Evaluation of Zone Orderings Based on the Correlation of Order Differences and Distances

When two‐dimensional zones are arranged into one‐dimensional tables, spatial characteristics on the original space should be preserved as much as possible. In this respect, we evaluate nine systematically generated zone orderings based on the magnitude of the Pearson's correlations of the order differences and the Euclidean distances. We show that standard row order is the best. The sensitivity of the shape and size of the study area, the critical distance, and the level of zonal aggregation are also examined.     

Location-Allocation Models of Some Traffic Facilities

The objective of this paper is to formulate location-allocation models of linear facilities, such as bridges, railroad crossings, and staircases. The location-allocation models in this paper differ from existing location-allocation models in that the service provided by the facilities is consumed by trips, with associated origins and destinations. The first part of the paper shows the formulation of these location-allocation problems in one-dimensional space. It is demonstrated that these problems can also be formulated by the use of a rectilinear Voronoi diagram in two-dimensional space. The second part of the paper demonstrates fundamental relationships between the number of facilities and the total length of indirect trips and between the number of facilities and the total number of indirect trips for uniformly and independently distributed origins and destinations.     

Book reviews

CHINA

CHARLOTTE FURTH. A Flourishing Yin: gender in China's Medical History, 960–1665. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. A Philip E. Lilienthal Book. xiv, 355 pp. 20 halftones, 13 line figures. US$45.00, hardcover; US$17.96, paper.

MOBO C. F. GAO. Gao Village. A Portrait of Rural Life in Modern China. London: C. Hurst & Company, 1999. xiv, 286 pp. Maps, illustrations, preface and acknowledgments, appendixes, index. £16.95, paper.

JAMES R. LILLEY and DAVID SHAMBAUGH (eds). China's Military Faces the Future. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 368 pp. Illustrations, tables, graphs, index. US$74.95, hardcover; US$29.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

MITSUHIRO YOSHIMOTO. Kurosawa: film Studies and Japanese Cinema. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2000. 485 pp. Introduction, bibliography, index. US$64.95, hardcover; US$21.95, paper.

YASUNORI FUKUOKA (trans. Tom Gill). Lives of Young Ethnic Koreans in Japan. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2000. 300 pp. Introduction, tables, figures, notes, references, glossary, index. A$39.95, paper.

AH‐JEONG KIM and R. B. GRAVES (trans). The Metacultural Theater of Oh T'aeSok. Five Plays from the Korean Avant‐Garde. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999. 164 pp. Preface, introduction, translators' note, photographs, bibliography. US$33.00, hardcover; US$14.95, paper.

ANDREW COBBING. The Japanese Discovery of Victorian Britain: early Travel Encounters in the Far West. Surrey: Japan Library, 1998. 257 pp. Illustrations, preface, introduction, biographical appendix, notes and references, index. £45.00, hardcover.

SOUTH, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA

SATISH BALRAM AGNIHOTRI. Sex Ratio Patterns in the Indian Population: a Fresh Exploration. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 379 pp. Tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, index. Rs 475, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

ROBERT CRIBB. Historical Atlas of Indonesia. Richmond: Curzon Press (in cooperation with the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies, Copenhagen), 2000. 256 pp. £75.00, hardcover.

STEFAN EKLOF. Indonesian Politics in Crisis: the Long Fall of Suharto, 1996–98. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1999. 288 pp. Introduction, bibliography, index. A$33.00, paper.

BARBARA LEIGH. The Changing Face of Malaysian Crafts: identity, Industry and Ingenuity. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 2000. Glossary, bibliography, index. 124 pp. 59 colour and 92 b/w illustrations. A$85.00, hardcover.

KRISHNA SEN and DAVID T. HILL. Media, Culture and Politics in Indonesia. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000. 245 pp. A$35.00, paper.

GENERAL ASIA

DAVID HANLON and GEOFFREY M. WHITE (eds). Voyaging Through the Contemporary Pacific. Lanham, Boulder, New York, Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2000. 443 pp. US$75.00, hardcover; US$24.95, paper.

LAKSIRIJAYASURIYAandKEEPOOKONG, (eds.) TheAsianisation ofAustralia?:someFacts about the Myths. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1999. 114 pp. A$16.95, paper.     

Two-dimensional fiscal competition

This paper analyses commodity tax competition between two neighboringcountries whose governments are tax-revenue maximizers in atwo-dimensional market. The results suggest three conclusionsin a geographical sense. First, a small country sets a lowertax than does a big country, and per capita revenue of the smallcountry is larger than that of the big country. Second, thesetwo countries are subject to severer competitive pressure inthe case of a more curved national border. Finally, the impactof border curvature on tax and revenue differences are alwaysopposite in sign with the impact on tax and revenue ratios.     

Errors Caused by Rounded Data in Two Simple Facility Location Problems

As a rule, data to be used in locational analysis are either rounded up or rounded down. Therefore, error is incurred if such location data are used. The objective of this paper is to examine location error and cost error due to rounding in unweighted minisum and minimax problems in one-dimensional continuous space. Several conclusions on rounding effects are obtained by examining the respective mean-squared errors. First, rounding tends to exert more serious influence on the minisum problem than on the minimax problem. Second, in both location problems, the location error shows a pattern that is the inverse of that of the cost error.     

SPATIAL COMPETITION AND THE JOINT CONSUMPTION OF SERVICES*

In Hotelling location models, an implicit assumption has been made that a customer uses the service provided by the firm, independent of other customers. However, for firms that supply meeting rooms, wedding halls, tennis courts, and golf links it is essential to incorporate the fact that the customer only uses the service in conjunction with other customers. The objective of this paper is to formulate the Hotelling location model n consideration of the interdependence among customers in one-dimensional space, and to characterize the state of equilibrium. In our model, each group of members within a given distance enjoys a fixed amount of service of the firms, under the assumption that the travel cost incurred by each group is defined as the travel cost of the farthest customer in the group.     

An Analytical Model to Assess the Visibility of Landmarks

Landmarks in urban areas, such as castles, churches, bell towers, tall buildings, large hills, and tall trees, are common points of geographical reference in landscapes. However, modern construction methods have pushed buildings higher, so the visibility of these landmarks has been reduced. This article develops a simple analytical model for use in an urban setting to estimate how building height and density affect the area from where a landmark is visible. The probability of visibility from observation points will be derived by the use of a stochastic process. Three relationships between the visibility of a landmark and its setting are mathematically derived and illustrated using a monocentric city.