “sprawl” by default. This notion is addressed in the present paper, which aims to analyze empirically whether informal settlements do contribute more to sprawl than planned areas, in the setting of Sub-Saharan African cities. To this end, the street network accessibility of buildings in informal and planned areas is compared, to understand compactness beyond population density under overcrowding. The setting consists of Tanzanian secondary cities. To trace the effect of informality on compactness within and across cities, regression analysis is used, while controlling for other characteristics of urban structure such as population density. Pooled regression results indicate an approximately 12.8 % lower connectivity for informal settlements. Importantly, this association is not homogeneous and varies substantially across different types of cities. In several cities, informality's impact on connectivity is relatively pronounced, pointing to sprawl. In other cities, no significant relation between informality and connectivity is found. This observable ambiguity underlines the unclear relationship between informality and sprawl. This may be considered within the policy discourse on urban sprawl in Sub-Saharan-Africa.

Identification of centrality of West Kalimantan tourist attractions based on network analysis

Tourism destinations represent a vital element and the primary motivator for tourists in determining their travel and visitation patterns. Consequently, it is essential to implement effective planning strategies that align with the diverse motivations of tourists. One of the scientific discussions in tourism planning or development is through network analysis. With network analysis, it can explain the relationship or relationship between tourist attractions so that in the future it can be further developed how the attraction cluster in a tourist destination can be developed and directed. This research sees that the priority in terms of centrality should be given to the many attractions in West Kalimantan. This study aims to identify relationships or relationships between tourist attractions in West Kalimantan to be able to see the trend of networking (centrality), can be in the form of centralization, connectedness, clusters, and others. This research uses a network analysis approach which in principle is divided into several methods such as centrality calculations carried out with analytical techniques/tools such as degree, closeness, betweenness, and eigenvector. From the results obtained, the cluster of tourist attractions spread evenly in each region. The tourist attraction cluster with the most interaction is located in Bengkayang Regency, Pontianak City, North Kayong Regency, Ketapang Regency, and Kapuas Hulu Regency. For tourist attraction clusters with easy access, they are in the Sambas Regency and Singkawang City areas. Clusters of tourist attractions that become hubs are located in Sanggau Regency and Ketapang Regency. Then the cluster of tourist attractions with the most central point is located in Singkawang City. The road network (access) in the configuration is very influential in the connectivity between regions in reaching tourist attractions

Enhancing Urban Living Convenience through Plot Patterns: A Quantitative Morphological Study

Enhancing Urban Living Convenience through Plot Patterns: A Quantitative Morphological Study

Does better accessibility always mean higher house prices?

Numerous studies have explored the correlations between house prices and spatial accessibility, but few have delved into the nonlinearities between both. This study uses Cardiff (UK) as a case study and applies interpretable machine learning algorithms, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), to estimate the nonlinear effects of geometric locational accessibility and street network accessibility on house prices. The findings suggest (1) proximity to the CBD, typically the major determinant of land values in hedonic house price models, does not continuously yield higher prices; (2) street closeness centrality, a network-modelling approach to measuring accessibility, exhibits a more generalised pattern with house prices compared proximity to the CBD regardless of analytical spatial scales. The findings challenge the generalizability of Alonso’s bid-rent theory in accurately portraying the relationship between accessibility and house prices in specific urban contexts, highlighting the importance of re-evaluating classical urban theories in different city contexts using novel measures and modelling techniques.

Estimating On-Road Transportation Carbon Emissions from Open Data of Road Network and Origin-Destination Flow Data

Accounting for over 20% of the total carbon emissions, the precise estimation of on-road transportation carbon emissions is crucial for carbon emission monitoring and efficient mitigation policy formulation. However, existing estimation methods typically depend on hard-to-collect individual statistics of vehicle miles traveled to calculate emissions, thereby suffering from high data collection difficulty. To relieve this issue by utilizing the strong pattern recognition of artificial intelligence, we incorporate two sources of open data representative of the transportation demand and capacity factors, the origin-destination (OD) flow data and the road network data, to build a hierarchical heterogeneous graph learning method for on-road carbon emission estimation (HENCE). Specifically, a hierarchical graph consisting of the road network level, community level, and region level is constructed to model the multi-scale road network-based connectivity and travel connection between spatial areas. Heterogeneous graphs consisting of OD links and spatial links are further built at both the community level and region level to capture the intrinsic interactions between travel demand and road network accessibility. Extensive experiments on two large-scale real-world datasets demonstrate HENCE's effectiveness and superiority with R-squared exceeding 0.75 and outperforming baselines by 9.60% on average, validating its success in pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to empower carbon emission management and sustainability development. The implementation codes are available at this link: https://github.com/tsinghua-fib-lab/HENCE.

Evaluation of Viaducts’ contribution to road network accessibility in the Yunnan–Guizhou area based on the node deletion method

Abstract It is necessary to evaluate the construction effect of viaducts and identify the viaducts that play a key role in road networks. Based on the node deletion method, this article proposes a method to identify the importance of viaducts in road networks. After applying this method to simulate the importance of viaducts in the highway networks in Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces from 2001 to 2020, the results show the following: (1) The viaducts with high importance were mainly built in 2002, 2009, 2015, and 2016. They are mainly distributed on expressways such as the HUKUN Expressway, HANGRUI Expressway, and YINBAI Expressway. Among the viaducts, the Mengzhai Bridge and Beipanjiang Bridge Hukun are the most important. (2) The importance of viaducts will increase, decrease, or increase first and then decrease. Among the years studied, 2012 and 2016 are important time nodes for change. The trend of changes is affected by the construction of highways and viaducts in other locations. In this road network, there are strong coupling relationships between nodes. (3) The importance of some viaducts is not prominent in the whole region, but that does not mean their construction value is low. They may have a high connectivity effect on specific regions from a local perspective.

A web-based decision support framework for optimizing road network accessibility and emergency facility allocation during flooding

Transportation systems can be significantly affected by flooding, leading to physical damage and hindering accessibility. Despite flooding being a frequent occurrence, there are limited accessible online tools available for supporting routing and emergency planning decisions during flooding. Existing tools are generally based on complicated models and are not easily accessible to non-expert users, highlighting the need for efficient communication and decision-making tools for analyzing flood impacts on transportation networks for various stakeholders, including the public, to minimize the adverse impacts on those groups. This paper presents a web application that uses graph network methods and the latest web technologies and standards to assist in describing flood events in terms of operational constraints and provide analytical methods to support mobility and mitigation decisions during these events. The framework is designed to be user-friendly, enabling non-expert users to access information about road status, shortest paths to critical amenities, location-allocation, and service coverage. The study area includes the following two communities in the State of Iowa, Cedar Rapids and Charles City, which were used to test the application's functionality and explore the outcomes. Our research demonstrates that flooding can significantly affect bridge operation, routing from locations to critical amenities, arbitrary point-to-point routing, planning for emergency facility placement, and service area accessibility. The introduced framework can solve complex flood-related analytical decision tasks and provide an understandable representation of transportation vulnerability, enhancing mitigation strategies. Therefore, this web application provides a valuable tool for stakeholders to make informed decisions on transportation networks during flood events.

Selection of a sustainable location for waste electrical and electronic equipment recycling plant using Entropy and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution.

The production and consumption of electronic goods have experienced a significant increase over the years, leading to a substantial surge in the global volume of electronic waste, commonly referred to as Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). The selection of a sustainable location for WEEE recycling plants plays a crucial role in mitigating environmental concerns, preserving resources and promoting economic development. It signifies a proactive and responsible approach to electronic waste management in the contemporary world. To tackle the challenge of selecting sustainable locations for WEEE recycling plants, this study employed the Entropy and Entropy and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) methodologies, evaluating 10 alternative cities in Turkey based on 13 criteria. The selected criteria include land cost, personnel cost, energy cost, availability of labour, government support degree, tax preferences, road network accessibility, number of electronic equipment producers, existence of recycling plants, suitability of land use, population and availability of renewable resources (wind power and solar energy). The Entropy method was employed to calculate the weights assigned to each criterion, whereas the EDAS method was utilized to evaluate the decision alternatives. The results provide region-specific recommendations, such as Antalya for the Mediterranean region and Samsun for the Black Sea region. The literature lacks sufficient research on the selection of sustainable locations for WEEE recycling plants. Furthermore, the utilization of real data enhances the study's credibility and provides practical insights for decision-making. The selection of a sustainable location for a WEEE recycling plant in Turkey not only demonstrates the country's environmental commitment but also sets a global example for responsible waste management.

The Association Between Street Network Accessibility and Cognitive Impairment

AbstractBackgroundAccess to different amenities has been hypothesised to reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in older adults. Literature in urban planning shows that a well‐connected street network enables access to amenities, however, the role of street network accessibility has not been studied extensively in relation to cognitive function. The aim of this study is to investigate the cross‐sectional relationship between street network accessibility and cognitive impairment in older people in England, UK.MethodThe baseline data from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (CFAS) II (2008‐2011), a cohort study of people aged 65+ across three areas in England, was used (N = 7485) excluding 144 housebound participants. Cognitive impairment was defined by the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) score: mild‐severe (MMSE<26) and moderate‐severe (MMSE<21). Using Geographical Information System (GIS) data, proximity to a main road was represented by betweenness centrality (shortest routes corresponding to high potential of through movement) of the street network, using normalised angular choice (NACH ‐ range of 0‐1.5, with 0.9+ meaning a main road). Mean NACH was calculated within 300m walk of participants’ postcode centroid and categorised into tertiles (low = NACH<0.8, medium = NACH 0.8‐0.9, high = NACH>0.9). Logistic regression was used to investigate the relationship between proximity to a main road, the risk of mild‐severe and moderate‐severe cognitive impairment adjusting for age, sex, education, and area deprivation.ResultThe prevalence was 24% for mild‐severe cognitive impairment and 7.3% for moderate‐severe cognitive impairment. Compared to those living at low proximity from a main road, those who lived at medium (OR 0.817 95% CI [0.716, 0.932]) and high proximity (OR 0.756 95% CI [0.662, 0.863]) had lower risk of mild‐severe cognitive impairment. The adjusted associations remained similar (OR 0.771 95% CI [0.671, 0.886] for medium proximity, OR 0.755 95% CI [0.656, 0.869] for high proximity). Proximity to a main road was not associated with moderate‐severe cognitive impairment.ConclusionThe results suggest evidence for the role of proximity to a main road in reducing the risk of mild‐severe cognitive impairment in non‐housebound individuals, but not moderate‐severe cognitive impairment. More research is needed on other aspects of street network accessibility.

Capacity Assessment Spatialization to Disaster Risk Reduction in Semarang Coastal Area

Global warming be the one of threats to human civilization that has to be main considerations in environmental management. In addition, global warming is one of key driven factor of tidal flooding that affect many aspects in coastal area society. This study proposes to model capacity preparedness index of Semarang Metropolitan Coastal Area. The analysis divided by two substances, physical capacity and economy capacity. The examination and modelling of capacity preparedness level consider public health facilities availability, road network accessibility, and economy activity. The research uses quantitative methods and maximized the utilization of secondary data to capacity assessment. The findings show that capacity preparedness index of urban area is higher than its peri-urban. In total, Semarang Metropolitan Coastal Area have low-capacity preparedness level. There are only two sub-district which has high level capacity, Semarang Tengah and Semarang Utara. Otherwhile, there are three medium level capacity sub-districts and four low level capacity sub-districts. Those findings show that geospatial analysis can help people and government on how to understanding their capacity in dealing with disaster which cannot be predicted precisely.

SPATIAL MAPPING OF TRAVEL INFORMATION AND ASSESSMENT OF ROAD CONNECTIVITY

Abstract. Roads play a crucial role in the urban spatial structure. A place's development and growth depend on the road network connectivity and accessibility being the socio-economic and transportation carrier. It involves the mobility of people and goods from one place to another. The choice of mode of travel depends on the living standards, connectivity, and vicinity to the work area. The study uses satellite data to analyze road network connectivity using the connectivity indices of Mangalore City Corporation, a port city in India. The connectivity indices alpha, beta, gamma, and eta showed the Area's good connectivity with proper roads and interconnectivity. Using Dijkstra's algorithm, the least cost path is identified on which the spatial mapping of the travel information is made. The travel information raster served the commuter in knowing the time, distance, and cost of modes from all possible origins to each city center. Specifically, it serves as the base map for bus routes, their cost, and travel time for significant city bus stations. The cost of travel, Duration, and distance information is mapped for two-wheeler and four-wheeler commuters. The study used the Modis Land Use Land Cover Data to identify inaccessible road network areas.

The Spatio-Functional Role of Navigable Urban Canals in the City: Cases From London and Amsterdam

Cities incorporating navigable canals have played a crucial role in global trade and provided a platform for a range of activities for people from various locations. This research aims to comprehend the role of inner-city canals, formed as branches of shipping canals, in the spatial accessibility and functional structure of two contemporary urban systems: London and Amsterdam. Both cities are major post-industrial hubs in Europe and their spatial development and socioeconomic conditions have been greatly influenced by waterways. While the canal network in Amsterdam was planned alongside street layout planning in the early 17th century, serving commercial purposes, canals were integrated into London’s pre-existing urban form mainly for transportation in the 19th century. The current situation in these cities is impacted by this disparity in three ways: (a) the potential use of canals in the urban transportation system; (b) the spatial accessibility of street networks; and (c) the correlations between street accessibility and land use patterns in canal neighbourhoods. The research employs analytical methods of space syntax, geographic information systems, and statistical techniques to create and apply integrated urban models, incorporating spatial network measures, retail density, and functional diversity for street segments, to compare various urban conditions. The research reveals the crucial finding that the incorporation of canals into the street system leads to a substantial increase in the mean values of street network accessibility in Amsterdam. Additionally, the study highlights the vital contribution of diagonal streets linked with canal networks towards retail density in this city. In contrast, the accessibility measures and spatial patterns of urban functions in London are predominantly influenced by proximity to canals.

Retracted: Integrating Intrinsic and Eccentric Seismic Vulnerability Indices to Prioritize Road Network Accessibility

Retracted: Integrating Intrinsic and Eccentric Seismic Vulnerability Indices to Prioritize Road Network Accessibility

Perbedaan Antara Parkir Kapal Dan Kendaraan Serta Sistem Operasinya

For a Mall itself has a strategic location factor supported by road network access, visitors, exhibition activities, consumer needs as well as market demand, existing entertainment services, as well as those from the Mall itself. An advantage in itself will be the demand for a market and its management which may be felt to have more carrying capacity. From the development of Mall itself, which pampers the needs of a certain time. From the needs of a market obtained from exports or imports. As well as distances that are easy to reach by the people of Semarang themselves either via public transportation or private vehicles.

A Review on Rural Road Improvement and Its Impact on Socioeconomic Development of Kaski District

Rural roads are the spinal cord whose connectivity to the settlements, cultivated lands and its improvement play an important role in sustainable socio-economic development of Kaski district as well as developing country like Nepal as a whole. The accessibility of rural road network is reflected in the field of education, health, employment, agriculture, marketing, tourism as well as in the changing pattern of daily livelihood of rural community in Kaski district. There is some level of achievement of fair weather road but is not sufficient regarding to accessibility to remote settlement and productivity. They need to be prioritizing for improvement to all weather road based on productivity. Improvement like upgrading, opening of track, culvert also seems to be necessary which too reflect positive impact on socio-economic development of Kaski district. This paper tries to review 19 district roads under government planning and emphasis for prioritization for upgrading (earthen, gravel, bitumen) based on cost-benefit ratio analysis. Indicators are taken basically on the basis of agriculture, school, health facility, access to market, access to district centre, water supply in the area, road condition. The average number of points of entire groups is calculated with the help of weights and benefits. Cost/Benefit ratio analysed for each rural road are then ranked as per ascending order of it. This will conclude remarks for the improvement of rural road network for sustainable socio-economic development of Kaski district whose satisfactory results are still to be obtained.

Analysis of road network accessibility using graph theory and GIS technology: A study of Bhojpur district, Bihar

Analysis of road network accessibility using graph theory and GIS technology: A study of Bhojpur district, Bihar

Measuring the Urban Road network pattern using connectivity analysis: A micro-level study in Egra Municipality, West Bengal

Egra Municipality is most important for providing administrative facilities to the Purba Medinipur District. Many other facilities, such as educational facilities (school, college), super specialty hospital facilities, transport and communication facilities, etc., are attracting many people from different places. So they have chosen Egra Municipality as their destination. The central areas of this municipality are already overcrowded, and population and building densities are relatively high. Now a days, gradually, the existing administrative boundary is being extended towards the periphery. So, the transport communication system and basic amenity facilities have to be improved. The aim of this paper is to analyse the road connectivity and network accessibility of the Egra municipality. The alpha index, beta index, gamma index, and cyclomatic number have also been used for understanding network accessibility in this area. The data sets were collected through a field survey that visited 14 wards of the Egra municipality area, and secondary data was collected from the Egra municipality office and an open street map. We used the connectivity analysis method to examine the accessibility of this area. According to calculations, mainly the 7, 11, and 13 wards are more efficient than other wards. Therefore, it would suggest that there is a need to improve the connectivity and accessibility of those periphery areas for the future growth and development of the Egra municipality.

Investigation of Road Network Connectivity and Accessibility in Less Accessible Airport Regions: The Case of India

One of the keys to the transformation of a region is the expansion of transportation networks. Airports will continue to develop as significant growth centres. The literature review in this article suggests various concepts of importance for connectivity while stating the significance of airport corridors as emerging economic corridors. The objective of this article is to calculate the landside connectivity for road networks for different tiers of airports in their influence areas, as well as to identify the regions that are most and least accessible in the Indian context. This study analysed geographical aspects based on graph theory and the connectivity indices of road networks. The airports were ranked based on these connectivity indices, resulting in the selected case of Bagdogra Airport, West Bengal being used for accessibility analysis. This study also includes centrality indices to determine accessibility in the airport region based on QGIS tools. The centrality indices increase with distance from the airport, indicating the impact of airport connectivity in the identified influence area. The results show critical nodes and links, indicating the necessity for comprehensive planning for new airport regions for greater accessibility and for stimulating development.

Integrating Space Syntax and Location-Allocation Model for Fire Station Location Planning in a China Mega City

The appropriate planning of infrastructure protects people’s lives and property. Fire stations are an essential part of a city’s infrastructure and they must be precisely located to shorten emergency response times and reduce casualties. Recently, the focus of the city emergency service has shifted from fire suppression to technical rescues. We compared the spatial distribution of fire suppression and technical rescues at a city scale to show the variation in their influences. An integrated road-network accessibility and location-allocation model (RNALA) for the location planning of a fire station was proposed. Specific sites for fire stations were identified using the L-A model. Then, the spatial design network analysis was performed to quantify areas around the selected site with high road network accessibility. The RNALA model was used to extend the selection from a point to a region by introducing road network accessibility to accomplish coverage and efficiency requirements. A quantitative and universal approach that focuses on fire station location planning based on emergency services is proposed. This methodology provides a practical solution for implementation, as a specific identified location might not be available for implementation. These results can serve as a reference for identifying fire station locations in cities.