First-order contiguity constraint on Traffic Analysis Zone delineation problem

This paper presents a kind of constraint to ensure first-order contiguity of Traffic Analysis Zone delineation problem. Based on k-median facility location model, a 0-1 integer programming mathematical presentation of the problem, with objective of minimizing heterogeneity, is given. The proposed model is compared with other three ones in terms of model complexity and time consuming. The other three models have the characteristics of ensuring not only the first-order contiguity. It is concluded from the comparison that if zone number is smaller than certain value, the proposed model terminated without a feasible solution. Otherwise, the proposed model could obtain a satisfied solution within a reasonable time. An agglomerative hierarchical clustering based heuristic algorithm then is developed to deal with the non-solution situation. Finally, a case study shows the advantage of the proposed model for solving large scale problem.