COMPARATIVE DATA ANALYTICS AND VISUALIZATION TOOL FOR ANALYZING TRAFFIC PERFORMANCE DATA IN A TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20150095830A1
• Filed: 09/27/2014
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iteris Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Iteris Incorporated
• Inventors: Massoumi, Ramin, Clelland, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 9,804,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/771
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0145 for active traffic flow control
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods

Abstract

A comparative traffic data analytics framework and visualization tool utilizes multiple data processing functions to manipulate traffic information from a plurality of sources and enable users to configure comparative analyses in a dashboard-style format for arterial and intersection performance monitoring and management. The comparative visualization tool provides a plurality of user-configurable functions to view corridor travel and delay times, an animated map, overall network statistics, and intersection performance using a graphical user interface to guide decision-making processes for traffic management in an arterial transportation network.

Claims

1. A method of visualizing comparative traffic performance analytics, comprising:

within a computing environment comprised of a computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to perform the steps of;

accessing, as input data, traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network;

applying the input data to a plurality of data processing modules configured to present the traffic data as a plurality of performance metrics for traffic management decision-making, the plurality of data processing modules performing one or more mathematical functions on the input data to compare traffic data from a first time period with traffic data from a second time period on the at least one segment of a roadway network, the one or more mathematical functions applied based on the user commands provided via a graphical user interface to generate

     1) a corridor travel time defined as a time to traverse across a selected corridor,

     2) a corridor delay defined as extra time needed to travel a distance of the selected corridor compared to a free flow travel time, and

     3) one or more statistics representing traffic performance for the roadway network, the one or more statistics including total delay, total travel time, and overall average speed, and a network grade; and

generating, as output data, widget-style indicia enabling a visual comparison of the plurality of performance metrics from the first time period to the second time period, and displaying the widget-style indicia on the graphical user interface, the widget-style indicia at least including an animated map, travel time statistics representing the corridor travel time, delay statistics representing the corridor delay, and link performance statistics representing traffic performance for the roadway network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the input data occurs in response to one or more instructions to manipulate the plurality of performance metrics for traffic management decision-making based on user commands provided via the graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the input data further comprises ingesting traffic-related data from a plurality of sources that include one or more of sensors, weather instruments, incident data, pavement condition data, roadway operations data, and traffic state estimation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data processing modules includes a filters and settings module configured to enable a user to select one or more of an initial time period, a compare time period, a corridor representing the at least one segment of the roadway network, and profile configurations for a display of comparisons of traffic speed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data processing modules includes a mapping module configured to generate an animated display of the plurality of performance metrics on a map of the at least one segment of the roadway network, the plurality of performance metrics at least including a traffic speed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a free flow travel time is at least one of a speed limit for one or more segments comprising the corridor, and an average off-peak speed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the widget-style indicia enable identification of traffic trends and traffic hot spots from the plurality of performance metrics.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data processing modules further comprises an intersection performance monitoring module configured to generate intersection performance statistics that include percent arrival on green and intersection delay.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the widget-style indicia include visual comparison of intersection performance metrics that include one or more of flow data per intersection signal phase, volume-to-capacity ratios for recent intersection controller cycles, percentages of vehicles arriving on green lights and percentages of vehicles arriving on red lights, a delay per approach calculation, and an animation of vehicle arrivals per signal phase.

10. A system comprising:

a data ingest module configured to access, as input data, traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network;

a plurality of data processing modules configured within a computing environment comprised of a computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to perform mathematical functions to manipulate the input data to compare traffic data from a first period to traffic data from a second period and transform the traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network into visualized comparative performance metrics for traffic management decision-making, the plurality of data processing modules including;

a mapping module configured to generate an animated display of the plurality of performance metrics on a map of the at least one segment of the roadway network, the plurality of performance metrics at least including a traffic speed;

a travel times module configured to calculate a corridor travel time defined as a time to traverse across a selected corridor;

a delay module configured to calculate a corridor delay defined as extra time needed to travel a distance of the selected corridor compared to a free flow travel time;

a link performance module configured to produce one or more statistics representing traffic performance for the roadway network, the one or more statistics including total delay, total travel time, and overall average speed, and a network grade;

a filters and settings module configured to enable a user to select one or more of an initial time period, a compare time period, a corridor representing the at least one segment of the roadway network, and profile configurations for a display of comparisons of traffic speed; and

a graphical user interface module configure to convert the traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network into one or more indicia for display in a dashboard-style interface for presentation to a user as the visualized comparative performance metrics for traffic management decision-making.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data ingest module accesses input data in response to one or more instructions to manipulate the visualized comparative performance metrics based on user commands provided via the dashboard-style interface.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the data ingest module ingests the traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network from a plurality of sources that include one or more of sensors, weather instruments, incident data, pavement condition data, roadway operations data, and traffic state estimation.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the delay module applies a free flow travel time from at least one of a speed limit for one or more segments comprising the corridor, and an average off-peak speed.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising an intersection performance monitoring module configured to generate intersection performance statistics that include percent arrival on green and intersection delay.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the visualized comparative performance metrics for traffic management decision-making include intersection performance metrics including one or more of flow data per intersection signal phase, volume-to-capacity ratios for recent intersection controller cycles, percentages of vehicles arriving on green lights and percentages of vehicles arriving on red lights, a delay per approach calculation, and an animation of vehicle arrivals per signal phase.

16. A method comprising:

within a computing environment comprised of a computer processor and at least one computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the computer processor and having program instructions stored therein, the computer processor being operable to execute the program instructions to perform the steps of;

extracting traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network for at least two time periods as selected by a user via a graphical user interface;

calculating a corridor travel time defined as a time to traverse across a selected corridor by accessing a distance value and a speed value for roadway links comprising the selected corridor, and summing the time to traverse for the roadway links comprising the selected corridor;

calculating a corridor delay defined as extra time needed to travel a length of the selected corridor compared to a free flow travel time by subtracting the time to traverse the selected corridor based on a specific free flow speed value from a travel time based on an average speed value;

calculating network-wide statistics representing traffic performance for the roadway network by summing, for each link in the roadway network, a total delay, a total travel time, and an overall average speed;

assigning a network grade of the traffic performance of the roadway network, the network grade comprising the average speed divided by the speed limit;

enabling a user to configure the at least two time periods to compare the traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network via a plurality of user-selectable items on the graphical user interface;

generating an animated map showing color-coded indicia representing each corridor of the roadway network; and

displaying the corridor travel time, the corridor delay time, the network-wide statistics, the network grade and the animated map on the graphical user interface.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a free flow travel time is at least one of a speed limit for one or more segments comprising the corridor, and an average off-peak speed.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the extracting traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network further comprises accessing input data in response to one or more instructions to manipulate traffic performance metrics for traffic management decision-making based on user commands provided via the graphical user interface.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the extracting traffic data representative of one or more characteristics of traffic performance on at least one segment of a roadway network further comprises ingesting input data from a plurality of sources that include one or more of sensors, weather instruments, incident data, pavement condition data, roadway operations data, and traffic state estimation.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising filtering the corridor travel time, the corridor delay time, the network-wide statistics, the network grade and the animated map by enabling user selection of one or more of an initial time period, a compare time period, a corridor representing the at least one segment of the roadway network, and profile configurations for a display of comparisons of traffic speed.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising identifying traffic trends and traffic hot spots from the traffic performance metrics.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising monitoring intersection performance from one or more of volume data, capacity data, and intersection timing information, and generating intersection performance statistics that include percent arrival on green and intersection delay.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising displaying intersection performance metrics as one or more of flow data per intersection signal phase, volume-to-capacity ratios for recent intersection controller cycles, percentages of vehicles arriving on green lights and percentages of vehicles arriving on red lights, a delay per approach calculation, and an animation of vehicle arrivals per signal phase.