A new model for maximal coverage exploiting GIS capabilities

The representation of demand is a key issue which can significantly affect results in several demand covering models. In this paper we concentrate on the well known Maximal Coverage Location Problem and demonstrate that alternative representations of the demand space may lead to largely fluctuating as well as misleading results which seriously overestimate the real coverage achieved by a specified number of servers. We introduce a new model based on the notion of complementary partial coverage and exploit the capabilities of Geographic Information Systems in order to better represent demand. Results of an empirical Study indicate that the proposed model is less susceptible to fluctuations for alternative representations of the demand space and that it provides coverage of a larger proportion of demand than traditional models. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.