Complexities in spatial center derivation

Abstract

The center of a spatial object or set of objects is a rather straightforward and well understood descriptor. Beyond providing a statistically oriented interpretation of the middle of something, the center often has much significance in terms of locating services and activities, but may also represent a place of political/historical importance, a site that | 1337 MURRAY distribution facility, not to mention the time required to process, fill, and deliver once a supply request has been made. Good access is essential and may well be the difference in the success of the company, keeping costs low and providing the best service to customers possible. While a slightly different interpretation of costs and benefits, one can similarly view residential emergency aid and/or evacuation in the event of a crisis/disaster, such as the recent fire and mudslides experienced in Santa Barbara, CA. There is a time and/or cost for people to get to and from a spatial center that provides a service. Finding the most efficient site relative to costs is clearly important in economic terms, but also critical for saving lives and property when it reflects such a context. This is precisely why place significance of a geographic center is highlighted in Rogerson (2015a) because a political designation of a county seat, as an example, ultimately exists to provide good (and economical) access to public services and other functions.In addition to summary and efficiency, a spatial center may also have explanatory meaning as well as design and communication significance. With respect to explanatory meaning, the spatial center of crime incidents may identify the residence or employment location of a perpetrator. Rossmo (2000) details a range of contexts along these lines, where the spatial center assists in solving or explaining cases involving arson, blackmail, rape, robbery, and murder, among others. A challenge in design and communication involves the labeling of features in mapbased display. The default placement of a feature label in most commercial GIS is, in fact, at or along the object center for polygon-based features. The reason for this is that it often represents a location of minimal potential conflict with neighboring labels, enhancing legibility and visual aesthetics.This article explores ontological and semantic issues associated with identifying a spatial center. Section 2 details aspects of definitional variability, emphasizing distinctions associated with direct and indirect summary, homogeneous and heterogeneous spatial characteristics, as well as interpretation of a center beyond the oftenconceived single point. Section 3 follows, with technical specifications that highlight the criteria used to quantify what constitutes the best center. Select illustrative examples of core ideas are provided in Section 4. The article ends with a discussion and concluding comments in Section 5.

Distance in Spatial Analysis: Measurement, Bias, and Alternatives

“…Distance could also be measured for other types of spatial entities, such as lines and multi‐objects. Murray (2018) provided a thorough discussion on how to identify centers for differnet types of spatial objectis. Whether existing center‐based distance measures for these entities lead to unbiased estimates remains a research question for future study.…”

A Multi-Flow Production Line for Sorting of Eggs Using Image Processing

“…In the next stage, minimum enclosing circle method was applied ( Figure 4 ). The minimum enclosing circle is a circle in which all the points lie either inside the circle or on its boundaries [ 54 ]. This process is used to increase the accuracy of size determining process especially for dirty eggs.…”

Locating a facility to simultaneously address access and coverage goals

“…An essential distinction of formulation (1)–(5) is that objective (1) is nothing other than the total weighted distance measure reflecting the intent of the classic Weber problem (see Church, 2019; Murray, 2018; Murray et al, 2020; Wesolowsky, 1993; Yao & Murray, 2014). Minimizing total weighted distance is equivalent to minimizing average distance and hence reflects the notion of access.…”

“…The result is the point with the least total weighted distance (see also Kuhn & Kuenne, 1962; Weiszfeld & Plastria, 2009). A recent review is offered in Murray (2018) with linkages to related single facility problems, as well as various spatial extensions.…”