Assessing the Spatial Accessibility of Urban Medical Facilities in Multi-Level and Multi-Period Scales Based on Web Mapping API and an Improved Potential Model

Abstract

Urban medical facilities are an irreplaceable foundation for ensuring higher levels of public health and medical equity. Hospital accessibility has an extremely important impact on the allocation efficiency and fairness of medical facilities. Although critical, previous studies on accessibility have often overlooked the layout of medical facilities at different levels and the accurate measures of travel time to hospitals, which are both the most critical and fundamental indicators when assessing hospital accessibility. To avoid these pitfalls, this study considers the Shijingshan District, Beijing, China, as an empirical case and proposes an improved potential model based on Web Mapping API (Application Programming Interface) to assess the hospital accessibility of hospitals at different levels during different time periods. Results show that there are significant spatial and temporal differences in hospital accessibility in Shijingshan District, and traffic congestion and the layout of medical facilities are the two most important factors affecting hospital accessibility. This study further improves the hospital accessibility assessment method, with the findings provide a spatial decision support system for urban planners and policymakers regarding optimizing the spatial structure and layout of transportation systems and medical facilities.