dodgr_flows_si: Aggregate flows throughout a network using a spatial...

In dodgr: Distances on Directed Graphs

Aggregate flows throughout a network using a spatial interaction model.

Description

Aggregate flows throughout a network using an exponential Spatial Interaction (SI) model between a specified set of origin and destination points, and associated vectors of densities. Spatial interactions are implemented using an exponential decay, controlled by a parameter, k, so that interactions decay with exp(-d / k), where d is distance. The algorithm allows for efficient fitting of multiple interaction models for different coefficients to be fitted with a single call. Values of the interaction coefficients, k, may take one of the following forms:

• A single numeric value (> 0), with interactions along all paths calculated with that single value. Return object (see below) will then have a single additional column named "flow".

• A vector of length equal to the number of from points, with interactions from each point then calculated using the corresponding value of k. Return object has single additional "flow" column.

• A vector of any other length (that is, > 1 yet different to number of from points), in which case different interaction models will be fitted for each of the n specified values, and the resultant return object will have an additional 'n' columns, named 'flow1', 'flow2', ... up to 'n'. These columns must be subsequently matched by the user back on to the corresponding 'k' values.

• A matrix with number of rows equal to the number of from points, and any number of columns. Each column will then specify a distinct interaction model, with different values from each row applied to the corresponding from points. The return value will then be the same as the previous version, with an additional n columns, "flow1" to "flown".

Flows are calculated by default on contracted graphs, via the contract = TRUE parameter. (These are derived by reducing the input graph down to junction vertices only, by joining all intermediate edges between each junction.) If changes to the input graph do not prompt changes to resultant flows, and the default contract = TRUE is used, it may be that calculations are using previously cached versions of the contracted graph. If so, please use either clear_dodgr_cache to remove the cached version, or dodgr_cache_off prior to initial graph construction to switch the cache off completely.

Usage

dodgr_flows_si(
  graph,
  from,
  to,
  k = 500,
  dens_from = NULL,
  dens_to = NULL,
  contract = TRUE,
  norm_sums = TRUE,
  heap = "BHeap",
  tol = 0.000000000001,
  quiet = TRUE
)

Arguments

graph	data.frame or equivalent object representing the network graph (see Details)
from	Vector or matrix of points from which route distances are to be calculated, specified as one of the following: Single character vector precisely matching node numbers or names given in graph$from or graph$to. Single vector of integer-ish values, in which case these will be presumed to specify indices into dodgr_vertices, and NOT to correspond to values in the 'from' or 'to' columns of the graph. See the example below for a demonstration. Matrix or equivalent of longitude and latitude coordinates, in which case these will be matched on to the nearest coordinates of 'from' and 'to' points in the graph.
to	Vector or matrix of points to which route distances are to be calculated. If to is NULL, pairwise distances will be calculated from all from points to all other nodes in graph. If both from and to are NULL, pairwise distances are calculated between all nodes in graph.
k	Width of exponential spatial interaction function (exp (-d / k)), in units of 'd', specified in one of 3 forms: (i) a single value; (ii) a vector of independent values for each origin point (with same length as 'from' points); or (iii) an equivalent matrix with each column holding values for each 'from' point, so 'nrow(k)==length(from)'. See Note.
dens_from	Vector of densities at origin ('from') points
dens_to	Vector of densities at destination ('to') points
contract	If TRUE (default), calculate flows on contracted graph before mapping them back on to the original full graph (recommended as this will generally be much faster). FALSE should only be used if the graph has already been contracted.
norm_sums	Standardise sums from all origin points, so sum of flows throughout entire network equals sum of densities from all origins (see Note).
heap	Type of heap to use in priority queue. Options include Fibonacci Heap (default; FHeap), Binary Heap (BHeap), Trinomial Heap (TriHeap), Extended Trinomial Heap (TriHeapExt, and 2-3 Heap (Heap23).
tol	Relative tolerance below which flows towards to vertices are not considered. This will generally have no effect, but can provide speed gains when flow matrices represent spatial interaction models, in which case this parameter effectively reduces the radius from each from point over which flows are aggregated. To remove any such effect, set tol = 0.
quiet	If FALSE, display progress messages on screen.

Value

Modified version of graph with additional flow column added.

Note

The norm_sums parameter should be used whenever densities at origins and destinations are absolute values, and ensures that the sum of resultant flow values throughout the entire network equals the sum of densities at all origins. For example, with norm_sums = TRUE (the default), a flow from a single origin with density one to a single destination along two edges will allocate flows of one half to each of those edges, such that the sum of flows across the network will equal one, or the sum of densities from all origins. The norm_sums = TRUE option is appropriate where densities are relative values, and ensures that each edge maintains relative proportions. In the above example, flows along each of two edges would equal one, for a network sum of two, or greater than the sum of densities.

With norm_sums = TRUE, the sum of network flows (sum(output$flow)) should equal the sum of origin densities (sum(dens_from)). This may nevertheless not always be the case, because origin points may simply be too far from any destination (to) points for an exponential model to yield non-zero values anywhere in a network within machine tolerance. Such cases may result in sums of output flows being less than sums of input densities.

See Also

Other flows: dodgr_flows_aggregate(), dodgr_flows_disperse(), dodgr_flows_optalloc()

Examples

# This is generally needed to explore different values of `k` on same graph:
dodgr_cache_off ()

graph <- weight_streetnet (hampi)
from <- sample (graph$from_id, size = 10)
to <- sample (graph$from_id, size = 20)
dens_from <- runif (length (from))
dens_to <- runif (length (to))
graph <- dodgr_flows_si (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    dens_from = dens_from,
    dens_to = dens_to
)
# graph then has an additonal 'flows' column of aggregate flows along all
# edges. These flows are directed, and can be aggregated to equivalent
# undirected flows on an equivalent undirected graph with:
graph_undir <- merge_directed_graph (graph)
# This graph will only include those edges having non-zero flows, and so:
nrow (graph)
nrow (graph_undir) # the latter is much smaller

# ----- One dispersal coefficient for each origin point:
# Remove `flow` column to avoid warning about over-writing values:
graph$flow <- NULL
k <- runif (length (from))
graph <- dodgr_flows_si (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    dens_from = dens_from,
    dens_to = dens_to,
    k = k
)
grep ("^flow", names (graph), value = TRUE)
# single dispersal model; single "flow" column

# ----- Multiple models, muliple dispersal coefficients:
k <- 1:5
graph$flow <- NULL
graph <- dodgr_flows_si (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    dens_from = dens_from,
    dens_to = dens_to,
    k = k
)
grep ("^flow", names (graph), value = TRUE)
# Rm all flow columns:
graph [grep ("^flow", names (graph), value = TRUE)] <- NULL

# Multiple models with unique coefficient at each origin point:
k <- matrix (runif (length (from) * 5), ncol = 5)
dim (k)
graph <- dodgr_flows_si (
    graph,
    from = from,
    to = to,
    dens_from = dens_from,
    dens_to = dens_to,
    k = k
)
grep ("^flow", names (graph), value = TRUE)
# 5 "flow" columns again, but this time different dispersal coefficients each
# each origin point.

dodgr documentation built on Sept. 3, 2026, 5:08 p.m.