Load-Distance Technique
A variation of the center-of-gravity method for determining the coordinates of a facility location is the load-distance technique. In this method, a single set of location coordinates is not identified. Instead, various locations are evaluated using a load-distance value that is a measure of weight and distance. For a single potential location, a load-distance value is computed as follows:
where
LD = the load-distance value
li = the load expressed as a weight, number of trips, or units being shipped from the proposed site to location i
di = the distance between the proposed site and location i
The distance di in this formula can be the travel distance, if that value is known, or can be determined from a map. It can also be computed using the following formula for the straight-line distance between two points, which is also the hypotenuse of a right triangle: