Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
Introduction to Location Science
Gilbert Laporte, Stefan Nickel, and Francisco Saldanha da Gama
Abstract This chapter introduces modern Location Science. It traces the roots of
the area and describes the path leading to the full establishment of this research
field. It identifies several disciplines having strong links with Location Science
and offers examples of areas in which the knowledge accumulated in the field of
location has been applied with great success. It describes the purpose and structure
of this volume. Finally, it provides suggestions on how to make use of the contents
presented in this topic, namely for organizing general or specialized location courses
targeting different audiences.
Keywords Application
areas
￿
Foundations
￿
Location
courses
￿
Location
science, Related disciplines
1.1
Introduction
In the past decades, Location Science has become a very active research area,
attracting the attention of many researchers and practitioners. Facility location
problems lie at the core of this discipline. These consist of determining the “best”
location for one or several facilities or equipments in order to serve a set of demand
points. The meaning of “best” depends on the nature of the problem under study,
namely in terms of the constraints and of the optimality criteria considered.
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