THE LAW OF RETAIL GRAVITATION APPLIED TO TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

The law of retail gravitation, used by market analysts to estimate sales at proposed shopping centers, gained increased acceptance in the early 1950s. The same conceptual principles inherent in its application to retail location theory appear also to apply in many phases of traffic engineering and urban planning. The aim of this paper is to help indicate the need for further exploration of the validity of these suggested uses. Application is considered for traffic analysis and other forms of traffic generators. This method might well provide a substitute which could be used at regular and short periods in place of the expensive origin and destination survey.