FUNCTIONAL REGIONS WITHIN THE CITY CENTRE: A STUDY BY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF TAXI FLOWS IN CENTRAL LONDON

THIS PAPER EXAMINES THE PROBLEM OF MEASURING THE RELATION BETWEEN MOVEMENT PATTERNS AND THE LOCATION OF ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE CITY CENTER. EMPHASIS IS PLACED ON THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING AND ANALYSING COMPLEX LINKAGE SYSTEMS. DATA ON TAXI FLOWS ARE USED AS A SINGLE INDICATOR. CARTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS REVEALS A COMPLEX PATTERN OF FLOWS; CORRELATION AND FACTOR ANALYSIS ARE THEREFORE APPLIED TO THE DATA TO DETERMINE THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE OF THE TAXI-FLOW SYSTEM. TRAFFIC ZONES ARE COMPARED IN TERMS OF THE ZONES FROM WHICH THEY RECEIVE TRIPS; HIGH FACTOR LOADINGS REVEAL GROUPS OF ZONES RECEIVING TRIPS FROM COMMON ORIGINS; THE RELATED FACTOR SCORES SPECIFY THESE ORIGINS. LINKING GROUPS OF ORIGINS AND DESINATIONS ON A MAP REVEALS FIVE FUNCTIONAL REGIONS. HIERARCHICAL GROUPING OF ZONES PRODUCES AN OBJECTIVE CLASSIFICATION OF ZONES IN TERMS OF SIMILARITIES IN LINKAGE CHARACTERISTICS. COMPARISON OF THE PATTERN OF FUNCTIONAL REGIONS WITH FAMILIAR STRUCTURAL REGIONS SUGGESTS A BASIC ISOMORPHISM BETWEEN SUCH REGIONALIZATIONS. THE METHOD PROVED TO BE HIGHLY USEFUL. /RRL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Inst Brit Geographers Trans /UK

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Goddard, J B
• Publication Date: 1970

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 161-81
• Serial:
  • Issue Number: 49

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Analysis; Origin and destination; Taxicabs; Traffic flow; Trip generation
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227161
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Road Research Laboratory /UK
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 16 1972 12:00AM