The concepts of site and situation can be articulated over two core dimensions:
- The site is mostly related to the attributes of a location, which mainly fall within physical, infrastructure, and economic characteristics. They are usually amenities that make a location attractive to specific activities (e.g. commercial, residential, manufacturing). Transport terminals require a suitable site, such as good maritime access for a port or flat land in reasonable proximity to a metropolitan area for an airport.
- The situation is related to the relationships with other locations at the local, regional or global scale. It reflects the connectivity of a location to other locations. The situation is relative to the characteristics of other locations, which can place a location at an advantage or a disadvantage. For instance, the situational value of a location could be related to a natural resource in demand by other locations. For transport terminals, the situational value is derived from the importance of the other terminals they are connected to.