Connectivity functions work on the basis of networks, including road networks, water courses in coastal zones, and communication lines in mobile telephony. These networks represent spatial linkages between features. This Learning path will discuss the Network analytic functions.
Network analytic functions for computing related to connected line features that make up a network. The network may conist of roads, public transport routes, high-voltage power lines, or other forms of transportation infrastructure. Analysis of such networks may entail shortest paht computations (in terms of distance or travel time) between two points in a network for routing purposes. Other forms are the find all points reachable within a given distance or duration from a start point for allocation purposes, or determination of the capacity of the network for transportation between an indicated source location and sink location.
Knowledge about the characteristics of networks can help to determine what type of network analysis are applicable.
Various classical spatial analysis functions for networks are supported by GIS software packages. The most important ones are: * optima- path finding (which generates a least-cost path on a network between a pair of predefined locations using both geometric and attribute data. * network partitioning, which assigns network elements (nodes and line segments) to different locations using predefined criteria. We will start with Optimal-Path finding
Network partitioning is a group of analytical functions that assigns parts of a network to target locations.
Network Allocation is also known as Service Areas. Network allocation can be performed on road networks.
Like network allocation, Trace analysis assigns part of a network to a location. However, Trace analysis can only be performed on directed networks.
When performing data processing, you should be aware of the fact that this can lead to error propagation.