Mapping the spatial relationship of global cities using air traffic data

Abstract

Recent trends in global economic and transport and communication infrastructures have had a profound impact on the spatial organisation of the world city network. The development of transport infrastructure, especially air transport, has substantially decreased the geographic and temporal constraints of moving people, goods and information. It fostered the economic relationships between world cities. Although the “tyranny” of physical distance have been reduced by technological innovations of the transport industry, the emerging concept of “economic distance” can be observed.

The purpose of our research was to introduce a new method to measure the economic distance and accessibility between world cities using air traffic data. In our study the main question was what kind of spatial pattern stands out in the case of three hub cities (London, New York, Tokyo), if we take into consideration the economic distance instead of the geographical distance as a basis of a space forming factor. Besides we wanted to find out how accessibility of certain areas changes from the aspect of air transport.

In our analysis we developed a database for a large number of leading world cities that included criteria such as cost, distance, flight duration and the number of airline transfers. We developed a unique method to calculate the economic distance between selected cities, and the collected global airline data are mapped using conventional and GIS based mapping and analysis techniques. Finally, we arrived at several thematic maps which represent the economic distance of London, New York and Tokyo in relation to each other.

Our study shows that air traffic data can provide an appropriate framework for measuring economic distance and analysing accessibility. According to our study, London exhibits the best economic distance values among the three hub cities; the second place goes to New York with some favourable positive shifts, while in the case of Tokyo negative tendencies are manifest, while several other world cities show significant negative changes.

In conclusion, we can state that the analysis of the economic distances of the three hub cities reveals different characteristics of the regions. London maintains strong relationships with the economic core regions, so these cities show a noticeable positive shift. Meanwhile in continental Europe, negative shifts towards the Economic Threshold Line (ETL) are dominating. Regarding all the regions, New York shows a mixed structure, whereas the cities of the Far East show a positive shift. Similarly to London, a positive distance from ETL is to be found also on the American continent. Tokyo possesses the weakest connections as none of the core regions is “getting closer”, but significant connections remained with the important North American world cities. The air accessibility maps do not show striking regional differences but the good accessibility of the core regions is clearly verified.