Original Huff Model (Business Analyst)

Summary

Creates a probability surface to predict the sales potential of an area based on distance and an attractiveness factor.

Learn more about how Original Huff Model works.

Usage

Legacy:

The Original Huff Model was referred to as the Gravity Model in previous versions of Business Analyst.

• The results of the Huff Model can be used to

  • Estimate, define, and analyze market potential.
  • Assess economic impact of a new site location.
  • Forecast sales and potential of existing stores and outlets.
  • Assess the impact of competitive and environmental changes on outlet performance.

• The output of the Huff Model will generate probabilities and estimated sales for each subgeographic area.

  The output probabilities can be used to define primary market (trade) areas for a new store location. For example, a trade area can be created using the Dissolve By Attribute Range tool to create a primary market area that includes all the subgeography areas that have a probability higher than 40 percent of patronizing the new store location.

• If you want to use more than one attractiveness value, you should use the Advanced Huff Model tool.

• The Sales Potential Layer is usually polygon features representing subareas where potential customers live. Point features can also be used; for example, block centroids that have associated demographic data.

• The Competitive Store Layer should include all competitive locations in a given study area. This layer should also include any of your existing store locations in the study area, since they will act as competitors to a new store location. In most cases, this layer will be a Business Analyst store layer. Competitive store locations can be extracted from the Add Business Listings function in ESRI Business Analyst.

  Learn more about adding business listings

• A higher Distance Coefficient indicates that distance will have a greater impact on consumer behavior. For example, consumers are more willing to travel farther for high-order goods, such as automobiles and furniture, than they are for low-order goods, such as groceries.

• The spatial reference of the output feature class will be the same as the sales potential layer.

Syntax

HuffModelOriginal_ba (SalesPotentialLayer, PotentialSalesFldName, StoreLayer, AttractivenessField, WayToDefineStoreLocation, RadiusOfCovering, {MeasureUnits}, DistanceCoefficient, Attractiveness, OutputFeatureClass, {Longitude}, {Latitude}, {PotentialStoreLayer}, {PotentialStoreOID})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
SalesPotentialLayer	The features used to calculate the sales potential of the Huff Model.	Feature Layer
PotentialSalesFldName	The field containing the values used to calculate the sales potential of the Huff Model.	Field
StoreLayer	The layer that contains the competitive points (usually stores) used to determine how sales are influenced and distributed across the analysis area.	Feature Layer
AttractivenessField	The attribute field that determines how attractive each competitor is. In many cases, the size of the store is used as a surrogate for attractiveness.	Field
WayToDefineStoreLocation	Determines how the potential layer will be selected. BY_COORDINATES —Enters latitude and longitude coordinates as the center point for the potential layer. FROM_LAYER —Selects a point layer from an existing layer as the potential site.	String
RadiusOfCovering	Sets the radius of the Huff Model. The model output will extend from the potential site location to this distance.	Double
MeasureUnits (Optional)	The units used with the distance values. By default, the units defined in the Business Analyst preferences will be selected. Minutes — Decimal Degrees — Feet — Kilometers — Meters — Miles — Nautical Miles — Yards —	String
DistanceCoefficient	The value that determines how much of a factor travel distance is to the consumer.	Double
Attractiveness	The value that measures how attractive the potential store is to consumers.	Double
OutputFeatureClass	The output feature class that will contain the Huff Model results.	Feature Class
Longitude (Optional)	The x-coordinate (longitude) for the potential site.	Double
Latitude (Optional)	The y-coordinate (latitude) for the potential site.	Double
PotentialStoreLayer (Optional)	The existing point feature class used to define the potential store location.	Feature Layer
PotentialStoreOID (Optional)	The unique identifier for the potential store location.	Long

Code Sample

HuffModelOriginal Example (Stand-alone Script)

# Name: HuffModelOriginal.py
# Description: Creates a Huff Model to estimate dollars spent on vehicle maintenance in the San Francisco Market 
# Author: ESRI

# Import system modules

import arcview
import arcpy

arcpy.ImportToolbox("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes\Business Analyst Tools.tbx")
 
try:    
  # Acquire extension license 
  arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Business") 
 
  # Define input and output parameters for the Original Huff Model tool
  SalesLayer = "C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/Desktop10.0/Business Analyst/Data/BDS/esri_bg.bds"
  SalesId = "X6015_X"
  CompLayer = "C:/temp/sf_stores.shp"
  AttractiveField = "SALES"
  OutPath = "C:/temp/Huff_Model.shp"
 
  # Create Original Huff Model  
  arcpy.HuffModelOriginal_ba(SalesLayer, SalesId, CompLayer, AttractiveField, "BY_COORDINATES", "5", "Miles", "-1.5", "50000", OutPath, "-122.46", "37.76")
 
  # Release extension license 
  arcpy.CheckInExtension("Business")
            
except:
  print arcpy.GetMessages(2)

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments

Licensing Information

ArcView: Requires Business Analyst

ArcEditor: Requires Business Analyst

ArcInfo: Requires Business Analyst