ESTIMATION AND MAPPING OF THE SETTLEMENT FIELD POTENTIAL BASING ON REAL TRANSPORTATION CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SETTLEMENTS

Abstract. In the article, we describe an approach to computational estimation of the settlement field potential, and mapping its spatial distribution in the desktop geographic information system software. The settlement field potential is a quantitative geographical variable that reflects mutual impact of settlements according to the population amount in the settlements and distances between settlements (two or many). This geographical variable can be used as an extra metric in human geography alongside with population density metric. We propose a methodology for automation of the settlement field potential mapping, and propose to estimate the settlement field potential value using distances measured in real transportation network instead of traditionally used straight-line measurement of the distances. To test and verify proposed approach and methodology we produced the maps of settlement field potential for the study area that covers Russia-Kazakhstan transborder area.