The Research of the Yangtze River Delta Core Area’s City Network Characteristics Based on Baidu Index
利用百度指数获取2009和2012年长三角核心区城市间的关注度数据，模拟信息流并分析城市网络演化，发现网络层级变化、结构优化和稳定性增强。
Influenced by globalization and information,city network is a new direction of city and regional studies in recent ten years.Based on theDegree of Consumer Attentionfunction provided by Baidu.com,the attention datas of year 2009 and 2012 between cities of the Yangtze River Delta core area were gotten,in order to simulate the information flow and study the city network evolution.Comparative study found that:(1)The city network hierarchy changed greatly,but Shanghai was still the absolute core;(2)The city network structure optimized gradually: it developed from theZ type with the supporting nodes of Nanjing,Shanghai,Hangzhou and Ningbo,into the8type with adding Yangzhou and Nantong,more and more cities have become the important nodes;(3)The city network internal stability increased: each city’s gross of information contact increased,but the interannual variation reduced.Further research indicated that,the regional city network spatio-temporal evolution based on Baidu Index were influenced by the economic development foundation,the city function positioning,the city events effect as well as the city network marketing.