Regional service coverage modeling

Service coverage is an often utilized concept in location modeling. Whether it be evaluating existing facilities or planning for new services, an underlying goal in many planning efforts is providing at least a minimal level of service coverage to an entire region. Examples include locating emergency medical services so as to ensure acceptable response times or siting Doppler radar stations to monitor evolving weather conditions. A challenge in addressing such problems has been how to represent a study region in a digital (or mathematical) environment. In this paper we explore coverage modeling of a region. An application focusing on siting emergency warning sirens in an urban area is used to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative coverage modeling approaches.