ArcMap

Huff's Equal Probability Trade Areas

Available with Business Analyst license.

Summary

Generates areas of competitive advantage boundaries between stores weighted on one or more variables. These weights can be calculated based on the results of a Huff Model.

Learn more about how Huff's Equal Probability Trade Areas works

Illustration

Huff wide

Usage

  • The spatial reference of the output feature class will be the same as the store layer.

  • The Store Layer input feature class must be point features.

  • In most cases, the Store Layer input feature layer will be a Business Analyst store layer.

  • The Distance Coefficient parameter determines how much of a factor distance is relative to each store.

  • The Distance Coefficient parameter value defaults to –1.5. The value is usually set between –1 and –3. The higher the number, the higher the impact distance will have on customer behavior. For example, a convenience store will have a low distance coefficient (between –2 and –3) because customers are not willing to travel for low-order goods.

Syntax

EqualProbabilityContours_ba (StoreLayer, StoreIDField, All_Or_Single_Or_Selected, WayToDefineParams, DistanceCoefficient, AttractionVariables, OutputFeatureClass, {ByID_Or_ByName}, {Single_Site}, {PathToCalibratedResult})
ParameterExplanationData Type
StoreLayer

The input feature class containing center points for the trade areas. In most cases, this will be a Business Analyst store layer.

Feature Layer
StoreIDField

Unique ID field in the store layer.

Field
All_Or_Single_Or_Selected

Creates trade areas for points in the input feature layer.

  • ALL —Creates trade areas for all points. This is the default.
  • SINGLE —Creates trade areas for a single point.
  • SELECTED —Creates trade areas for all selected points in ArcMap.
String
WayToDefineParams

Selects the method to define the Huff Model parameters.

  • MANUALLY —Manually enters the attractiveness values. This is the default.
  • USE_CALIBRATED_RESULT —Uses parameters from a statistically calibrated Huff Model.
String
DistanceCoefficient

The value that determines how much of a factor distance (travel) affects consumer behavior.

Double
AttractionVariables
[[Variable, {Coefficient}],...]

The value that measures the perceived utility or how attractive a store is to consumers. If using the Python call, enter the values as a String in the following format: "FirstVariable 1;SecondVariable 2;ThirdVariable 3", etc. (Variable name, single space, an attraction coefficient, semi-colon delimited.)

Value Table
OutputFeatureClass

The feature class that will contain the Huff probability trade area features.

Feature Class
ByID_Or_ByName
(Optional)

Field used to select a single point.

  • ID —Selects a single point using the store ID field.
  • Name —Selects a single point using the store name field.
String
Single_Site
(Optional)

ID or name of store that is to be used as the single point.

String
PathToCalibratedResult
(Optional)

Output of a statistically calibrated Huff Model to use for calibration.

Folder

Code sample

HuffsEqualProbabilityTradeAreas Example (Stand-alone Script)
# Name: EqualprobabilityContours.py
# Description: Generates Huff derived trade areas based on store sales.
# Author: Esri

# Import system modules
import arcview
import arcpy

arcpy.ImportToolbox(r"C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.7\Business Analyst\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes\Business Analyst Tools.tbx")
 
# Acquire extension license 
arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Business") 
 
# Define input and output parameters for the Huff Equal Probability Trade Areas tool
StoreLayer = "C:/temp/sf_store.shp"
StoreIDField = "STORE_ID"
All_Or_Single_Or_Selected = "ALL"
WayToDefineParams="MANUALLY"
DistanceCoefficient="-1.5"
AttractionVariables = "SALES 1"
OutputFeatureClass = "C:/temp/Output_Contour.shp"
ByID_Or_ByName=""
Single_Site=""
PathToCalibratedResult=""
 
# Create Huff Equal Probability trade areas    
arcpy.EqualProbabilityContours_ba(StoreLayer, 
						StoreIDField,
						All_Or_Single_Or_Selected,
						WayToDefineParams,
						DistanceCoefficient,
						AttractionVariables,
						OutputFeatureClass,
						ByID_Or_ByName,
						Single_Site,
						PathToCalibratedResults)

 
# Release extension license 
arcpy.CheckInExtension("Business")

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments.

Licensing information

  • ArcGIS Desktop Basic: Requires Business Analyst
  • ArcGIS Desktop Standard: Requires Business Analyst
  • ArcGIS Desktop Advanced: Requires Business Analyst

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