1. ¹University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
2. ²HEC Montréal, Montreal, Canada
3. ³Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

Correspondence: HK Smith, School of Mathematics, University of Southampton, Southampton S017 1BJ, UK. E-mail: Honora.Smith@soton.ac.uk

Received July 2008; Accepted October 2008; Published online 4 February 2009.

Abstract

Locational analysis has grown to maturity over the last decades, from its earliest roots, to fruitfulness in a wide-ranging number of strands that join with other disciplines and applications such as environmental planning and supply chain management. This paper charts the progress of location theory in three stages: a period of early contributions, when a number of seminal geometrical and geographical problems were studied; a 'coming of age' with the development of defining or classical problems that have proved fundamental to much later research and a third period of new models and new applications.