Hexagonal Zones in Transport Demand Models

Planning the development of transport systems, as well as assessing the effects of investment activities in the field of spatial development requires the use of appropriate IT tools enabling an objective assessment of investment intentions. In the field of transport analysis, one such tool is a transport demand model. Reproduction of transport-related processes is the main role of such transport demand model. This applies to both the transport of people and goods, and includes both residential travel and visitors travelling to and within the study area. The description of the process of creation and implementation of transport demands is usually based on the assumptions in the field of places of generation and absorption of travel - i.e. sources and destinations of travel. The generalization of the mathematical description of this phenomenon introduced the concept of transport zones, which are separated homogeneous areas of the study area, as sources and destinations of trips. Practice in the construction and use of transport models indicates that the problem of  defining transport zones requires further investigation. Increasingly extensive transport infrastructure data collected in open databases (such as OpenStreets) are encouraging a change in the approach to the problems of constructing transport zones. The current solutions are characterized by a high level of generalization of sources and destinations rather than detailed transport analysis. This article presents the author’s method of dividing the study areas into transport zones based on a uniform hexagonal system, explaining the basic assumptions and evaluating the pros and cons of this proposed system. Keywords: Transport, Demand models, Algorithms