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Multiple Facilities Location in the Plane Using the Gravity Model
Author(s) -
Drezner Tammy,
Drezner Zvi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
geographical analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.773
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1538-4632
pISSN - 0016-7363
DOI - 10.1111/j.1538-4632.2006.00692.x
Subject(s) - heuristic , facility location problem , mathematical optimization , computer science , plane (geometry) , variance (accounting) , location model , operations research , 1 center problem , gravity model of trade , mathematics , economics , geometry , international trade , accounting
Two problems are considered in this article. Both problems seek the location of p facilities. The first problem is the p median where the total distance traveled by customers is minimized. The second problem focuses on equalizing demand across facilities by minimizing the variance of total demand attracted to each facility. These models are unique in that the gravity rule is used for the allocation of demand among facilities rather than assuming that each customer selects the closest facility. In addition, we also consider a multiobjective approach, which combines the two objectives. We propose heuristic solution procedures for the problem in the plane. Extensive computational results are presented.