Transportation and Geography

Transport geography is a sub-discipline of geography concerned about the mobility of people, freight and information.
It seeks to understand the spatial organization of mobility by considering its attributes and constraints as they relate to the origin, destination, extent, nature and purpose of movements.

The Core Principles of Transport Geography

REPRESENTATIONS OF DISTANCE
Orthodromic distance (drawn in red) between two points on a sphere, P and Q.

Space / Time Convergence

MASSIFIED TRANSPORTATION
Land:
train - about 1,000 passengers
Airbus A380 - 550 passengers
Air:
Cruise ship - about 6,000 passengers
Water:
Tanker ships - up to 400,000 tons
up to 350,000 tons
Bulk carriers -

Transportability refers to the ease of movement of passengers, freight or information.
Transportability related to transport costs as well as to the attributes of what is being transported (fragility, perishable, price).
Political factors can also influence transportability such as laws, regulations, borders and tariffs.
When transportability is high, activities are less constrained by distance.

Globalization supported the development of complex air and maritime transportation networks, many of which supporting global supply chains and trade relations across long distances.
transportation is a system supporting complex relationships between its core components, which are nodes, networks and demand.
“New transport geography" is based on the premise:

Dimensions of Transport Geography

Transportation nodes
Transport geography must consider its places of convergence and transshipment.
Transportation networks
Transport geography must include in its investigation the structures (routes and infrastructures) supporting and shaping movements.
Transportation demand
Transport geography must evaluate the factors affecting its derived demand function.

Dimensions of Transport Geography