Facility Location

Facility location, also known as location analysis or k center problem, is a branch of operations research and computational geometry concerning itself with mathematical modeling and solution of problems concerning optimal placement of facilities in order to minimize transportation costs, avoid placing hazardous materials near housing, outperform competitors' facilities, etc. Although originated from location problems, the study also applies to data clustering, which in turn is related to unsupervised learning, classification, databases, spatial range-searching, data-mining etc.