Geography
Distance Decay
Distance decay is a geographical concept that refers to the decrease in interaction between two places as the distance between them increases. This means that the further apart two places are, the less likely they are to interact with each other, whether it be through trade, communication, or migration.
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5 Key excerpts on "Distance Decay"
- Fahui Wang, Changzhen Wang(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
3Analysis of Spatial Behavior of Health Care Utilization in Distance Decay
DOI: 10.1201/9780429260285-3The Distance Decay rule demonstrates that the interaction effect between physical or socioeconomic objects declines with the distance between them. It is also referred to as Waldo R. Tobler’s (1970) first law of geography , which states that “all things are related, but near things are more related than far things”. The Distance Decay rule captures a fundamental spatial behavior in many aspects of our daily life, such as commuting for work (De Vries et al., 2009 ), shopping (Young, 2005 ), or recreation activities (Năstase et al., 2019 ).This chapter focuses on such a behavior in utilizing health care services. Examining the behavior in Distance Decay is important. It reflects a patient’s travel burden in access to care, and a longer trip may discourage one’s enrollment in the service (Onega et al., 2009a ) and lead to negative outcomes (Onega et al., 2009b ). However, a wider travel range in seeking medical cares for a demographic group may also reflect their higher mobility and more choices in cares, and thus being more advantageous in competing for quality cares. The result from analysis of such a Distance Decay behavior serves as the foundation for other spatial analysis tasks. For example, the Huff model in Chapter 5
eBook - ePub- Geoff Payne, Pamela Abbott(Authors)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
To some extent all the six rural factors affecting the pursuit of health are consumption variables. Each is provided and maintained within a reward-distributing system; each is affected by social space. When there is an imbalance between spacial provision and areal demand, between equity of access and locational need, socio-economic deprivation occurs. When these imbalances occur, ‘Distance Decay’ sets in and further compounds rural deprivation.‘Distance Decay’ has been transferred from agrarian economics in which activity decreases with the increasing distance from the city (von Thunen, 1826). Harvey (1970) makes the distinction between those who focus primarily upon physical space/distance, and those who focus primarily upon social space/ distance: the former presupposes a ‘geographic imagination’ and the latter a ‘sociological imagination’; but as Harvey states, these orientations are not exclusive; in fact they are complementary. Harvey asks the social scientists to harmonize thinking about space. The externality is an outward sign of ideologies (internalities). The underdevelopment that accompanies rural deprivation can be plotted spatially from the urban centres outwards, as communication road systems to and from the cities wind through distant villages without transport and essential local facilities: but it is the economy, the urban ideology, and market centrist policies, which create the distance between consumers and services, because of which socio-economic environments simply decay. Also, the managers of ‘capital’ distance themselves from the rural environs, and in a sense create the ‘periphery’, in which rural people are beyond the economic landscape and are marginal to urban planning and objectives. Saunders (1981) also discusses the economics of space, citing Pahl’s emphasis upon the inherent inequality of space. Although Saunders was discussing urban
eBook - ePub- Pamela Abbott, Geoff Payne(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Taylor & Francis(Publisher)
To some extent all the six rural factors affecting the pursuit of health are consumption variables. Each is provided and maintained within a reward-distributing system; each is affected by social space. When there is an imbalance between spacial provision and areal demand, between equity of access and locational need, socioeconomic deprivation occurs. When these imbalances occur, ‘Distance Decay’ sets in and further compounds rural deprivation.‘Distance Decay’ has been transferred from agrarian economics in which activity decreases with the increasing distance from the city (von Thunen, 1826). Harvey (1970) makes the distinction between those who focus primarily upon physical space/distance, and those who focus primarily upon social space/distance: the former presupposes a ‘geographic imagination’ and the latter a ‘sociological imagination’; but as Harvey states, these orientations are not exclusive; in fact they are complementary. Harvey asks the social scientists to harmonize thinking about space. The externality is an outward sign of ideologies (internalities). The underdevelopment that accompanies rural deprivation can be plotted spatially from the urban centres outwards, as communication road systems to and from the cities wind through distant villages without transport and essential local facilities: but it is the economy, the urban ideology, and market centrist policies, which create the distance between consumers and services, because of which socio-economic environments simply decay. Also, the managers of ‘capital’ distance themselves from the rural environs, and in a sense create the ‘periphery’, in which rural people are beyond the economic landscape and are marginal to urban planning and objectives. Saunders (1981) also discusses the economics of space, citing Pahl’s emphasis upon the inherent inequality of space. Although Saunders was discussing urban
eBook - ePubGeographical Modeling
Cities and Territories
- Denise Pumain(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Wiley-ISTE(Publisher)
This is the first law of geography according to W. Tobler (1970): Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things. According to M. Goodchild (2001), the identification of spatial configurations is possible because spatial differentiations over short distances are assumed to be minimal and can be ignored 1. In terms of process, M. Goodchild (2016) expresses it as follows: smoothing processes dominate sharpening processes and processes that differentiate the landscape are weaker than processes that smoothen the landscape. The effect of distance is manifested in the form of friction that reduces the mutual influence of phenomena as they move away. The distance can then be as much a kilometer distance as a cost distance or a time distance. Another effect of distance is that of belonging or not belonging to the same territory: the same community, the same nation, the same climatic conditions, the same language, the same social group, and so on. This second effect of distance partly explains the existence of spatial discontinuities and boundary effects. C. Grasland (2009) thus distinguishes spatial interactions, where the distance involved is measured in a continuous mathematical form (friction effect of distance), from territorial interactions, where the distance is represented by means of a spatial partition by discontinuous nature (effect of belonging to the same territory) 2. However, the idea of associating the friction effect of distance with the measurement of a “continuous” distance is questionable. On the one hand, the distances measured over a metric space (most often Euclidean distances or Manhattan distances) concern a set of points that are by definition discrete. On the other hand, the friction of the distance can also be evaluated from discrete distance measurements: topological distances on a graph or neighborhood matrices (i.e. adjacency) of different orders. A. Páez et al
eBook - PDF- Bob McKercher, Bruce Prideaux(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Goodfellow Publishers(Publisher)
Distance Decay examines aggregate outbound travel patterns while market access is activity specific. In effect, Distance Decay represents the sum of indi-vidual demand and supply curves as defined by market access. Market access is a relative term whereby a distant destination may have strong market access if few if any interven-ing opportunities exist. Yet in aggregate for all types of travel, cumulative demand will likely be lower. The main difference between market access and Distance Decay can be shown by consid-ering the x axis of a graph. Distance represents the x axis in a Distance Decay curve, while intervening opportunities represent the x axis in market access curve. Figure 5.8: Difference between Distance Decay and market access 103 5 Access and the Spatial Interactions of Tourists An example of the relative nature of market access will help explain the con-cept better. Consider a person who lives in Sydney, Australia. That person has a choice of close to ten beaches in the greater Sydney area including world-famous beaches like Bondi and Manly. A beach located 50 km away would be seen to have very weak market access because the consumer would have to pass by literally dozens of opportunities offering similar experience before reaching this beach. Now, consider the same person who wants to go skiing. The nearest ski fields to Sydney are located in Kosciusko National Park, some 500 km away, with the next nearest ski field located in the State of Victoria some 750 km from Sydney. Thus, Kosciusko ski fields enjoy strong market access because they represent the most proximate skiing opportunity. Relatively speaking, therefore, a beach 50 km away from the source market may be competitively disadvantaged due to the number of intervening opportunities, yet the ski field located 500 km away will have a strong competitive advantage because of the very lack of intervening opportunities.
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