ITS Vienna

19th ITS World Congress, Vienna, Austria, 22/26 October 2012

EU-00203

OPEN TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION METHODS FOR TRANSPORT STRATEGIC PLANNING AND TRAVEL INFORMATION IN LARGE METROPOLITAN CITIES; THE CASE OF ATHENS George Sarros1, Yannis Tyrinopoulos2, Manuel Milli3, Lucia Locuratolo4, Vassilios Mizaras5, Maria Chatziathanasiou6, Annie Kortsari7 1,5

INFOTRIP SA, 387 Mesogion Av. 15341, Aghia Paraskevi, Greece, +30 210 6511690, gsarros@infotrip.gr 2 Technological Educational Institution of Athens (TEI), Agiou Spiridonos, 122 10, Egaleo, Greece, +30 210 6501712, ytyrin@certh.gr 3 SWARCO MIZAR SpA, Via Nizza 262/57, 10126, Torino, Italy, +39 011 6500411, manuel.milli@swarco.com 4 MAGNETI MARELLI, Via Carlo Emanuele 150 – Venaria Reale, Italy, +39 011 6879932, lucia.locuratolo@magnetimarelli.com 6,7 HELLENIC INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT (HIT), 357-359 Mesogion Av. 15232, Chalandri, Greece, +30 210 6501748, mariacha@certh.gr

Abstract Metropolitan areas face ever increasing demands on their transportation systems. The VIAJEO project, co-funded by the EC DG Research, addresses traffic planning and operation challenges in those areas by designing, implementing and demonstrating an open platform to process and share data from different sources. The project aims to demonstrate the results in four cities: Athens, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Shanghai. The demonstration in Athens integrates floating vehicle data with traffic data collected from a variety of sources. The expected results are to deliver a complete and operational platform capable of supporting mobility services, new data collection and processing tools for transport planners. The Athens site entail three main services: a) Taxi fleet management and traffic information, b) End-user multi modal trip planning and traffic information and c) Observatory for Public Authorities and Traffic Planners. The aim of this paper is to briefly present the services implemented and the benefits which are obtained by using VIAJEO innovative platform. A discussion follows about the use of the services by their target groups and their contribution to the Directive 2010/40/EU and the efficiency of overall mobility in metropolitan areas through the case of Athens.

KEYWORDS Open platform, multi-modal trip planning, travel information, traffic content management, transport planning.

1. Introduction The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted, on July 7th 2010, the Directive 2010/40/EU regarding the common European deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transportation. This Directive establishes a framework in support of the coordinated, coherent deployment and use of ITS within the Union, specifically across the borders between the Member States and sets out the general conditions necessary for that purpose. This Directive applies to ITS applications and services in the field of road transport also to their interfaces with other modes of transportation. Interoperability, compatibility and continuity are necessary features for the operational use of ITS to be developed in the priority areas and in

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

line with the priority actions. One priority area where the use of specifications and standards should be developed is the optimal use of road, traffic and travel data. Within this area, the priority actions are the provision of EU-wide multi-modal travel information and real-time traffic information services. The VIAJEO project serves these actions based on the availability and accessibility of existing and accurate road and real-time traffic data used for multi-modal travel information to ITS service providers and the facilitation of the data exchange between the relevant public authorities, stakeholders and the relevant ITS service providers, across borders. The project addresses the above guidelines by bringing together various stakeholders in order to design, implement and demonstrate an open platform able to enhance the overall efficiency of urban mobility. The open platform integrates local components and aims to demonstrate the results internationally in the cities of Athens, Sao Paulo, Beijing and Shanghai. VIAJEO addresses traffic planning and operation challenges in these cities in order to: support efficient transport management & planning, deliver real time traffic information, integrate and manage different sources of traffic data, and provide adaptable data exchange and service interfaces to connect a variety of entities needed for the mobility services.

The aim of this paper is to present the implementation of the VIAJEO open platform in Athens through three distinctive applications-services. A discussion follows about the use of these services by their target groups and their contribution to the Directive 2010/40/EU and the efficiency of overall mobility in Athens.

2. Demonstration of the open platform – The case of Athens 2.1 Area description The Municipality of Athens is the central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece and is rapidly becoming a leading business centre in South East Europe. The Greek capital has a population of 655,780 inhabitants (according to the census of 2011) within its administrative limits and a land area of 39km2. The urban area of Athens, however, extends beyond the administrative city limits (the greater Attica region) with a population of 3,812,330 inhabitants (2011 census) and a land area of 412km2.

2.1.1 Traffic profile, characteristics and infrastructure of Athens city The Athens Mass Transit system or more accurately the Mass Transit system of Attica is one of the most complex mass transit systems in Europe. The system serves all areas in the Athens prefecture and parts of Piraeus prefecture (in Piraeus is located the largest port of Greece), Eastern and Western Attica. The public transport system of Athens consists of six transit modes: Underground railway (Attiko Metro SA), Thermal Buses (ETHEL SA), Electric Railway (ISAP SA), Trolley Buses (ILPAP SA), Tram (Tram SA) and Suburban railway (TrainOSE SA). One can also make journeys within Athens using other transport modes, including taxi, bicycle or private car. The private car is in fact the most common mean of transport, representing 44.9% of trips in Athens (while public transport modes together cover 36.5%), and an estimated 43% of the total vehicles within greater Athens.

There are currently two centres for traffic data collection in Athens, i.e. the two traffic control and management centres, Athens Traffic Management Center and Traffic Management Center of Attiki Odos (which monitors the traffic conditions on the high-speed toll private motorway constituting the ring road of the greater metropolitan area of Athens).

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

2.2 Architecture In Athens, VIAJEO has implemented a comprehensive database that integrates floating car, fixed measurements and historical data, which led to the development of a dynamic traffic assignment model for mobility management. More precisely, companies which are responsible for passenger transport, such as taxi companies, are able to provide better quality services to their customers, providing to the driver the best dispatch route based on real time traffic conditions in order to reach customer’s preferable location accurately. Citizens (endusers) obtain real time traffic information, via mobile device or web, which is valuable for their daily trips in order to avoid unexpected traffic situation. Finally, the processed data and related traffic indicators provide traffic planners and authorities with aggregated information about traffic and support them to estimate the status of transportation system in the city.

As per the definition of the Open Platform and system boundary specifications, standardised European protocols (standards) have been selected, capable of exporting traffic data, such as DATEX II and TPEG.

Figure 1: Athens road network status based on traffic model 2.3 Description of the services Each demonstration site within VIAJEO project features the implementation of one or more services that are innovative in the local context. In Athens, which is the only European demonstration site, VIAJEO implemented the first floating vehicle data collection scheme (taxis are equipped with specific tracking devices) for traffic management and transport planning. The data is fused with existing data sources and historical content to complete traffic data collection for the entire road network in Athens and permit the development of a dynamic traffic assignment model for mobility management. The key innovation of the system is the ability to manipulate a series of different and multi-modal transport data: historical traffic data, real time traffic data, public transport timetable and network data. Other than typical multi-modal functionalities or real time traffic representation, the system is able to combine this data in order to provide accurate and updated dynamic information to the final users. The complexity of the system derives from the real complexity of the represented

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

multi-modal network, as well as the great effort required to keep the databases always updated. The demonstration in Athens is comprised of the following services: 2.3.1 Taxi fleet management and traffic information The aim of this service is to technologically upgrade the management of the taxi fleet in Athens and alert the drivers about incidents that may affect the taxi service. It enables the taxi drivers to provide more qualitatively services to their customers, while their daily operation will become more effective. Moreover, a certain amount of taxi vehicles have been equipped with on-board telematic device TBOX which, in this project, are primarily deployed for the acquisition and dispatch of Floating Car Data (FCD) to the VIAJEO Service Center. In this way the taxi vehicles are used as mobile sensors: kinematic variables contribute to make an estimate of traffic status on the road network.

For the demonstration of real-time traffic services to professional drivers (taxi drivers), onboard screen devices have been installed into taxi vehicles. The service contains two core functionalities: • Dynamic assignment and navigation: The dispatch center (hosted by the Taxi Company) decides on the assignment (i.e. the taxi/driver to serve a specific customer); following the assignment, the dispatch server provides the current position of taxi as well as the destination address to the VIAJEO Service Center. The service center calculates the best dispatch route based on real time traffic conditions. The route is downloaded at the onboard navigation device of the taxi driver.

• Traffic alerts: The service provides also alerts to the taxi drivers concerning traffic incidents on route. The alerts are also downloaded at the onboard navigation device of the taxi driver.

Figure 2: Proposed route displacement

2.3.2 End-user multi-modal trip planning and traffic information The scope of this service is to facilitate the mobility of residents and visitors in urban areas.

The users of the service have access to a web portal through which they can find an optimum route from an origin to a destination using several transit modes, while they can also obtain traffic information that may be useful for their trips. The same information may be downloaded in mobile devices too. The service contains two core functionalities: • Multi-modal real time trip planning: The service delivers multi modal routes (car & PT) taking into account real time traffic road conditions via web & mobile applications.

• Traffic information: The service presents traffics flows, travel times and road incidents on map via web & mobile applications.

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

This service has been implemented as a web-based application developed under the URL: http://viajeo.myroute.gr

Figure 3: Mobile homepage – Main menu 2.3.3 Observatory for Public Authorities and Traffic Planners The objective of this service is to provide to public authorities, transport companies and other relevant stakeholders a well-organized data mechanism (Observatory) and content that help them to estimate the status of the transportation system in Athens and support their policy making process. This is achieved by providing data and indices about the traffic and transport conditions. The service contains two core functionalities: • Traffic content management: The real time traffic data collected and used in the previous two services are archived in the Observatory, and combined with the existing historical data. The data is further processed providing to traffic planners and authorities aggregated information about the traffic situation in Athens.

• Transport and traffic indicators: On top of the content of the Observatory, transport and traffic related indices have been defined and estimated delivering strategic planning and service quality and performance indicators.

This service has been implemented as a web-based application developed under the URL: www.viajeo.imet.gr.

Figure 4: Observatory’s home page

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

3. Contribution and added value of open platform and services of Athens demo site VIAJEO is in line with the ITS Directive, 40/2010, the aim of which is to define priorities and a framework for the deployment of ITS. One of the four top priorities of the Directive is optimum use of transport data. VIAJEO in particular takes into account the requirements mentioned in the Directive regarding pan-European services based on transport content.

VIAJEO is planning a standardized "service" for traffic, multi modal information which is inter-changeable and interoperable as well as adaptive to the needs of specific areas. The basic concept is that the data should be used for the holistic needs of a metropolis and not just for single traffic functions. This concept leads to economies of scales and enhanced impact of traffic information on the transport efficiency: simply "optimum use of the data".

Furthermore, VIAJEO exports this conceptual framework (thus also the basics of the ITS Directive) outside Europe.

The adoption of standards is critical for the establishment of consistent and interoperable ITS environment also in an urban area. This is even more evident in metropolitan areas, where the available traffic data, ITS components and mobility measures are quite complicated and diverse. In this context, the main expected results of the VIAJEO open platform are: to obtain an innovative and operational platform with interfaces to a wide range of mobility services, new data collection and processing tools for transport planners and traffic operators. In addition, it provides a wide range of traveller information services, integration and management of different sources of traffic data including floating vehicle and fixed detector collection methods, provide data exchange and services interfaces to connect a variety of entities needed for the mobility services.

In Athens, VIAJEO has implemented a comprehensive database that integrates floating car, fixed measurements and historical data which have led to the development of a dynamic traffic assignment model for mobility management. This database is associated with three services that address specific and concrete needs of different target groups: • Companies which are responsible for passenger transport such as taxi companies are able to provide better quality services to their customers, providing to the taxi driver the best dispatch route based on real time traffic conditions in order to reach customer’s preferable location accurately. The expected benefits from this service are multiple for all involved parties, i.e. taxi drivers, customers, environment, etc., since the taxis consist a significant amount of the overall transportation work in a metropolitan area.

• Citizens (end-users and travellers) obtain real time traffic information, via mobile device or web, which is valuable for their daily trips in order to avoid unexpected traffic situation. As a result, their travel times are lower.

• Finally, the processed data and related traffic indicators provide traffic planners and authorities with aggregated information about traffic and support them to estimate the status of transportation system in the city. This service provides a reference point for accessing aggregated and secondary data that will be useful for further analysis. The indicators, in particular, can be further used for the evaluation of transportation infrastructures performance, scenarios assessment, estimation of investments etc.

4. References Sarros, G., Chatziathanasiou, M., Milli, M., Tyrinopoulos, Y., Mizaras, V., Locuratolo, L., (2012). Athens demo site design and implementation, Deliverable D6.1.3, VIAJEO project

Open traffic data collection methods for transport strategic planning and travel information in large metropolitan cities; The case of Athens

Sarros, G., Mizaras, V., Tyrinopoulos, Y., Kortsari, A., Milli, M., Psomadelis, F.,Locuratolo, L., Bongioannini, M., (2011). Athens demonstration description, Deliverable D6.1.2, VIAJEO project Kortsari, A., Tyrinopoulos, Y., Mizaras, V., Sarros, G., Milli, M., Psomadelis, F., (2010).

Investigation, Deliverable D6.1.1, VIAJEO project Burkert, A., Milli, M., Dennis, Y., (2010). Detailed design of the integrated open platform, Deliverable D3.1, VIAJEO project Directive 2010/40/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2010) on the framework for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in the field of road transport and for interfaces with other modes of transport