This book offers a wide ranging review of the problems associated with the search for the best location for public facilities. Typical examples of public facilities include roads and railways, pipelines and transmission wires, airports, power stations, community clinics, universities and schools. In an attempt to provide a general structure for tackling location problems in the public sector this book offers an approach based upon the notion of spatial search. This book reviews the state of the art of formal procedures in language and style which is comprehensible to the non-specialist, and places the formal procedures into the broader context of planning. The author discusses problems of measurement, and has also reviewed literature on collective decision-making, public participation, efficiency and Etopia. Case studies are included to clarify the general principles.

This book provides a thoughtful and rigorous guide to coverage modeling, reviewing essential models, solution approaches, and related applications. Since the early developments of the Location Set Covering Problem and the Maximal Covering Location Problem, models based upon some form of coverage have been extended and applied in a number of areas, helping to improve services offered to citizens of large cities and regions. Examples include trauma care services, transit systems design, cell tower location, and many others. The book not only describes the strengths and weaknesses of currently available models, but also presents details on major developments, including solution procedures and applications, making it well suited both as a reference text and a textbook for graduate level courses.