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Distance decay
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Distance decay is a geographical term which describes the effect of distance on cultural or spatial interactions. The distance decay effect states that the interaction between two locales declines as the distance between them increases.
With the advent of faster travel, distance has less effect than it did in the past, except where places previously well-connected by railroads, for example, have fallen off the beaten path. Advances in communications technology, such as phones, radio and television broadcasts, and internet, have further decreased the effects of distance.
Related terms include "friction of distance," which describes the force that creates distance decay and Waldo R. Tobler's First law of geography, an informal statement that "All things are related, but near things are more related than far things."
Distance decay is graphically represented by a curving line that swoops concavely downward as distance along the x-axis increases. Distance decay can be mathematically represented by the expression I=1/d2, where I is interaction and d is distance, among other forms.
- Working Group on Distance Decay, Kristin Taverna, Weimin Xi, [1]
- Fellman, Getis, and Getis. Human Geography, eighth edition, pp. 68-69.
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