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A family of accessibility measures derived from spatial interaction principles
Anastasia Soukhov1, Rafael H M Pereira2, Christopher D Higgins3
1McMaster University, School of Earth, Environment and Society, Hamilton, Canada.
Plos One
|November 14, 2025
Summary
This study introduces a unified framework for accessibility measures in transportation planning, moving beyond simple trip efficiency to understand spatial interaction potential. It clarifies definitions and offers a coherent basis for accessibility analysis.
Area of Science:
- Transportation Planning
- Urban Studies
- Spatial Analysis
Background:
- Traditional transportation planning focuses on movement efficiency, neglecting the broader concept of accessibility.
- Accessibility, defined as the potential to interact with destinations, is increasingly recognized but lacks consistent definitions.
- Existing accessibility measures are fragmented, hindering coherent spatial analysis and planning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To provide a methodological contribution by specifying a family of gravity-based accessibility measures.
- To unify fragmented accessibility concepts under a shared theoretical foundation.
- To offer interpretable and coherent measures for accessibility analysis.
Main Methods:
- Developing a family of accessibility measures rooted in spatial interaction models and their balancing factors.
- Defining four distinct measures: unconstrained, total-constrained, singly-constrained (related to 2SFCA), and doubly-constrained.
- Illustrating the measures with a toy example to demonstrate unit-based interpretability.
Main Results:
- A coherent family of gravity-based accessibility measures is specified.
- The measures can represent either accessible opportunities or accessible population (market potential).
- The proposed framework clarifies interpretations and offers a unified basis for accessibility analysis.
Conclusions:
- The specified family of accessibility measures provides a clearer and more coherent foundation for transportation planning.
- This unified approach addresses the fragmentation in accessibility concepts and definitions.
- The measures offer interpretable unit-based values for enhanced spatial interaction analysis.
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