PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2016, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (9): 1144-1154.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2016.09.009

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Rural transportation accessibility in mountainous areas based on the entropy-weight TOPSIS method: A case study of Shizhu County, Chongqing Municipality

Xueying MA1, Jing'an SHAO1,2,*(), Xinliang XU3   

  1. 1. College of Geographical Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing 400047, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Land Surface Process and Environment Remote Sensing, in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Chongqing 400047, China
    3. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System,Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2016-05-01 Revised:2016-08-01 Online:2016-09-20 Published:2016-09-20
  • Contact: Jing'an SHAO E-mail:shao_ja2003@sohu.com
  • Supported by:
    Foundation: Major International Cooperation Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41161140352; Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of Ministry of Education of China, No.10YJCZH122; Important National Project of High-Resolution Earth Observation System, No.00-Y30B15-9001-14/16

Abstract:

Transportation is one of the foundations to support economic and social development of a region, and accessibility is an important indicator of the level of development of transportation facilities. In this study, we used spatial and survey data to construct an indicator system that considers internal accessibility, external accessibility, and terrain impedance based on the entropy-weight TOPSIS method for Shizhu County, Chongqing Municipality. This study explores mountain transport accessibility condition and can provide some references for mountain transport planning. The results indicate that: (1) The degree of impact of accessibility indicators on regional comprehensive accessibility ranks as: transport facilities technology (C4) > frictional impedance (C5) > equivalent road density (C2) > internal connectivity (C1) > degree of connectivity with main roads (C3). (2) The variation coefficient of closeness degree was 0.5410, indicating that the level of transport accessibility of towns in the study area was very different. (3) Accessibility decreased from the three core areas in Nanbin, Xituo, and Yue Lai. The spatial pattern of accessibility is high in the west and low in the east, with high accessibility areas mainly distributed in places of flat terrain, and low accessibility areas mainly distributed in mountainous areas. (4) The area of high accessibility forms a "double axes", which is closely associated with main roads. (5) The spatial distribution of transport accessibility is clearly correlated with economic development level and the total area of land use right transfer. The results can provide some theoretical and practical guidance for the regional coordinated development and transportation planning.

Key words: transportation accessibility, spatial variability, passing-blocking effect, entropy-weight TOPSIS method, the mountainous area, Shizhu County, Chongqing Municipality