smart transport facility

Smart Transport Facility

Syllabus

• Smart Transportation, Real Time Information Systems, Traffic Information Management, Remote Sensing & GIS Technologies

Smart Transportation

• City transportation is an important pillar for quality of life of citizens in a city. Currently, in most of the cities, public and private road transportation are the key mode of commuting and logistics. Some large and mega cities have metro and local train network as the backbone transportation mode.

Smart Transportation• Lack of quality and safe public transportation,

inadequate capacity of public transportation, road safety concerns, overcrowded road network, poor traffic management, parking issues, theft, poor road conditions, lack of modal options (including pedestrian walkways) remain the key issues in most of the cities. Most cities also lack the integrated transportation plans leading to huge demand-supply gap and poor transportation network. For transport operators, huge demand-supply gap, under recovery and poor asset management remain the key issues.

Lack of quality and safe public transportation

Smart Transportation• Transforming Public Transportation leveraging Smart

Technology Solutions• Technology plays an important role by predicting demand

and supply data to feed into transportation planning. Technology can also help in improving reliability of public transportation network by providing visibility on arrivals/departures/route information for travellers for hassle-free journey. Multi modal fare integration can help citizens to use multiple modal options without hassle of purchasing different tickets. Intelligent traffic management can aid efficient traffic flow.


• Geospatial-enabled efficient transportation system: Geospatial-enabled services provide periodic traffic forecast, journey planning mobile applications based on real-time data, etc..

Smart Transportation• Dynamic carpooling/car sharing: Carpooling

applications link drivers and passengers in real-time, thus enabling dynamic carpooling. Drivers wishing to profit from their journeys can find people situated on the same route via a smartphone app and vice versa. Passengers can also directly debit his or her fare to app, eliminating the need for any money exchange. The costs of travel would typically be capped.

Dynamic Carpooling/Car Sharing

Smart Transportation• GPS-based tracking and route information of

public transport: Advanced vehicle tracking solutions enhances operations and optimizes public transportation and ridership. These solutions offer real-time GPS tracking from mobile devices thus increasing the reliability of public transportation.

• Integrated transit hubs: Integrated transport hubs seamlessly connect multiple modes of transportation like bus system, metro system, etc..

GPS-based tracking

Smart Transportation• Public transport surveillance: As the public transit

population grows, it becomes increasingly important to launch surveillance system on the public transport, for e.g. buses, mass transit railway, underground, and trains to secure public transportation. The administrators can monitor the public transport remotely and take action against any accidents/incidents. The video footage can also be used as legal evidence against damage or criminal action on the public transport.

Public Transport Surveillance

Smart Transportation• Road user charging: Road user charges are direct charges

levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sources or more polluting vehicles. These charges help to reduce peak hour travel and the associated traffic congestion or other social and environmental negative externalities associated with road travel such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and visual intrusion, noise and road accidents. It can be leveraged in certain busy areas or selected cities to discourage private transport usage.

Road User Charging

Smart Transportation• Single fare card: Single fare card for fare payment

on the various participating public transportation systems. The cards can be recharged by mobile applications/internet/retail outlets. Potential extension of the cards could also be for street parking.

• Smart parking: A smart parking leverages parking sensors, cameras, smart parking solution, etc.. to provide efficient management of on street and off street parking spaces.

Single fare card/ Smart parking

Smart Transportation• Smart toll: Smart toll leverages technology

like number plate detection, RFID, etc.. to charge toll fees to user account so that vehicles do not have to wait at toll gates on local, national and state highway.

• Smart traffic lights: Smart traffic lights leverages technology to sense traffic condition to tune traffic lights which enable smooth flow of traffic.

Smart Toll

Smart traffic lights

Smart Transportation• Freight ICT services: Freight ICT applications can

help save time and energy by improving the efficiency of freight vehicle operations including processes at entry and exit and making better use of the freight network. ICT brings the potential for virtually unlimited data collection, greatly enhanced predictive capabilities, and real-time, dynamic decision-making and implementation which lead to a more efficient freight system based on completely visible and accessible physical and digital networks.

Freight ICT services


• Electric vehicles: Support electricity and renewable energy operated cars with the required infrastructure. Make a few cities as pilot for "Plug-in" ready cities by facilitating the expansion of a Public Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure that ensures the safe, reliable, and efficient integration of EV charging loads with the power grid.

Public Electric Vehicle (EV)

There are several existing modes of

sensing:

• static sensing, where sensors are statically placed on the road,

• mobile sensing, where sensors are placed in the

moving vehicles

• hybrid sensing, where both in-vehicle

and on-road infrastructure are needed

Technologies In ITS

Static sensing: techniques

• Loops and magnetic sensors - Vehicle detection and counting using magnetic sensors or loops under the road surface, and deployed systems

• Images and videos - Video surveillance to monitor traffic states and detect incidents and hotspots is fairly common gives a comprehensive survey of the major computer vision techniques used in traffic applications.

• Acoustic sensors - Some recent research is being done to use acoustic sensors for traffic state estimation, especially in developing regions, where traffic being chaotic is noisy .

• RF sensors - Wireless radios placed across the road have communication signals affected by vehicular movement in between..

Technologies In ITS

Mobile sensing: techniques

• GPS on public transport or fleet vehicles – Many public transport and fleet companies have GPS installed in their vehicles for real time tracking..

• GPS on Smartphone's - With the recent proliferation of smart phones, Smartphone GPS is being studied for hotspot detection and travel time estimation, after handling noise in GPS readings

• Sensors on Smartphone's - Other than GPS, smart phones also have sensors that can provide interesting information. solved the problem of reorienting the accelerometer of a Smartphone to match the car axes.

Technologies In ITS

Hybrid sensing: techniques There are a set of techniques that use both static infrastructure and mobile sensors to gain traffic information.

(1) Teledensity - Cell phone operators can give approximate vehicle densities in the neighborhood of a given cell tower, based on

subscribers seen at that tower. There are commercial systems and research efforts are based on this.

(2) Bluetooth – it is a system where roadside Bluetooth detectors sense Bluetooth radios in phones inside vehicles. Correlating the sensed Bluetooth addresses among different detectors, gives travel times of the vehicles between the detectors.

(3) RFID - Similar systems are being explored using RFID tags on vehicles and RFID readers on roads

Technologies In ITS

Technologies In ITS

• Indian traffic can benefit from several possible ITS applications. One set of applications is for traffic management.

• Intersection control• Incident detection• Vehicle classification• Monitoring• Revenue collection• Historical traffic data

Applications OF ITS

Intelligent Transportation System

• Another set of applications can aid the commuters on roads.

• Congestion maps and travel time estimates

• Public transport• Information about arrival of

public transport• Individual vehicle management

- Getting information• Accident handling -

Emergency

Applications OF ITS

Identified Benefits

Real Time TrafficInformation Systems

• On–line information can be provided either before or during the journey. The main forms of information are:


• (i) Public Information Services: in house, in office or in hotel information is provided via radio and television bulletins or via a terminal (either computer or television screen) using radio, TV, telephone or the Internet to provide the communications link. Examples of information provided to the TV screen are Teletext, cable TV and Prestel.


• (ii) Pre–trip information in public places. This can be provided:

• by the use of information kiosks, placed in airports, rail stations, bus stations and other interchange points and also in offices (to encourage employees to travel on public transport), hotel foyers and at strategic places on streets. They consist of a computer with a touch screen interface linked to information sources via telephone and, in future


• by the use of Personal Digital Assistants – hand held computers with on–line access to a variety of travel information sources.


• by traffic speed monitoring and display systems, Large screen versions are increasingly being used in motorway service stations, airports, hotels and offices to give pre–trip or on–trip information. The system employs a screen with a diagram of the motorway networks, different sections of which can be displayed at will. On–line information about traffic conditions on the UK motorways, together with a growing number of trunk and urban strategic roads, is accessed via a network of speed monitoring points.


(iii) On–trip information• Dynamic Information Systems• Variable Message Signs (VMS) are employed by highway

operators in order to enable important information to be disseminated to roads users during their journey. Types of VMS are many and varied, using fairly basic electromechanical plates, which rotate in order to alter the information presented to drivers, through to fully–variable text message signs which can display information about current road, weather or congestion conditions ahead. Electromechanical Plate Signs are often employed in place of a fixed direction or route information sign, e.g., for describing the status of car parks or directing traffic to a particular area of a city.


Lane Control Signs• Lane Control Signs, as the name implies, are used on

expressways and are situated above each running lane of the carriageway. In their most primitive form, the sign provides a limited number of displays which are used to advise drivers that they should expect to change lane, leave the expressway or reduce their speed. More advanced Lane Control Signs are capable of displaying an enforceable speed restriction and, by being linked to enforcement cameras, are able to regulate the flow of traffic on particular areas of carriageway. This enables a greater number of vehicles to be carried on the network, reducing congestion and preventing flow breakdown.


City Information Systems• This system, which has at its heart an Urban

Traffic Control system, takes information from a number of sources and makes it available to all categories of road user. Variable Message Signs are used to provide information about the number of car park spaces available in the city, traffic flow and congestion on major routes into, out of and around the city and real time passenger information at bus terminals and bus stops.


(iv) In–vehicle navigation systems• These are of two main types (although a third could be defined as

combining the technologies from the two types):• autonomous systems, which use digital maps and a direction finder

(GPS) within the vehicle to show where the vehicle is, on a small screen map display within the driver’s range of vision; or

• dynamic systems, which comprise an in–vehicle direction finder, computer system and small–screen display, connected via a form of wire–less link (radio, digital telephone, microwave or infra–red have all been used) to a central computer system. The driver keys in his destination and is guided step–by–step to that location by means of voice–over and directional arrows on the small screen, when approaching junctions.

In–vehicle navigation systems


(v) Use of existing flows of information• There are several sources of travel information

which are not being used to their full potential – which is, perhaps, the key issue under–pinning the debate on the marketable value of information referred to above.

• For example, the SCOOT (Split, Cycle and Offset Optimization Technique) system for co–coordinating the timings of traffic signals across a network of junctions


• Other sources of information include the ever–increasing use of light aircraft and helicopter surveillance of traffic on motorways and in cities; discrete systems which are monitoring the performance of fleets, such as buses and trucks;; incident detection systems, using loops, image processing or overhead detectors


• These systems can assist travellers in a multiplicity of ways:

• (i) They can relieve traffic congestion by suggesting the alternative routes and by persuading travellers to move their journey in time.

• (ii) In–car systems save time for drivers either by the provision of route guidance which enables them to choose the shortest route, or by providing traffic information so that they can avoid hold–ups.

• (iii) Pre–trip information helps public transport passengers to choose the fastest available or most convenient route. It also encourages the use of combined modes of transport, and helps transport operators to integrate their services.


• (iv) Real time passenger information at bus stops increases the users’ confidence in the service and improves comfort. The Countdown system in London and the Stopwatch system in Southampton are being trialled.

• (v) Variable Message Signs can also be used to provide parking guidance so that an effective Park and Ride system can be set up, from some miles outside a city. They can also be used to inform drivers entering the city of the location of car parks and the number of spaces available.

• (vi) In–vehicle information systems help freight drivers undertaking Just–in–Time deliveries: on–line traffic information, in particular, helps them to meet deadlines.

• (vii) All types of systems can be used to help the emergency services improve their performance.

Implementation of Traffic Information Systems

Key issues are:(i) the collection of information from a variety of sources involves co–operation between a number of organizations who may not have operated in this way before – • e.g.. police, traffic managers, the motorway

organizations(ii) the processing of information in a coherent and consistent way in a standard form.(iii) dissemination of information must be done as quickly and efficiently as possible, via the means described earlier.


(iv) monitoring – the information flow must be monitored continuously to ensure a uniformly high quality, and to avoid gaps in provision.(v) institutional issues arise because of the multiplicity of information sources, and the need for a variety of public and private sector organizations to co–operate, e.g. the police, motoring organizations, private sector information collectors, passenger transport operators, the Department of Transport and local authority transport departments.


(vi) funding – the cost of setting up such systems will need to be assessed against “value for money” criteria plus normal local or central government spending criteria. If the private sector is to become involved, the business case must clearly identify sources of capital, anticipated revenues, risk levels and the level of public funding required. • A special public/private sector association may

need to be set up in order to fund the “start up” of such a multiple on–line information system in a city, for example.

Traffic Information Management

• Traffic information system may be defined as an information system which involves the collection and processing of current traffic data by traffic control agencies for dissemination of such information to the users.


• Traffic congestion has always been a serious problem for commuters in the metropolitan areas around the world. It causes unpleasant and unpredictable delay.

• With a good T I S in place the users can react to congestion by taking an alternative less congested route based on the traffic information they receive.

T.I.S. helps to• Monitor and manage traffic flow.• Reduce congestion.• Provide safety.• Enhance mobility.• Reduce energy consumption.• Reduce pollution.• Develop a multi-modal public transport enquiry

system to encourage the public to use public transport services

ELEMENTS OF T.I.S.

• T I S consist of 3 key elements, namely • Traffic information data collection • Data Processing• Information Dissemination

Data Processing

Data collection

Information Dissemination

Information To Be Shared • Transit Routes• Transit Schedules• Turning restrictions• Speed Restrictions• Direction Controls• Lane Closures• Road Diversions• Delay time• Travel time

• New Roads• Accidents• Incidents• Traffic Conditions• Operational

Statistics• Trends• Usage • Congestion

Broad classification.

• Centralized system• Decentralized system.

Centralized system

• It involve a central authority to collect, process and disseminate the data.

• Data of vehicle speed and traffic flow are calculated by– Embedded censors.

• This data is sent to T.M.C. for processing and analyzing.• The result of this analysis is disseminated via

– Radio broadcasts.– Internet.– Variable message signs.– Direct to user on demand.

• Disadvantage – Cost intensive.– Limited coverage.

Decentralized system• It is a zero public infrastructure vehicle based traffic

information system.• A traffic situation analysis is performed in each individual

vehicle and the result is transferred via wireless data-link to all surrounding vehicles in the local neighborhood.

Why decentralized T.I.?The problems with Centralized T.I.S. •A large number of sensors is needed to be deployed in order to monitor the traffic situation. •The traffic information service is limited to streets where sensors are integrated.•Traffic information is distributed with a relatively high delay (typically in the range of 20-50 minutes). •It is not suited for vehicle-to-vehicle emergency notifications.•Cannot include specific details on the area close to the current position of the driver.•An extremely large investment for the communication infrastructure (sensors, central unit, wired and wireless connections) is necessary.

Role of Geospatial Technologies in Building Smart Cities

• Smart cities observe the state of their environment and activities of citizens to provide improved services. The move toward smart cities promises to bring greater automation, intelligent routing and transportation, better monitoring, and better city management.


• The enabling trends that coincide with smarter cities include the drive to open up municipal data for more transparent operations, the creation of sensor networks to improve infrastructure monitoring and performance, networked connectivity of the Internet of Things, and bidirectional communication with citizens regarding city services.


• In smart cities, everything will be measured in real time and fine detail through the deployment of sophisticated sensors. Technology will play a major part in integrating mountains of real-time data so it can be acted upon. It will improve applications that range from managing environmental quality and the built environment to land use and transportation planning. The result: better decisions, more efficiency, and improved communication.


• Smart cities are the future to sustainably support population growth and urban expansion. Location is a common dominator in every aspect and geospatial technology is central to providing a technology platform that forms the backbone of the city.


Geospatial Technology• Geospatial technology (also known as geometrics)

is a multidisciplinary field that includes surveying, photogrammetry, remote sensing, mapping, geographic information systems (GIS), geodesy and global navigation satellite system (GNSS)

Geospatial technology


• According to the US Department of Labour, the geospatial industry can be regarded as “an information technology field of practice that acquires, manages, interprets, integrates, displays, analyses, or otherwise uses data focusing on the geographic, temporal, and spatial context”

• Geospatial technology takes in data from sensors dotted around the city and spatially references it in a consistent manner; for example, by means of latitude and longitude, a national coordinate grid or postal codes, or some other system.


• In recent decades, there has been significant growth in this subject. Global positioning system (GPS) -based determination of location was an incredible innovation in the 1990s. And GIS applications enabled greater awareness and analytical capability using a feature-based modelling of environments.


• There are now various types of geospatial technologies:

• Remote sensing: Imagery and data collected from space or airborne camera and sensor platforms

• GIS: Suite of software tools to map and analyse geo-referenced data; can be used to detect geographic patterns in other data, such as disease clusters resulting from toxins, suboptimal water access, etc.


• GPS: A network of satellites that can give precise coordinate locations to civilian and military users with proper receiving equipment

• Internet mapping technologies: Software like Google Earth and web features like Microsoft Virtual Earth to view and share geospatial data


Citywide Applications• For decades, cities have used geospatial technology to

improve services and operations. It can increase speed, accuracy and cost-effectiveness related to a wide range of government priorities, including those related to crime prevention, emergency management, disaster recovery, social services, health care, transportation, urban planning, environmental initiatives, and facility planning and management. For creating smart cities, a number of ICT and geospatial technologies need to be applied at various stages.


• Cities are increasingly making their information available as open geospatial services (maps) that speak of the policies they have taken. All transactions and changes are illustrated virtually, resulting in informed and engaged citizens.

• Hong Kong, for instance, has used GIS and geospatial analytics to create an online street map that shows where historical sites, cycling tracks, and other public facilities are located. Users can easily navigate through the map with a cursor and click on a location for detailed information.


• Indeed, the smart city concept is synchronized with advancements in geospatial technology that are moving toward more real-time data inputs, 3D visualization, and the ability to track change over time. In San Francisco, the SFpark initiative collects real-time information about available parking spaces using sensors embedded in lots and ports the information to a public Web site.


• The system also adjusts prices dynamically—charging less in areas with many open parking spaces—in response to shifts in demand. Among other advantages, SFpark reduces traffic congestion by decreasing the number of drivers circling and double parking. The public, in turn, benefits by having more certainty about available spaces.


• Evidently, governments and citizens can use GIS technology and geospatial analyses to improve service delivery.


• In terms of the environment, geospatial technologies can help us get a better handle on the balance to improve efficiency and help us respond and manage threats facing cities. As urbanization accelerates, our cities will become laboratories for balancing climate change, poverty, energy and the environment.


• For instance, Boston has created a GIS map of renewable-energy sources, such as solar and wind systems, to guide investment decisions, track clean-energy progress, and meet the mayor’s goal to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. And New York City uses the Hazards US (HAZUS) tool to identify at-risk geographic locations and buildings and estimate potential flood damage; in the event of a fire, the geospatial technology would manage traffic lights so fire engines can reach the blaze swiftly.

Hazards US (HAZUS)


• The potential for geospatial technologies in infrastructure is tremendous with advances in technologies like 3D modelling, LiDAR and other terrestrial scanning, mobile mapping, surveying, positioning services, remote sensing, high-resolution satellite imagery and photogrammetry. Geospatial standards are a vital component of the building information modelling (BIM) picture.


• BIM is much more than the assembled 2D or 3D computer-aided design (CAD) and facilities management (FM) drawings. The facility and its detailed information base need to be linked to the land on which it is sited and made available as an effective tool to owners and operators. A BIM links to and makes use of geospatial information such as property boundaries, zoning, soil data, elevation, jurisdictions, aerial images, land cover and land use, etc.. And it includes data of interest to buyers, owners, lenders, realtors, first responders, repairers, occupants, safety inspectors, lawyers, emergency planners, and people working on neighboring facilities.


In conclusion• All considered, having one platform to manage the

entire urban landscape of a city means significant cost savings, implementation consistency, quality and manageability, which is the plus point of geospatial technology.


• In smart cities reliant on ICT-driven solutions to address urban problems on one hand and spatially enable citizens on the other, urbanity merges with digital information so that the built environment is dynamically sensed and synchronously actuated to perform more efficiently, intelligently and sustainably.


• Under such circumstances, the gamut of geospatial technologies, in combination with telecommunication networks that provide access to real-time information, as well as for place-based or context-aware social networking, blur the distinction between 'here' and 'there', and 'present', 'past' and 'future'.

References• http://www.smartcitieschallenge.in/ • http://smartcitiescouncil.com/• http://smartcitiesofindia.in/ • Smart Transportation- Smart Cities By Rajul Mehrotra

Program Lead- 100 Smart Cities at IBM India

• http://india.smartcitiescouncil.com/article/role-geospatial-technologies-building-smart-cities

http://www.smartcitieschallenge.in/

http://smartcitiescouncil.com/

http://smartcitiesofindia.in/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajulmehrotra?trk=pulse-det-athr_prof-art_hdr



http://india.smartcitiescouncil.com/article/role-geospatial-technologies-building-smart-cities



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smart transport facility

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