Location Models on Networks

Abstract

In this chapter we consider location problems that are defined on a network G = (N, A) with the set of nodes N and the set of directed or undirected arcs A. Typically, but not necessarily, customers are located at the nodes of the network and the demand of all customers at a node n _i is denoted by its “weight” w_i. This demand and node may represent aggregated data of a smaller region or town. Similarly, the distance, unit cost, time or other disutility associated with a trip from node n _i to a node n_j along arc a_ij is c _ij . The basic problem is to locate some number of facilities (their number can be specified exogenously or determined endogenously) in order to satisfy a given objective.