Abstract
This special issue of the International Regional Science Review represents a collection of papers that were, for the most part, originally presented at the North American Regional Science Council conference held in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 13–16, 2013. This particular year and location of the conference had some historical significance for location modeling and analysis because it marked forty years since the seminal work of Church and ReVelle on the maximal covering location problem was first presented. Coincidentally, it was this very same conference, happening in Atlanta, GA, on November 9–11, 1973. To mark the fortieth anniversary, special sessions were organized on the use, application, solution, extension, and retrospective of maximal coverage. In all, there were three sessions with eleven papers presented devoted to this theme among the five location and spatial analysis sessions.
The original work of Church and ReVelle was subsequently published in Papers of the Regional Science, formerly Papers of the Regional Science Association, in 1974—Church and ReVelle (1974). Of particular significance is the vast, broad, and sustained impact this work has had across a range of disciplines and planning contexts. Reflecting this is that Google Scholar shows some 1,547 citations to date (March 12, 2015), making it one of the mostly highly cited articles ever published in Papers in Regional Science, but also more generally in the discipline of regional science among the highest cited articles (see Isserman 2003).
This special issue is very reflective of the relevance of this work and its continuing evolution. Grubesic et al. (2016) utilize the maximal coverage model to address aspects of the Essential Air Services program in the United States. Murray (2016) discusses the range of applications, solution methods and evolution of maximal coverage. Niblett and Church (2016) detail an extension of maximal coverage, focusing on a shortest covering path. Ratick et al. (2016) consider extensions of maximal coverage for lead poisoning screening in the Dominican Republic. Snyder and Haight (2016) review the use and application of maximal coverage for habitat reserve site selection. Finally, Wei (2016) reviews representation challenges and associated uncertainty issues for maximal coverage.
The publication of this special issue reflects the continued commitment to include the best of location analysis and modeling research in the International Regional Science Review. All are invited to build on the foundation of academic discourse in this area reflected in publications appearing in the journal, both in this issue and in the past (and future) issues.