Spatial Distribution Analysis: Cases for Study

1. Below is a table of four cities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Use a spatial distribution model to calculate the size (in people) of each city based just on their mutual attraction.

                                      Distance              1980

                       Area   Mpl.   C.R.   Mtk.   Bvl.  Population

        Minneapolis    55.1    5       14      9       19      370,951

        Coon Rapids    23.5    14      2       25      37      35,826

        Minnetonka     27.4    9       25      2       24      38,683

        Burnsville     24.3    19      37      24      2       35,674

2. Suppose you are a planner for the metropolitan health services board. Bloomington has asked for permission to build a 250-bed hospital, although your office estimates that there is a demand for only 100 beds. Using the information below, for hospitals in each of the cities estimate the vacancies that would be caused by the new hospital.

               Current                Distance

               # Beds  Edina  Minneapolis  St. Paul  Bloomington

        Edina    405       2        9            17          7

        Mpls.  7054       9        5             9         10

        StPaul  2764      17        9            .5         16

        Blmng      0      7       10            16          4

3. Suppose you are working for the Metropolitan Transit Commission, and the southwest suburbs are arguing for a bus system which would link them to each other (rather than going through Minneapolis). Based on population size, how much traffic would you predict between the suburbs?

                                      Distance

                       Size           Mpls.   Egan    Shak.   Eden Pr.

        Minneapolis    370,951 5.0     12.5    17.5    11.5

        Eagan           20,700 12.5    2.0     17.5    12.5

        Shakopee         9,941 17.5    17.5    2.0      7.0

        Eden Prairie    16,263 11.5    12.5    7.0     3.0

4. Suppose you are a commercial land developer, looking for a likely site for a retail shopping mall in the Twin Cities area. The major competition will be from the Nicollet Mall (in downtown Minneapolis), Southdale (in Edina), and Brookdale (in Brooklyn Center). You have two possible sites--one in Wayzata and one on the edge of downtown Minneapolis. The following table provides distances from all locations in minutes, rather than miles. The locations are measured by the floor-area of retail space (in 1,000 square feet); the impacts are the total population in the various areas (representing potential customers). Which potential location is preferable?

                                      Distance

               Size    N.M.    Sdl.   Bdl.  Wzta.  Mpls.      Impact

Nicollet Mall 10,000     10    20      15      30      10      370,951

Southdale         450    20    10      25      35      20      170,835

Brookdale         450    15    25      25      30      15      156,109

Alt.:  Wayzata    500    30    35      30      15      30      70,298

Alt.:  Mpls.      500    10    20      15      30      10      370,951

5. Suppose you are a developer who is evaluating several sites for housing. Assume that the price of land and construction are identical among all sites (in other words, location is the only variable that is of interest here). Assume, further, that homebuyers will be employed either in Minneapolis or St. Paul, and that employment for each city is focused on the downtown. Minneapolis employs 200,440 people, and St. Paul employs 136,045. You have four possible sites: Lakeville (45 mins. south of both cities), Hamel (25 mins. from Minneapolis, 40 mins. from St. Paul), Lino Lakes (40 mins. north of both cities), and Lake Elmo (25 mins. from St. Paul, 40 mins. from Minneapolis).

Which location will give you the most potential homebuyers?

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