LECTURE

Methods in Transportation Systems:

An Introduction to Graph Theory

Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana

Assistant Professor

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

Taxonomy of Transport Geography
Methods
Transport Related Multidisciplinary

Geography Related • Network Analysis (Graph Theory). • Cartography / Geographic

• Land Use / Transportation Information Systems.
Interactions. • Descriptive Statistics, (e.g., Gini
• Flow/Location Allocation Models. Coefficient).

• The Four-Stage Urban Transportation • Questionnaires / Interviews.

Multidisciplinary
Model. • Big data.
• Travel / Traffic Surveys. • Graphs and Charts.
• Inferential Statistics.
• Impact Assessment.
• Risk Assessment.
• Policy Analysis.
 Section a

Graph Theory:
Terminologies, Concepts and Properties
 Graph theory
• Graph theory is a branch of mathematics concerned
with how networks can be encoded and their
properties measured.

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023
[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Graph Representation of a Real Network

Real Network Graph Representation

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Graph theory
• Graph theory is a branch of mathematics concerned with how networks
can be encoded, and their properties measured.
• Invented by Leonard Euler in 1735
• Basis of Discrete Mathematics (A branch of mathematics)

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Basics: Graphs and Links
• Graph. A graph G is a set of vertexes (nodes) v connected by edges (links)
e. Thus G = (v , e)
• Sub-graph. A subset of a graph G where p is the number of sub-graphs.
 For instance G´ = (v´, e´ ) can be a distinct sub-graph of G. Unless the global transport
system is considered as a whole, every transport network is in theory a sub-graph of
another.
 For instance, the road transportation network of a city is a sub-graph of a regional
transportation network, which is itself a sub-graph of a national transportation
network.

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Basics: Graphs and Links
• Edge (Link). An edge e is a link between two nodes.
 The link (i , j) is between initial extremity i and terminal
extremity j.
 A link is the abstraction of a transport infrastructure
supporting movements between nodes. It has a direction that
is commonly represented as an arrow. When an arrow is not
used, it is assumed the link is bi-directional.

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Basic Graph Representation of a Transport
Network
1 2
Edge (Link)

3 4

Vertex (Node)

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
Length of a Link, Connection or Path
4 km
2 3

2 km 2 km

1 6 km 6
3 km

5 km 2 km
4 5
7 km
Two Common Fallacies in Transport
Geography
Access vs. Accessibility Distance vs. Time

55
50
50 30
b 25 55
35 30
35 30
40 30 40
65 35 40 45
65
c
60 65 60
a
Absolute and Relative Distance in a
Network
Absolute Distance Relative Distance

10 km 30 minutes
Topology and Network Connectivity
A

Fully Connected Network

Average Path Length

B C

D
Minimum Network

Geographic Barrier

Network Length
Network Strategies to Service a Set of
Locations
A B C

D E F
Planar and Non-Planar Graphs
A B

Planar Non-Planar
 Types of Transportation Networks

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Simple and Multigraphs

Road

Road & Rail

Rail

Simple Graphs Multigraph

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023
[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
Network Patterns
Mesh Hub-and-Spoke

Linear Tree
Network Patterns

Centralized Decentralized Distributed

Cost Structure of Networks
Point-to-Point Total Costs Hub-and-Spoke Total Costs

3,000

550 550
3,000
525 52
5
3,000 1,550

3,000 525 52
5

550 550
3,000

Total: 15,000 Total: 5,850

 What we learned
• Graph G
• Sub-graph P
• Edges (Link) e
• Nodes (Vertices) v
• Planar and Non-Planar

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
Order of a Node
2
2 1
4 3
A B
Order (o)

2 1 2 3

Perfect spoke
1 1 3

C 5 Perfect hub D 2 2 2

1 1
1 3
 Diameter of a Graph
2 4 6 Shimbel Distance
v 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 0 1 1 2 2 1 3
2 1 0 2 1 3 2 4
3 1 2 0 3 1 2 2
1 3 5 4 2 1 3 0 2 1 3
5 2 3 1 2 0 1 1
Diameter = 4 7 6 1 2 2 1 1 0 2
7 3 4 2 3 1 2 0

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
Diameter of a Graph
2 4 2 4

A B

d=? d=?

1 3 1 3 5

2 4 6 2 4 6

C D

d=? d=?
1 3 5 1 3 5
Cyclomatic Number
u = e−v+ p
A B
e v p u
A 3 5 2 0
B 5 5 1 1
C 5 4 1 2
D 7 6 1 2

C D

The maximum number of independent cycles

in a graph.
A B C D
 Indices (At Network Level)
• Detour Index • Theta Index (θ)
• Network Density • Iota Index (ι)
• Pi Index (π) • Eta Index (η)
• Alpha Index (α) • Gamma Index (γ)
• Beta Index (β)

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Detour index
Ratio of displacement to actual distance

Where D(S) is the straight distance, D(T); real distance,

Detour index
relative efficiency

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
Effect of Topography on Route Selection

c
b

2 a 3

Low elevation Medium elevation High elevation

 Detour index
Ratio of displacement to actual distance

Where D(S) is the straight distance, D(T); real distance,

Direct Distance Transport

Route
(1-2-3) Distance
a 20 km 20 km
b 20 km 25 km
c 20 km 30 km
URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023
[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Effect of Topography on Route Selection
• Route (a) is shortest in terms of distance, but not necessarily the least expensive in terms of
construction and operating costs.

• Route (b) represents an attempt to reduce costs and this at the expense of a direct path.

• Route (c) will be the one used to link locations 1 and 3. It offers a compromise between the lost
distance (a higher detour) and the supplementary construction costs imposed by higher elevations.

Direct Distance Transport

Route Detour Index
(1-2-3) Distance
a 20 km 20 km 1.0
b 20 km 25 km 0.8
c 20 km 30 km 0.666
URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023
[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Network density
Measures the territorial occupation of a transport network in terms of km of
links (L) per square kilometers of surface (S).

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Eta Index

L (G )
A =
e

Average length per link

B
 Eta Index

L (G )
A =
e

L(G) e Eta
A 80 km 5 16.0
B 80 km 7 11.4

B
Average length per link
 Theta Index

A Q (G )
=
v

Measures the function of a node,

which is the average amount of traffic
per intersection.

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Theta Index

A Q (G )
=
v

Q(G) v Theta
A 3,500 t 6 583.3
B 3,500 t 8 437.5
B

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
 Iota Index

1
A B 1

Order (o)

3 1 4 1 L(G )
=
W (G )
W (G ) = 1, o = 1
1 4 1 W (G ) =  2 * o, o  1
e
3 3

1
1 1 1 1
 Iota Index

1 L(G )
A B 1 =
W (G )
Order (o) W (G ) = 1, o = 1
W (G ) =  2 * o, o  1
3 1 4 1 e

L(G) W(G) Iota

1 4 1
A 80 23 3.47
3 3
B 80 22 3.63

1
1 1 1 1
W(A) = 1+6+6+6+1+1+1+1
W(B) = 1+1+8+1+1+8+1+1
 Beta Index

e
A B
=
v

e v Bet
a
A 2 4 0.5
B 3 4 0.75

C D C 4 4 1.0
D 5 4 1.25

Measures the level of connectivity in a graph and is expressed by the relationship

between the number of links (e) over the number of nodes (v).
Beta Index

e
A B
=
v

e v Beta
A 2 4 0.5
B 3 4 0.75
C 4 4 1.0
C D
D 5 4 1.25
 u
Alpha Index =
2v − 5 (for planar graphs)

A B (f

(for non-planar graphs)

u= 2v-5 Alpha
(e-v+p)
A 0 3 0.0

B 1 3 0.33

C D C 2 3 0.66

D 3 3 1.0

A measure of connectivity which evaluates the number of cycles in comparison with

the maximum number of cycles.
 References
• Rodrigue, J. P. (2020). The geography of
transport systems. Routledge.

• https://transportgeography.org/

URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023

[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad]
URP-805 Urban and Regional Transportation Systems, Spring Semester 2023
[Dr. Irfan Ahmad Rana, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, NUST, Islamabad] 45