From Axial Maps to Mark Point Parameter Analysis (Ma.P.P.A.) – A GIS Implemented Method to Automate Configurational Analysis

Abstract

Methods based on configurational theory were proved to be highly effective in urban space analysis, in order to highlight the distribution of the levels of attractiveness towards activities. Nevertheless, both Axial Analysis and Visibility Graph Analysis (the most prominent analytic techniques) appear affected by some evident faults, that somehow do limit their actual use: in particular, those faults affect the definition of the axial system, due to the arbitrariness in drawing the lines that cover the urban grid and the lacking of correspondence between them and the streets of the settlement. In VGA, that studies the configurational features of the internal points of the grid, the problem concerns the heaviness of the data (thousands of numerical values) and the difficulty in referring them to a single urban space (either a street or a square).

In other words, on a one hand we can’t but appreciate the useful capability of configurational variables in reproducing the distribution of attractiveness towards activities; on the other hand we complain about their actual use, because of the lacking of automation in defining the system, as well as the poor correspondence between it and the observed urban structure. On such basis, our research aims at enriching the configurational approach with ArcGIS tools: our GIS application works both as the data source for the configurational model (so as to automatically and objectively construct the system) and as its receiver (so as to recipe its outputs, to elaborate them and to graphically render them, with reference to the actual elements of the grid). Besides, our GIS implementation allows an easy interface of configurational analysis with the most widespread urban models.