Since 1966, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has been carrying on a research on the Brazilian network of cities. The project is called REGIC - Regiões de Influência de Cidades (which I would poorly translate as " Cities' Areas of Influence ").
They have recently made available the vector files (shape files) of the latest edition of the research (2007).
Brazilian network of cities (1966 - 2007)
(images credit: REGIC - IBGE)
The methodology used in this research has changed a lot from its first edition in 1966. The latest 2007 edition, however, is pretty much excellent. The authors address the Brazilian network and hierarchy of cities based on a massive data set. It incorporates all sort of spatial connections such as:
- Federal public administration
- Business management
- Passengers transport (flight and Road connections)
- Bank branches
- Education institutions
- Health services
- Density of Internet domains
- Television networks and even Destination of agricultural production (I bet I have forgotten something)
