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Selected traits of the spatial organisation of a geographical environment which stem from two types of human behaviour (locational and interactive) are examined in this paper. An attempt is made to find and account for similarities in the spatial patterns of scalar and vector geographical data. In doing so, the paper analyses a core-periphery dichotomy, based on socio-economic information, and travel-to-work patterns. The paper uses the concept of a region as an integrating and focusing framework for the study. Formal regions (peripheral areas) are defined through the application of principal components analysis and cluster analysis; functional regions are defined by a standard rule-based regionalisation algorithm. The territory of the Czech Republic is used as an area for testing the basic hypotheses. The results show that there is some form of interrelationship and complementarity between the spatial distribution of scalar data and vector data, i.e. between spatial structure and spatial interaction patterns, which together form the spatial organisation of a geographical environment.

An attempt to provide a procedure for the assessment of the efficiency of various regional systems for the purposes of spatial analysis is presented in this paper. Functional regions as well as approximated functional regions and the existing administrative regions in the Czech Republic are evaluated, as examples of regional systems to be compared and assessed. Functional regions and approximated functional regions are defined according to the adjusted third variant of the CURDS regionalisation algorithm, using the latest knowledge on the operation of the constraint function. The comparisons of individual regional systems are based on LISA maps and particularly on the assessment of regional variability, including the measures of internal homogeneity and external variability in the regional systems.

Some fifty years in the development of ideas about the definition and use of functional regions are elaborated in this article, as an introduction to this Special Issue of the Moravian Geographical Reports. The conceptual basis for functional regions is discussed, initially in relation to region-organising interactions and their behavioural foundations. This paper presents an approach to functional regions which presumes that such regions objectively exist and that they are based on more or less tangible processes (however, a different view of regions is also briefly described). A typology of functional regions is presented and the development of methods for finding a definition of functional regions is discussed, as well as a typology for these methods. The final part of this article stresses the importance of functional regions in geographical research, and introduces some emerging new prospects in the study of functional regions.

Článek se zabývá problémem vymezení funkčních regionů na území České republiky a přispívá jak k teoretické diskusi (např. problém modifikovatelné územní jednotky) tak k praktickým aplikacím (např. prostorová správa, regionální plánování). Je aplikován vícestupňový aglomerační přístup k funkční regionální taxonomii, jenž byl v české geografii použit poprvé zcela nedávno. Regionalizační algoritmus poskytl čtyři variantní řešení založené na analýze denních toků do zaměstnání z censu z roku 2001. Výsledné regiony odpovídají mikroregionální úrovni a v rámci této úrovně byly identifikovány další dva stupně. Ke všem variantám jsou rovněž uvedeny základní statistiky.

The delimitation of the urban hinterlands of the most important settlement centres in the Czech Republic, based on transportation flows, is presented in this paper. Transport flows are a very good indicator of complex spatial relations. Therefore, one can hypothesize that the delimited transport hinterlands are strongly associated with other types of urban hinterlands (e.g. commuting hinterlands). Transport regions of the Czech regional capitals are defined in the empirical section of this paper. These transport regions, supra-nodal territorial units of the Czech transport system, identify the main transport relations within the Czech road network and define the hinterlands of the main settlement centres. The metropolitan regions defined by transport relations are compared with regions of the Czech Republic based on commuting flows. There is a high concordance between the two regional delimitations.

This paper evaluates the role of 'temporality' in defining functional regions. Functional regions are viewed as relatively closed in terms of selected population flows (or more generally concerning spatial interactions). They are usually defined by the daily commuting to work and are therefore commonly referred to as local labour market areas or travel-to-work areas. Using mobile phone location data, however, it is possible to work with population flows in a broader temporal and spatial context. Then we can talk about the temporality alternatives of functional regions depending on whether we base them on regular daily population flows, irregular daily population flows (which, according to the data analysis, are irregular from an individual's point of view but regular from a spatial unit's point of view between which they take place) or weekend population flows. Thus, several functional region's versions can be defined for a single regional system, where the different population movement's rhythm lengths movements limit their length and also determine their hierarchy. All functional regions' temporal alternatives according to mobile phone location data are defined based on data from the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the issue of functional regionalisation on the global level and uses information on air transport movements as the regionalisation criterion. The analysis is based on analogies regarding the use of traditional methods, scale, and character of input information (flows) by which functional regions are usually defined. The paper tries to verify whether these analogies are viable and whether the approach can be used to assess the spatial organisation of air transport on the global level. In order to do so, the paper discusses some aspects of the development of air transport and then defines functional airline regions and their prominent cores (i.e., hub airports). The regionalisation algorithm uses a database containing more than 48,000 routes and connecting almost 1,000 airports. The results are discussed in relation to issues concerning the spatial concentration of world air transport, the spatial patterns of global functional airline regions, and the classification of world airline hubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods of functional regional taxonomy and concrete definitions of functional regions based on prevailing population flows have been discussed in many regional studies. The resulting regions have been given various names (travel‐to‐work areas, local labour market areas, housing market areas, etc.) based on the character of the input data and the method of their definition. However, in most cases only one country (or part thereof) at a time has been analysed. The paper brings a unique definition of functional regions with comparable parameters suitable for international comparisons. Three Central European countries with different settlement and regional structures are analysed. The functional regions in all countries are objectivised through the operation with the constraint function, which estimates natural and non‐normative values for the self‐containment and size parameters. Two interaction measures are used in the regionalisation algorithm. Besides the methodological contribution, the role of spatial behaviour is briefly discussed, and an interpretation of the results and a proposal for the possible application of functional regions in regional planning and regional analysis in international research tasks is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of the level of spatial uncertainty builds theoretically on fuzzy set theory and the premise that the affinity of a basic spatial unit may assume values along a continuum between zero and full affinity. The paper briefly presents the motivation for the evaluation of fuzziness in functional regions based on daily travel-to-work flows. It discusses the existing measures of affinity and proposes a new approach to evaluate the fuzzy nature of functional regions. The proposed methodological innovations are tested using the example of the two-tier hierarchical system of functional regions in the Czech Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The construction of large-scale long-distance roads brings an irreversible impact on the landscape and therefore its careful and precise planning is very important. For this planning we use data on the intensity of traffic flows on existing roads and statistical tools for the modeling of planned traffic flows. The main objective of this paper is the modeling of the existing intensity of traffic flows on highways and expressways in the Czech Republic by determination of the optimal distance-decay function. On the basis of the resulting model and the resulting distance-decay function, it is possible to predict the intensity of traffic in the event of the completion and commissioning of new sections of highways and expressways. The subsequent analysis will allow us to make a qualified prediction of traffic intensity in the event of the completion of the R35 expressway, or after the completion of the R35 and R43 expressways. Besides the intensity on the above-mentioned roads themselves, the paper also predicts the expected reduction in traffic intensity on the busiest highway in the Czech Republic, that is, on the D1 highway between Prague and Brno. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]