sphere of influence (Geography)?

Question

sphere of influence (Geography)?
Im doing a essay for A-level on the sphere of influence on East Croydon train station (south London Surrey) Any help as to how to measure the sphere, what the sphere is, why is the sphere on East Croydon so big, how to gather and present data that kind of thing.

Answer 1

The sphere of influence for East Croydon would be the area that it has political, economic or cultural influence over. Since it is such a busy station, it likely holds a significant influence over downtown Croydon (part of London). Since the station is also an important interchange for bus and rail lines, it has influence over other areas, as its operation affects how passengers commute to and from other areas.

The way to measure the sphere is to determine how far away influence is felt and to what degree. Collecting data will likely help define this. The best way to collect this data may be to ask people. Visitors to downtown Croydon could be interviewed regarding how they travelled to the borough that day. If a significant number used the station, you could measure the station's influence. Also, commuters into the area could be asked the same thing.

As far as measuring the station's influence on people transferring through, you could measure how much longer it would take a passenger to travel from one location to another if they had to transfer through a station other than East Croydon.

Answer 2

Have you done any systems analysis? Think of all the things that the Station has an influence/effect on and all the things that have an effect/influence on the Station.

Don't get stuck in a rut. Be open minded. Do a bit of brain storming with a few mates. Don't reject any ideas out of hand. You'll be suprised with what you come up with. When your done draw up a diagram with the Station as the centre in a circle. Then add all the other influences as circles, overlapping each other as appropriate according to their influence on the station or being influenced by it, or each other. Use arrows of different colours to indicate the direction of influence.

May sound daft but it will help you see clearly the overall picture. When complete it will provide you with a pointer on the data that you want to collect from the main components of the overall system.

You should come up with a list that includes, National Government, BR or what ever it's called now, the train operators, the travelling public, local population, Local government, transport infrastructure (roads, bus links etc), vandals, industry, other stations etc. etc. etc.

Answer 3

I think it would depend on its proximity to other stations serving the same line. The sphere would extend midway between East Croydon and the next station on each side. How far it extends in the other two cardinal directions may be arbitrary.

Answer 4

Best way to collect data; surveys of people, the dreaded Pedestrian Count, see if you can find any stats from the service there e.g. no.s of train tickets, popularity of destinations, frequency of trains to places - all indicative of the people influenced and their locations = sphere of influence