Analysis of the Difference between the Euclidean Distance and the Actual Road Distance in Brazil

Soybean is a commodity that has an important influence on the Brazilian economy because it accounts for the largest share among the grains in the export market. Its main production centers excel in regions far from major consuming centers, requiring long commutes especially in road transport. The distance is the most influential factor in transport costs and is directly related to the freight. To define actual road distances, particularly in unfamiliar roads, it is necessary to use a correction factor. In addition to estimating a better correction factor, the paper aims to contribute by developing a procedure to identify this factor. This paper will analyze the relationships between existing Euclidean distances in numerous points, the producing centers and Brazilian's ports, performing comparisons between the correction factor obtained by calculation in this article with the factors obtained by other authors, also seeking to relate the road distances calculated based on intervals and freight. The advantage of obtaining a more accurate factor k is to allow the results of different location, such as p- median be more accurate. The result was satisfactory when comparing with the existing literature.