Network Model

The SuperMap network models have two types: transportation network model and public facility network model.

Transportation Network Model

The transportation network is the network with no directions, in which the commonest is route transportation network. Transportation network analysis is often used for the route searching and location finding. Although such network is undirected and the flowing direction is not completely controlled by the system, the flowing resources in the network can determine the flowing direction. For example, when you are driving on the highway, you can choose the turning direction, the parking time, the driving direction, etc. However, there are certain restrictions, such as the single line, no-U-turn, these depend on the network properties.

Facility Network Model

The public facility network model is the network with directions, commonly including natural gas pipelines, rivers, etc. Such a network is a directed network, whose flowing directions decided by the sources and sinks in the network. The flowing medium (water current, electric current, etc.) itself cannot decide the flowing direction. For example, determining the upstream path from a point to another point to find the source of the pollution in the river; or timely turning off the valves of the water pipeline which has the ruptures.