Johns Hopkins Magazine -- April 1997
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APRIL 1997
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AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOK

Location is everything to Hopkins professor Charles ReVelle, a pioneer in the young-- and rapidly growing--discipline that uses science to sort out the best place to site fire stations, fast food restaurants, and much more. In the quiz that follows, Hopkins's "Father of Location Science" challenges to test your siting savvy.

S C I E N C E    A N D    T E C H N O L O G Y

Test Your Siting Savvy
By Sue De Pasquale


1. Several years ago, a McDonald's fast food restaurant came to the well-populated eastern edge of Sated Stumixville, a small town in Maine that sits miles away from any expressway and must depend solely on local customers. Burger King now sees an opportunity to compete, and is looking for a profitable location. Where should BK's bigwigs place their franchise?

    a) on the western side of town
    b) next door to the McDonald's
    c) in the northern part of town, where lots of home construction is under way.

Charles ReVelle's Answer


2. Grungeville County has seen a large increase in its population, and county council members now have plans to build a new grade school to serve children throughout the county. Where should this central grade school be built so that the sum of student travel to the school from the various towns is as small as possible?

ReVelle's Answer


3. In the process of devising a scheme for a new planned community in Paradise, Florida, county council members must decide where to locate the community's ambulances. To assure the quickest and most efficient emergency response time, ambulance units would best be housed:

ReVelle's Answer


Follow these links to learn more about location science:

Sue De Pasquale is the magazine's editor.


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