Firm location models constitute a significant element of Integrated Land Use and Transportation models since behavior of individuals and householdsis influenced by employment location. This paper examines office firm location models, both for new and relocating firms, in order to identify waysto improve their estimation and application. The results of the paper suggest that introduction of anchor points, such as the firm current locationand owner household location, significantly improve the estimation of office location models. A choice-set generation procedure is then showed to improve the model ability to replicate the decision behavior of office firms, providing a way to increase efficiency in the application of the model.Increasing the number of alternatives, on the other hand, does not affectthe model significantly, although it could affect the significance level of some variables enough to make them included in or excluded from the model.
Abstract