Important Measures of Transport Networks
Network analysis is an important aspect of transport geography because it involves the description of the disposition of nodes and their relationships and line or linkage of distribution . It gives measures of accessibility and connectivity and also allows comparisons to be made between regional networks within a country and between other countries. As Fitzgerald (1974) has said, variations in the characteristics of networks may be considered to reflect certain spatial aspects of the socio-economic system. The details of important measures of transport networks are given here for proper understanding and application of these measures for: (i) The connectivity of networks; (ii) The centrality within networks; (iii) The spread and diameter of networks; and (iv) Detours. 1. Connectivity and its Measurement: “The connectivity of a network may be defined as the degree of completeness of the links between nodes” (Robinson and Bamford, 1978). When a network is ab...