Method and system for determining effect of weather conditions on transportation networks

• US 10,062,282 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2015
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Inventors: Edakunni, Narayanan Unny, Jat, Sharmistha
• Primary Examiner(s): Hutchinson, Alan D
• Application Number:
  US14/687,024
• Publication Number:
  US 20160307446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3694 Output thereof on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/13 the indicator being in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments illustrate methods and systems for determining an effect of a weather condition on a transportation network. The method includes receiving one or more parameters of the weather condition in a geographical area for a predetermined time-period. The method further includes determining a delay from a scheduled time of arrival of one or more vehicles, associated with the transportation network, at a location from one or more locations, in the transportation network, in the geographical area for the predetermined time-period. Thereafter, a sensitivity of the one or more locations to the weather condition of the geographical area is determined by correlating the delay with the one or more parameters of the weather condition. Further, the sensitivity of the one or more locations is displayed, through a user interface, as a first layer overlaid on a map of the geographical area.

Claims

1. A system for determining an effect of a weather condition on a transportation network, the system comprising:

a transceiver configured to;

receive one or more parameters of said weather condition in one or more locations of a geographical area for time intervals for a predetermined time-period, and

receive global positioning system (GPS) data comprising actual arrival times of one or more vehicles, associated with said transportation network, at said one or more location of said geographical area for said time intervals; and

one or more processors configured to;

determine a delay from a scheduled time of arrival of said one or more vehicles relative to said actual arrival time at said one or more locations for each of said time intervals;

convert, for each of said time intervals, said delay at said one or more locations into a first discrete binary value that represents a presence or absence of said delay;

convert, for each of said time intervals, said one or more parameters of said weather condition at said one or more locations into a second discrete binary value that represents a presence or absence of said weather condition;

apply a mutual information based correlation technique to said first discrete binary values and said second discrete binary values of the predetermined time-period, wherein said application of said mutual information based correlation technique determines a sensitivity of said one or more locations to said weather condition;

display, through a user interface, said sensitivity of said one or more locations as a first layer overlaid on a map of said geographical area; and

adjust a travel route of one or more vehicles in said transportation network based at least partially on said sensitivity of said one or more locations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said transceiver is further configured to receive one or more demographic parameters associated with said geographical area for said predetermined time-period.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said one or more demographic parameters comprise at least one of a population distribution, an income distribution, one or more business districts/households, one or more city centers, or one or more suburbs.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein said one or more processors are further configured to display, through said user interface, said one or more demographic parameters as a second layer overlaid on said first layer on said map.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more parameters of said weather condition comprise at least one of a snowfall precipitation, a rainfall precipitation, a temperature, a wind speed, or an air pressure.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said transportation network corresponds to a public transit system of said geographical area, wherein said one or more vehicles of said transportation network correspond to one or more buses, one or more trams, one or more trains, or one or more metros of said public transit system.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said GPS data comprises time-stamped GPS coordinates of said one or more vehicles for said predetermined time-period.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said delay is determined based on said time-stamped GPS coordinates.

9. A method for determining an effect of a weather condition on a transportation network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a transceiver, one or more parameters of said weather condition in one or more locations of a geographical area for time intervals for a predetermined time-period;

receiving global positioning system (GPS) data comprising actual arrival times of one or more vehicles, associated with said transportation network, at said one or more location of said geographical area for said time intervals;

determining, by one or more processors, a delay from a scheduled time of arrival of said one or more vehicles relative to said actual arrival time at said one or more locations for each of said time intervals;

converting, for each of said time intervals, said delay at said one or more locations into a first discrete binary value that represents a presence or absence of said delay;

converting, for each of said time intervals, said one or more parameters of said weather condition at said one or more locations into a second discrete binary value that represents a presence or absence of said weather condition;

applying, by said one or more processors, a mutual information based correlation technique to said first discrete binary values and said second discrete binary values of the predetermined time-period, wherein said application of said mutual information based correlation technique determines a sensitivity of said one or more locations to said weather condition;

displaying, through a user interface, by said one or more processors, said sensitivity of said one or more locations as a first layer overlaid on a map of said geographical area; and

adjusting a travel route of one or more vehicles in said transportation network based at least partially on said sensitivity of said one or more locations.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving, by said transceiver, one or more demographic parameters associated with said geographical area for said predetermined time-period.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said one or more demographic parameters comprise at least one of a population distribution, an income distribution, one or more business districts/households, one or more city centers, or one or more suburbs.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying, through said user interface, by said one or more processors, said one or more demographic parameters as a second layer overlaid on said first layer on said map.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said one or more parameters of said weather condition comprise at least one of a snowfall precipitation, a rainfall precipitation, a temperature, a wind speed, or an air pressure.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said transportation network corresponds to a public transit system of said geographical area, wherein said one or more vehicles of said transportation network correspond to one or more buses, one or more trams, one or more trains, or one or more metros of said public transit system.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said GPS data comprises time-stamped GPS coordinates of said one or more vehicles for said predetermined time-period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said delay is determined based on said time-stamped GPS coordinates location.

17. A computer program product for use with a computing device, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium, the non-transitory computer readable medium stores a computer program code for determining an effect of a weather condition on a transportation network, the computer program code is executable by one or more processors in the computing device to:

receive, by a transceiver, one or more parameters of said weather condition in one or more locations of a geographical area for time intervals for a predetermined time-period, and

receive, by a transceiver, global positioning system (GPS) data comprising actual arrival times of one or more vehicles, associated with said transportation network, at said one or more location of said geographical area for said time intervals;

determine, by said one or more processors, a delay from a scheduled time of arrival of said one or more vehicles relative to said actual arrival time at said one or more locations for each of said time intervals;

apply, by said one or more processors, a mutual information based correlation technique to said first discrete binary values and said second discrete binary values of the predetermined time-period, wherein said application of said mutual information based correlation technique determines a sensitivity of said one or more locations to said weather condition;

display, through a user interface, by said one or more processors, said sensitivity of said one or more locations as a first layer overlaid on a map of said geographical area; and

adjust a travel route of one or more vehicles in said transportation network based at least partially on said sensitivity of said one or more locations.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said computer program code is further executable by said one or more processors to display, through said user interface, one or more demographic parameters associated with said geographical area for said predetermined time-period as a second layer overlaid on said first layer on said map.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said GPS data comprises time-stamped GPS coordinates of said one or more vehicles for said predetermined time-period, wherein said delay is determined based on said time-stamped GPS coordinates.