BCS Edinburgh Branch

Transportation Planning and Modelling Software

Wednesday 21st February 2007, 6:30 pm

Speaker: Pete Sykes, SIAS Limited

Venue: The Royal Scots Club Hepburn Suite, 30 Abercromby Place, Edinburgh EH3 6QE - map and direction.

This talk is free of charge and no reservation is required. Non members are most welcome. Refreshments available from 6:10 pm.

Synopsis

Transport planning and modelling software has been undergoing a quiet revolution over the last few years. The underlying methodology has moved from the analogy of a smooth river of metal flowing down the road to simulation of individual vehicles in a road network all interacting with each other as they try to get to their destination. Microsimulation software can now model these interactions in large areas with thousands of vehicles. Hardware in the loop simulation can also be used to bring in the effect of Urban Traffic Control systems software.

The modeller's goal is to build and calibrate a model of the current road network and the activity on it. Then this is used to test proposed changes such as urban traffic management schemes or the addition of new traffic through industrial or domestic developments. The model can also be used to evaluate efforts to try to extract more capacity from the road network through active management and Intelligent Transport Systems.

This talk will cover what does microsimulation do, how does it do it, what is it used for and how do you get answers out if it.

About the Speaker