Quantitative measurement of spatial accessibility to locations both in urban and peri-urban environments

Chega, Gift

Quantitative measurement of spatial accessibility to locations both in urban and peri-urban environments

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape town

Department

Department of Civil Engineering

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Abstract

Last-mile delivery in the context of transportation and supply chain refers to the final stage of the product delivery process. The last mile is often the most challenging part of transporting packages to their final destinations. It is essential to have easily accessible infrastructure so that packages can be collected with less travel distances and transportation costs. Accessibility is an important aspect of transportation planning. It is used to measure the spatial separation of human activities such as commerce, employment and quality of life. Accessibility reflects the extent of interaction between an area's land use development and transportation system. The aim of the research is to evaluate accessibility using Geographic Information System (GIS)-based techniques, to measure coverage and associated potential market for existing pick-up points, and to suggest modifications to improve accessibility. Spatial analyses, which deal with service location modelling, are carried out using Flowmap software. The analyses include; proximity counts analysis, and catchment area analysis. Literature reviewed discusses the components of accessibility, indicators of accessibility, and GIS-based accessibility modelling. The common measurement of accessibility (gravity-based) used in trip distribution modelling is explained. Gauteng province is used as a study area. Various methods used to analyse the raw data to prepare it for use in modelling are discussed. The cumulative opportunity index, also known as the proximity count, which is an accessibility measure, is used to identify potential customers within a set distance. The user-defined distances in this case are 1610m (1-mile) and 3220m (2-miles). Without considering competition, a proximity count provides an indication of a potential market. Catchment area analyses were also performed. The technique searches within the set distance and allocates origins to the nearest destinations. Trend surface maps (suitability maps) were produced, and they showed the locations of potential populations that the parcel pickup points are not available. The maximum number of customers per site and the pickup points needed to cover an area were computed. In densely populated areas where Pargo service is already in high demand, growing the number of pickup facilities would improve accessibility. Future research directions suggested include analysis of the study areas based on land-use, assessing the accessibility of pickup facilities in densely populated areas and extending the scope beyond Gauteng province.

Keywords

Engineering

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