Models for Spatial Diffusion Research. A Review

摘要

The tradition of spatial diffusion research by geographers has been enriched in recent years by exploiting and developing a quantitative methodology. Generally, however, these efforts have not made use of the results of spatial diffusion research conducted by other disciplines, especially those outside of the social sciences. The purpose of this paper, then, is to illustrate and critically examine some of this other work: specifically, epidemiology models, logistic curve models, random and biased net models, random plane network models, and the theory embodied by each. In order to provide a constant reference point, a spatial diffusion model by the geographer Hagerstrand is also considered. In the course of the review, the utilities of each model are assessed, notions which might be useful for future research are extracted, and improvements to current research methodology are suggested. This report also suggests some modifications for a distance biased net model and presents the results of some limited experiments with the random plane network model. (Author)