How-To Guides

How to Implement a Hurdle Model for Trade Prediction

• Problem: Predicting trade flows with many zero values
• Solution: Implement a two-stage hurdle model that:
  1. First predicts whether trade exists between two regions
  2. Then estimates the volume of trade when it exists
• Code example: See the GAT model implementation in code/model.py https://github.com/GeoDS/GNNFoodFlow/blob/master/code/model.py
• Results: See the resulted models in code/models, https://github.com/GeoDS/GNNFoodFlow/tree/master/code/models note that models for different SCTG02 codes has to be trained separately

Prerequisites

• Python 3.9+
• PyTorch (>=1.9.0)
• PyTorch Geometric (>=2.0.0)
• Other dependencies (see Hugging Face page for complete list)

How to Incorporate Geographic and Economic Features

• Problem: Capturing complex relationships in trade networks
• Solution: Combine multiple feature types:
  • County-level economic indicators (population, employment_rate, median_income)
  • Geographic distance and transportation modes
  • Industry diversity metrics