Spatiotemporal Change Characteristics of Nodes’ Heterogeneity in the Directed and Weighted Spatial Interaction Networks: Case Study within the Sixth Ring Road of Beijing, China

Abstract

Spatial heterogeneity patterns in cities are an essential topic in geographic research and urban planning. This paper analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of places and reflects on the urban structure in cites based on spatial interaction networks. To begin with, we constructed 24 sequentially directed and weighted spatial interaction networks (DWNs) on the basis of points of interest (POIs) and taxi GPS data in Beijing. Then, we merged 24 sequential networks into four clusters: early morning, morning, afternoon, and evening. Next, we introduced the weighted D-core decomposition method in view of the complex network method and weighted distance in a geographic space in order to obtain the in-coreness/out-coreness of places. Finally, three indices (the entropy index, the node symmetry index, and the t-test) were used to measure the heterogeneity of places from both the strength dimension and the direction dimension. The results showed: (1) For the strength dimension, the spatiotemporal strength characteristics of the nodes in the DWN are uneven on weekdays or on the weekends, and the strength heterogeneity on weekdays is more obvious than on weekends; (2) for the direction dimension, out-flows and in-flows are different in the early morning and evening on weekends. In addition, the direction of the DWN is not obvious. The city networks present flat characteristics. This study used the weighted D-core method to identify the heterogeneity of nodes in the DWN, which has certain theoretical and practical value for the planning of urban and urban systems and the coordinated development of cities.