Logistics sprawl has been observed in many urban areas around the world, but the assumed link between increased logistics sprawl and increased freight transport activity has little empirical evidence. Because this link could influence policy-making to either fight or facilitate logistics sprawl, this paper investigates the implications of using different methodologies to quantify the relationship. Three different methodologies are compared. The first two methodologies are from well-respected sources in literature and the third is proposed in this paper. The methodologies measure transport activity related to logistics sprawl in three urban areas in South Africa between 2010 and 2014. The results from the methodologies are contradicting with the methodology proposed in this paper questioning the link between logistics sprawl and freight transport activity altogether. The comparison of the methodologies also shows that it is essential to include empirical data of actual vehicle movement when investigating logistics sprawl's impact on transport activity.

在世界各地的许多城市地区都观察到了物流蔓延，但物流蔓延增加与货运活动增加之间的假设联系几乎没有经验证据。由于这种联系可能会影响政策制定以对抗或促进物流蔓延，因此本文研究了使用不同方法来量化这种关系的影响。比较了三种不同的方法。前两种方法来自文献中备受推崇的来源，第三种方法在本文中提出。该方法衡量了 2010 年至 2014 年间南非三个城市地区与物流​​蔓延相关的交通活动。该方法的结果与本文提出的方法相矛盾，该方法质疑物流蔓延与货运活动之间的联系。方法的比较还表明，在调查物流蔓延对运输活动的影响时，必须包括实际车辆移动的经验数据。