What affects the travel time of journeys made on foot? Click to Continue

Consider a simple scenario…

We have a village..

Consider a simple scenario… We have a village....and two health facilities.

What factors may determine how long it will take to walk from the village to either health facility?

Distance Distance is clearly a primary factor. But how representative is Euclidean or ‘crow-fly’ distance? This assumes patients walk unhindered in a straight line to the facilities. What might stop this from happening?

Barriers Physical barriers may mean patients cannot use the shortest route to a facility. These may be natural barriers such as rivers, canyons or coastlines or human barriers such as national borders, private land or enclosed parks. Facility B Gradient People’s chosen route and their walking speed is affected by the gradient of the land. Both inclines and declines can reduce the speed and distance people are able to walk. In mountainous areas this can be very significant.

Facility B Footpath network The majority of journeys on foot are made along paths of some sort.

Facility B Footpath network The majority of journeys on foot are made along paths of some sort. The distance of a journey along the path network..

Facility B Footpath network The majority of journeys on foot are made along paths of some sort. The distance of a journey along the path network.. is therefore more important than the crow-fly distance.

What affects the travel time of journeys made on foot? Distance, Barriers, Gradient, Footpath Network

What affects the travel time of journeys made on foot? Distance, Barriers, Gradient, Footpath Network You can probably think of numerous others factors. It is important to realise that certain factors will be much more important in some regions than others depending on things like the climate, physical landscape, infrastructure, and the characteristics of the population itself.

What affects the travel time of journeys made on foot? Distance, Barriers, Gradient, Footpath Network You can probably think of numerous others factors. It is important to realise that certain factors will be much more important in some regions than others depending on things like the climate, physical landscape, infrastructure, and the characteristics of the population itself. Another important point is that, for a given landscape, different people will have very different walking capabilities, especially as we are thinking of individuals who may be ill, or carrying ill children to seek care.

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