On the topology of Indian and Western road networks

Abstract

Road networks form a class of complex networks with wide-ranging properties evolved from history and technological development. In this paper we study the graph theoretical properties of Indian and Western road networks (from US and Europe) using primal graph approach. We consider the type of road as an important parameter and define metrics Link Type Proportion (Pi), Link Type Dominance (Di), and Link Type Index (Si) for analysis of an important property that defines the quality of road networks. Our results show that Indian and European cities do not provide road-types sufficient enough to handle their domination in shortest paths. While US roads maintain a surplus in terms of Si, Indian and European roads provide a deficit for highly dominating types and surplus for types with low domination. Thus, the behavior of Si provides clues toward the existing problems in complex road networks in Indian as well as European cities.