Compare methods

	Catchment Area Analysis	Huff Model
Field	Human Geography	Spatial analysis
Family	Process / pipeline	Regression model
Year of origin	1964	1964
Originator	David L. Huff (probabilistic formulation)	David Huff
Type	Delineation of the geographic area served by a facility	Probabilistic spatial interaction model
Seminal source	Huff, D. L. (1964). Defining and estimating a trading area. Journal of Marketing, 28(3), 34–38.	Huff, D. L. (1964). Defining and estimating a trading area. Journal of Marketing, 28(3), 34–38.
Aliases	Trade Area Analysis, Service Area Delineation, Market Area Analysis, Catchment Delineation	Huff Gravity Model, Probabilistic Retail Gravity Model, Huff Trade Area Model, Huff Çekim Modeli
Related	4	3
Summary	Catchment area analysis delineates the geographic area that a facility — a shop, hospital, school, or station — actually serves, turning the abstract question of 'who uses this place?' into a mapped polygon. Methods range from the simplest fixed-radius buffer through nearest-facility (Voronoi) tessellation and network drive-time isochrones to David Huff's 1964 probabilistic model, in which patronage is shared among competing facilities by their relative attractiveness and distance. The choice of method reflects how strictly customers are tied to the nearest centre and how much competition and travel cost shape real behaviour.	Proposed by David Huff in 1964, the Huff Model is a probabilistic spatial interaction model that estimates the likelihood that consumers located in a given geographic zone will choose to shop at a particular retail outlet. It extends deterministic gravity models by assigning each consumer zone a probability of patronage across all competing stores, weighting store attractiveness (typically measured by floor area) against the friction of travel time or distance. The model is widely used in retail site selection, trade area delineation, and market share forecasting.