1. GEOG 80 – Transport Geography
Professor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Topic 1 – Transportation and Geography
A. What is Transport Geography?
B. Transportation and Space
C. Historical Evolution of Transportation I
D. Historical Evolution of Transportation II
2. A – What is Transport Geography?
■ 1 – The Purpose of Transportation
■ 2 – The Importance of Transportation
3. 1 – The Purpose of Transportation
■ Overcome space
• Variety of human and physical constraints.
• Distance, time, administrative divisions and topography.
■ Friction of distance
• Costs.
• Distance involved.
• Nature of what is being transported.
■ Goal of transportation
• Transform the geographical attributes of freight, people or
information.
• Give an added value in the process.
• Fulfillment of a demand for mobility.
4. The Spatial Consideration of a Movement
A B
Walking Cycling Driving
D(W) D(C) D(D)
Friction of Distance
Movement
Distance (D)
Time
5. 1 – The Purpose of Transportation
■ Transportability
• Transport costs.
• Attributes of the transported goods (fragility, perishable, price).
• Some institutional factors such as laws, borders and tariffs.
■ Derived demand
• Transportation cannot exists on its own and cannot be stored.
• Direct derived demand:
• Movements directly the consequence of an economic activity.
• Indirect derived demand:
• Movements created by the requirements of other movements.
• Energy consumption from transportation.
• Warehousing can be labeled as an indirect derived demand since it is a
"non movement" of a freight element.
6. Transportation as a Derived Demand
Working
Activity
Vacationing
Derived Demand
Manufacturing
Commuting
Taxi
Air travel
Touring bus
Trucks
Containership
Direct
Energy
Indirect Warehousing
7. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Dimensions
• Historical:
• Played several different historical roles.
• Rise of civilizations (Egypt, Rome and China).
• Development of political and cultural societies.
• National defense (Roman empire, American road network).
• Social:
• Access to healthcare, welfare, and cultural or artistic events.
• Shape social interactions.
• Political:
• Rules and regulations.
• Mobility often subsidized.
• Nation building and national unity.
8. 2 – The Importance Transportation
• Environmental:
• Important environmental impacts.
• Pollution, exploitation of natural resources.
• Economic:
• Linked to economic development and job creation both indirectly and
directly.
• According to modal developments; maritime, rail, automobile, and
aerospace construction.
• Factor in the production of goods and services.
• Contributes to the value-added of goods and services.
• Facilitates economies of scale.
• Influences land (real estate) value.
• Contributes to the specialization of regions.
9. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ The importance of transportation is growing
■ Growth in the demand for mobility
• Considerable growth of the transport demand:
• Individual (passengers) and freight mobility.
• Larger quantities of passengers and freight being moved.
• Longer distances over which they are carried.
• Multiplication of the number of journeys.
• Wide variety of modes servicing transport demands.
10. Vehicle Use Indicators, World, 1950-2002
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
Annual car production (millions) (left axis)
People per automobile (left axis)
Miles traveled per passenger vehicle (USA) (right axis)
11. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Reduction of costs
• Several transportation modes are very expensive to own and
operate (ships and planes).
• Costs per unit transported have significantly dropped.
• Overcome larger distances and further exploit the comparative
advantages of space.
• Lower costs linked with longer distances.
12. Transport and Communication Costs Indexes, 1920-1990
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990
Sea Freight Rates
Air Transport (Average revenue per
passenger-km)
Telephone call (3 minutes, New York
/ London)
Computers
13. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Expansion of infrastructures
• Extended the requirements for transport infrastructures both
quantitatively and qualitatively.
• Roads, harbors, airports, telecommunication facilities and
pipelines have expanded considerably.
• Service new areas and adding capacity to existing networks.
• Transportation infrastructures are a major component of the land
use.
14. Transportation Network Density (in km per 100 sqr km),
2000
More than 100 km / 100 km2
60-100 km / 100 km2
40-60 km / 100 km2
20-40 km / 100 km2
10-40 km / 100 km2
Less than 10 km / 100 km2
15. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Spatial differentiation of the economy
• Different locations
• Location of resources (raw materials, labor, manufacturing).
• Spatial division of production and consumption.
• Service embedded in the socio-economic life of individuals,
institutions and corporations.
• Often invisible for to consumer, but always part of all economic
functions.
16. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Strategic infrastructure
• Embedded in the socio-economic life of individuals, institutions
and corporations.
• If disrupted or cease to operate, the consequences can be
dramatic.
• No specific user can have a competitive advantage over others.
• Often invisible to the consumer.
• The perceived invisibility of transportation is derived from its
efficiency.
17. 2 – The Importance Transportation
■ Common fallacies
• Access is not accessibility:
• Access is uniform wherever one is located in regard to the transport
system as long a there is a possibility to enter or to exit ; public highway.
• Often no specific user can have a competitive advantage over others.
• Accessibility varies according to one's location within the transport
system.
• Distance is not time:
• Distance remains constant.
• Time can vary due to improvements in transport technology or because of
congestion.
18. Two Common Fallacies in Transport Geography
Access vs. Accessibility Distance vs. Time
a
b
c
10
3
3 5
5
4
3
7
2
5
8
6
7
6
4
7
6
3
3
4
6
19. B – Transportation and Space
■ 1 – Physical Constraints
■ 2 – Transportation and the Spatial Structure
■ 3 – Space / Time Relationships
20. 1 – Physical Constraints
■ Topography:
• Strongly influence the structure of networks, the cost and
feasibility of transportation projects.
• Transport infrastructures are built usually where there are the
least physical impediments.
• Physical constraints fundamentally act as absolute and relative
barriers to movements.
21. Absolute and Relative Barriers
A B
Absolute Barrier
A B
Relative Barrier
Friction
Low High
Detour
Modal Change
22. 1 – Physical Constraints
■ Hydrography:
• Determines the extent of navigation.
• Constraints on land transportation:
• Bridges, tunnels and detours.
• Can also be a transport infrastructure on its own.
• Several rivers are important navigable routeways and been the
focus of human activities
• Ports:
• Strongly conditioned by the hydrography.
• Quality of the site and its depth.
23. The Geographical Space of Maritime Transportation
P A I P
M
Panama
Magellan
Good Hope
Suez
Gibraltar
Malacca
Sunda
Northwest
24. The Great Circle Distance between New York and Moscow
New York
Moscow
40’45”N 73’59”W
55’45”N 37’36”E
Cos (D) = (Sin a Sin b) + (Cos a Cos b Cos |c|)
Sin a = Sin (40.5) = 0.649
Sin b = Sin (55.5) = 0.824
Cos a = Cos (40.5) = 0.760
Cos b = Cos (55.5) = 0.566
Cos c = Cos (73.66 + 37.4) = -0.359
Cos (D) = 0.535 – 0.154 = 0.381
D = 67.631 degrees
1 degree = 111.32 km, so D = 7528.66 km
25. 1 – Physical Constraints
■ Climate
• General weather pattern affecting a region:
• Temperature, wind and precipitation.
• Varied impacts on transportation:
• From negligible to hazardous or impossible operating conditions.
• Jet streams:
• Major physical component that international air carriers must take into
consideration.
• Speed of wind can affect costs of air travel.
• Can add or reduce flight time, especially at intercontinental distances.
• Flight between New York and London:
– About 7 hours (from gate to gate) eastbound
– About 7 hours 45 minutes westbound.
27. 2 – Transportation and the Spatial Structure
■ Inertia of transport infrastructures
• Physical attributes:
• Natural conditions can be modified and adapted to suit human uses.
• Most networks follow the easiest (least cost) and most direct path, which
generally follows valleys and plains.
• Historical considerations:
• New infrastructures generally reinforce historical patterns of exchange.
• Highway network of France.
• Urban streets pattern.
30. 3 – Space / Time Relationships
■ Space / Time Convergence
• Amount of space that can be “purchased” with a specific amount
of time.
• Related to the efficiency of the transport system.
• Significant convergence in the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Space / time convergence has reached to global level.
31. Regional Space / Time Convergence (in minutes)
Between London and Edinburgh
(1658-2000)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
1650 1750 1850 1950
Between New York and Boston
(1800-2000)
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
32. Mail Delivery Times between New York and San
Francisco, 1840-2000 (in days)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
180 days
33. 1500-1840 Average speed of wagon and sail
ships: 16 km/hr
1850-1930 Average speed of trains: 100 km/hr.
Average speed of steamships: 25 km/hr
1950 Average speed of airplanes: 480-640 km/hr
1970 Average speed of jet planes: 800-1120 km/hr
1990 Numeric transmission: instantaneous
Space / Time Convergence of the World Transport
System
34. 3 – Space / Time Relationships
■ Factors of space / time convergence
• Speed.
• Economies of scale:
• Transport larger amounts of freight and passengers at lower costs.
• Expansion of transport infrastructures:
• Service areas that were not or insufficiently serviced.
• Expanded the average length of traffic.
• Telecommunications:
• Substitution to transportation (telecommuting).
• Improvement in management.
• Transport terminals efficiency:
• Growing capacity to handle large quantities of traffic over a short time
period.
