Huff's Equal Probability Trade Areas (Business Analyst)

Summary

Generates areas of competitive advantage boundaries between stores weighted on one or more variables. These weights can be calculated based on the results of a Huff Model.

Learn more about how Huff's Equal Probability Trade Areas works

Illustration

Usage

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

• The Store Layer input feature class must be point features.

• In most cases, the Store Layer input feature layer will be a Business Analyst store layer.

• The Distance Coefficient parameter determines how much of a factor distance is relative to each store.

• The Distance Coefficient parameter value defaults to –1.5. The value is usually set between –1 and –3. The higher the number, the higher the impact distance will have on customer behavior. For example, a convenience store will have a low distance coefficient (between –2 and –3) because customers are not willing to travel for low-order goods.

Syntax

EqualProbabilityContours_ba (StoreLayer, StoreIDField, All_Or_Single_Or_Selected, WayToDefineParams, DistanceCoefficient, AttactionVariables, OutputFeatureClass, {ByID_Or_ByName}, {Single_Site}, {PathToCalibratedResult})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
StoreLayer	The input feature class containing center points for the trade areas. In most cases, this will be a Business Analyst store layer.	Feature Layer
StoreIDField	Unique ID field in the store layer.	Field
All_Or_Single_Or_Selected	Creates trade areas for points in the input feature layer. ALL —Creates trade areas for all points. This is the default. SINGLE —Creates trade areas for a single point. SELECTED —Creates trade areas for all selected points in ArcMap.	String
WayToDefineParams	Selects the method to define the Huff Model parameters. MANUALLY —Manually enters the attractiveness values. This is the default. USE_CALIBRATED_RESULT —Uses parameters from a statistically calibrated Huff Model.	String
DistanceCoefficient	The value that determines how much of a factor distance (travel) affects consumer behavior.	Double
AttactionVariables [[Variable, {Coefficient}],...]	The value that measures the perceived utility or how attractive a store is to consumers.	Value Table
OutputFeatureClass	The feature class that will contain the Huff probability trade area features.	Feature Class
ByID_Or_ByName (Optional)	Field used to select a single point. ID —Selects a single point using the store ID field. Name —Selects a single point using the store name field.	String
Single_Site (Optional)	ID or name of store that is to be used as the single point.	String
PathToCalibratedResult (Optional)	Output of a statistically calibrated Huff Model to use for calibration.	Folder

Code Sample

EqualProbabilityContours Example (Stand-alone Script)

# Name: EqualprobabilityContours.py
# Description: Generates Huff derived trade areas based on store sales.
# 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") 

  arcpy.AddToolbox("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes\Business Analyst Tools.tbx")
 
  # Define input and output parameters for the Huff Equal Probability Trade Areas tool
  Store = "C:/temp/sf_store.shp"
  Id = "STORE_ID"
  Attractiveness = "SALES"
  OutPath = "C:/temp/Output_Contour.shp"
 
  # Create Huff Equal Probability trade areas    
  arcpy.EqualProbabilityContours_ba(Store, Id, "ALL", "MANUALLY", "–1.5", Attractiveness, OutPath)
 
  # 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