Location analysis focuses on the familiar suitability analysis, used to answer questions such as where should the next store be built, as well as unsuitability analysis—analysis that identifies areas to avoid because they have greater risk potential from threats such as flooding or fire.

Analysis of movement includes not only people or animals, which involves some degree of decision making, but also the movement of material such as water, which follows the path of least resistance. In either case, travel is modelled as a cost surface and the analysis determines the route of least cost, whether in terms of money, time, distance, or some other metric.

The analytical process is complex because the questions posed are subjective in nature. They require defining what a suitable site is or which metric is most appropriate when measuring cost. These judgments can be based on the modeller's own expert knowledge of the specific subject, standards or published research in that discipline, or the consensus of area experts (the Delphi process).

Modelling Suitability, Movement, and Interaction gathers analysis methods that have typically been confined to specific disciplines and makes them more widely available. Beyond simply introducing these methods, it also includes best practices associated with implementing them using the ArcGIS platform, its tools, and its modelling framework.