Personal Mobility

This study investigated the pre-trip and en route decision processes that typify driver decision making about route choices and route diversion. Verbal commentary methods were used to expose on-going perceptual and evaluative activity while participants made normal trips, unaccompanied, in their own vehicles. The trips included morning home-to-work commutes, evening work-to-home commutes, evening or weekend trips to an unfamiliar shopping mall, and weekday, off-peak trips to a downtown business area. Twenty-four paid participants took part, all in the greater Washington, DC, area. Each participant received extensive training, via a training video and a supervised training session, before being provided with an in-vehicle video recording system and recording specified trips. The information collected included pre-trip information sources and decisions, and continuous en route commentary on information sources, decisions, questions, strategies, major concerns, information needs, and errors. At the conclusion of each trip, additional information was collected on the driver.s perception of various aspects of the trip and the related information sources and needs. Each participant also completed a set of spatial ability tests at some point during the study. The analysis revealed a variety of findings regarding the information drivers use or desire, and its timing or location. Differences among trip types and driver categories (familiarity, age, spatial ability) were also noted. The findings are related to information needs that may be addressed by Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS).

Westat

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

The Traveler Information Center (TIC), known as SmarTraveler, is one element of the Orion Program for deploying Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The TIC is an example of an Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) providing real-time traveler information via telephone and Internet services. It has been operational since November 1998. The project is under the overall supervision of the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) and its management consultant/private sector partner, Lockheed Martin of Canada (LM). The TIC is owned, managed, and operated by SmartRoute Systems under subcontract to LM.

The purpose of this paper is to present the evaluation results which tested the accuracy of the data being provided by the TIC. The hypothesis of the evaluation is that the TIC is providing reasonably accurate information, and that the quality of this information will improve over time. This hypothesis was measured by conducting travel time runs on designated routes covered by the TIC, and comparing the travel conditions observed with the conditions reported by the TIC at the beginning and the end of the travel run. The measures evaluated for accuracy were travel time, accidents, incidents (breakdowns), and construction. The travel time runs were conducted in the spring and fall of 1999.

Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

URS

Minnesota Department of Transportation

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

The GCM Gateway TIS is currently being developed as the central traveler information hub for the Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor and will be operational this fall to replace an existing legacy system. The Gateway TIS collects transportation related information from geographically widely distributed agencies of varied natures, validates and fuses the information collected, and disseminates it to interested public and private entities and the general public via internet and intranet. The Gateway handles a wide spectrum of data types, including traffic related incidents, roadwork and special events, vehicle detector data, DMS (Dynamic Variable Sign) and HAR (Highway Advisory Radio) messages, weather sensor data, traffic operational parameters derived from electronic toll collection system. Eventually, The Gateway will also provide real time video services.

This paper presents at a high level the CORBA based system architecture design of the Gateway system primarily from the perspective of ITS Center-to-Center interoperability. It also introduces the object oriented Gateway external data model that is specified in CORBA IDL (Interface Definition Language) and the Gateway Publisher/Subscriber based message oriented middleware for data collection and distribution. In addition, the Gateway’s decision on the selection of object oriented DBMS (Database Management System) versus relational DBMS is also discussed.

Illinois Department of Transportation

Parsons Transportation Group

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

This paper reports on traveler (primarily commuter) perception of commercial radio traffic information. Data includes opinions expressed by participants in two efforts undertaken by the Michigan Department of Transportation (the DIRECT Operational Test and the Southeast Michigan ITS Expansion Evaluation). In both instances, participants were selected because they travel the expressway system in the Detroit Metropolitan area. The primary objective of the paper is to suggest ways in which commercial radio traffic information can be improved upon. The paper is divided into seven sections: data sources, study participants, participant use of commercial radio traffic information, subject rating of the performance of commercial radio traffic information, subject rating of the benefit of using commercial radio traffic information, subject suggestions of ways to improve the system under consideration, and implications for new information systems.

At the outset of the study, some members of the evaluation team thought that some form of new information service could potentially supplant or supersede commercial radio as a source of traffic information. Contrary to this notion, the study revealed that drivers very much appreciate and rely on commercial radio as a source of traffic information. Nevertheless, drivers do find some fault with commercial radio-based traffic information and have suggested a variety of ways to improve the usefulness of this information. The observations herein lead to a conclusion that a personalized route-specific interrupt or “push” system could be a valuable and readily accepted complement to commercial radio traffic information.

University of Michigan - Intelligent Transportation Systems Research Laboratory

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA

Effects of Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) information on driver en-route decision making were explored through the use of a real-time trip simulator which used computer-controlled video sequences of actual traffic scenes to preserve important real-world cues, and provided a range of ATIS display capabilities (navigation displays, route guidance, traffic and hazard warnings, etc.) using a touch-screen panel to enable en-route navigation decisions to be studied under realistic settings. Seventy-two locally familiar drivers, ranging in age from 18 to 86 years of age, took part in the study. The sample was equally divided between males and females. A network of freeways and surface streets were simulated and available to drivers to navigate to their destination. These trips were fully under the control of the driver in terms of route selection and were experienced in real-time under realistic time pressures.

Westat

Presented at the 10th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, May 1-4, 2000 Boston, MA