Modelling a single type of environmental impact from an obnoxious transport activity: implementing locational analysis with GIS

Many facilities have negative impacts on neighbouring areas, and an obvious social and political concern is therefore to assess and minimise such impacts. The authors address this type of problem in relation to the dispersion of aircraft noise near airports. The approach involved brings together two basic components. First, two spatial models are presented. These are developed from existing concepts in location theory and modelling, but the authors attempt to overcome some of the limitations of previous models. Second, a geographical information system is used to obtain a better representation of the spatiotemporal processes involved in the dispersion of aircraft noise and to evaluate the functions of the two models. A case study is used to illustrate the methodology and helps to indicate how this approach could facilitate improved spatial decisionmaking.