Department of Geography and Urban

Studies, Temple University

GUS 0265/0465
Applications in GIS/Geographic
Data Analysis
Lecture 3: Network Data Models

Representing and Analyzing Networks in GIS

Network: a system of linear features
connected at intersections and interchanges
A network is composed of a set of nodes and
a set of spanning directed links.
Each link is represented by an ordered pair
of nodes (i,j).

An Example Network

Examples of
Networks

Node-Node Adjacency Matrix

The rows and columns in the matrix
correspond to the nodes on the network.
A non-zero element in the ith row and jth
column in the matrix represents the numerical
value associated with link (i, j).
A zero element in the matrix in the ith row and
jth column in the matrix indicates that there exists
no link going from node i to node j.

Node-Node Adjacency Matrix

Forward Star Representation

Links are numbered in the following order:
First links emanating from node 1 are numbered,
then those from node 2, and so forth.
Links emanating from the same node are numbered
in an arbitrary fashion.
Once this list of ordered links is obtained, data
associated with the links are stored in single arrays
sequentially.

Forward Star Representation

Link
No.

Startingnode

Endingnode

linklength

10

11

Forward Star Representation

link
No.

Startingnode

Endingnode

linklength

10

11

Node Pointer Table

Corresponding node Element value
1

10

11

Reverse Star Representation

Forward star representation facilitates

accessing links by beginning nodes
Reverse star representation facilitates
accessing links by ending nodes
Incoming links at each node are
numbered sequentially

Reverse Star Representation

link
No.

Starting
-node

10

11

Ending- linknode
length

Reverse Star Representation

link
No.

Starting
-node

10

11

Ending- linknode
length

Node Pointer Table

Corresponding node Element value
1

11

Forward and Reverse Star Representation

Network
Representation
in ArcInfo
1. Composed of Edges
and Junctions
2. Geometric Network
stores coordinates
3. Logical Network
stores connectivity

Network Representation in ArcInfo

Solver: a program to perform network analysis
Trace: a solver that traces along a network
NetFlag: a location on a network
Weights: weighting travel along an edge