TSSP 2011

ISSN 2012-3922

19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines, 9 Sept 2011

GPS-based Travel Time and Delay Survey and Traffic Data Analysis and Visualization Methodology
Reigna Jewel Ritz M. MACABABBAD Graduate Student Institute of Civil Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philippines E-mail: rjmmacababbad@gmail.com Jose Regin F. REGIDOR Professor Institute of Civil Engineering College of Engineering University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101 Philipines E-mail: r.regin@gmail.com

Abstract: Travel time and delay studies are used to evaluate traffic conditions, determine levels of service and to plan for improvements. Transportation planners and engineers of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) still employ the manual or stop watch method using a test car in obtaining travel time and delay data. This method is labor intensive and is prone to human errors as well as biases inherent in the conduct of the field surveys. Thus, it is necessary to develop and demonstrate a more efficient method of visualizing traffic characteristics using tools for assessment of road traffic conditions. This method should be an accurate and cost-effective data-gathering technique that will facilitate data analysis through spatial presentations. This paper presents a GPS-based travel time and delay survey and data analysis methodology. It introduces the development and application of a methodological framework that includes monitoring and evaluation. The proposed procedures include selection of GPS unit, verification tests, field procedure, data processing and data management, and data analysis and presentation. Data analysis and presentation through the use of digital maps is also presented wherein some of the explored traffic information outputs include corridor speed maps and travel time contour maps. Traffic information presented in the form of digital maps would be very useful for traffic planners or engineers and easy to understand for road users. Moreover, the use of GPS in this research provides fundamental inputs towards the development of a probe car system for use in travel time and delay studies in the Philippine cities. Key words: GPS, travel time, delay, methodology

1. INTRODUCTION Travel time, a fundamental measure in transportation, is the total elapsed time necessary for a vehicle to travel from one point to another over a specified route under existing traffic conditions. Delay on the other hand is the time lost to travel because of traffic frictions and traffic control devices. Travel time and delay studies are used to evaluate traffic conditions such as the onset of congestion along major corridors, and the impacts of developments such as transportation infrastructure, commercial, residential and industrial projects. Results are used to determine levels of service and to plan for improvements.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Currently, transport planners and engineers of the MMDA still employ the stop watch method for travel time and delay data collection. This method is labor intensive and is prone to human errors. There are commercially available and tested devices like GPS that provide real-time measurements of location and automated data gathering. Such devices are essential elements of probe car systems that are already in use in other countries for accurate estimates of travel speeds. However, there is no established methodology that would be applicable for MMDAs travel time and delay studies. Thus, there is a need to develop and demonstrate a more efficient method using tools for travel time and delay surveys. This study is part of a larger project on probe car system. The use of GPS in this research provides fundamental inputs towards the development of a probe car system for use in travel time and delay studies in the Philippine cities. Probe cars are usually designed to acquire traffic information at anytime on roads from alleys to main streets at a relatively low cost. Probe vehicle data is being utilized for many purposes such as real-time traffic management and or creating database for traffic analysis, planning and other management. Some of the explored outputs from probe vehicle data are social-based and individual-based outcome maps such as corridor speeds, travel time contours, and traffic congestion 3D maps that visualize the road transport level of service. Better information collection for abovementioned purposes leads to less congestion and less impact to the environment which increases certainty and opportunities for infrastructure industry.

2. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study are the following: a. To develop, demonstrate and evaluate a visualization method of traffic characteristics using tools for assessment of road traffic conditions. In line with this primary objective, this study aims to address the following specific questions: 1. What is a suitable and practical methodology necessary in order to gather reliable travel time and delay data of a road corridor? 2. What method of analysis and presentation or visualization of obtained data will be used? This method should be an accurate and cost-effective data-gathering technique that will facilitate data analysis through spatial presentations. b. To provide input towards the development of a probe car system.

3. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 3.1 Conventional Travel time and Delay Survey Methodology The transport planners and engineers of MMDA use the manual test vehicle technique in obtaining travel time and delay information. The survey is accomplished by at least two surveyors: one driving and the other recording the time as the vehicle passes predetermined

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

checkpoints. An observer with one of two stop watches is the most common method used. The observer starts the first watch at the beginning of the test run and records the time at various control points along the route. The second stop watch if used measures the length on individual stopped delays. The time, location, and cause of delays are noted on forms provided for the surveyors. Travel time and delay study is conducted yearly for major thoroughfares such as the radial and circumferential roads in Metro Manila. This is done through three runs: one for morning peak, one for midday and another run for afternoon peak on a road corridor during a particular field day. A total of six runs are performed which include northbound and southbound travel each for peak and off-peak periods. Finally, the obtained data are recorded as basis for transport planning and traffic operations. 3.2 GPS-based Travel Time and Delay Survey Studies A local study by Mauricio, et al. (2003) on travel time and delay analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS) and GPS raised the following findings: a) GPS has provided an effective and convenient way of collecting travel data; b) It is very capable of providing a very accurate depiction of vehicle location and speed compared to conventional method or stop watch technique; c) The problems encountered with the use of GPS include loss of GPS signal due to tunnels, underpasses, flyovers, and trees. Mauricio, et al. (2003) presented their obtained data through time-distance, speed-distance, and distance-speed diagrams and used GIS to illustrate the study routes only. However, this initial research did not come up with an established methodology that could easily be applied for future travel time and delay studies. The use of GPS for travel time data collection has been widely explored and studied since 1998. (Czerniak and Reilly, 1998; Quiroga and Bullock, 1998) Advanced technologies like GPS-equipped probe car system that has both real time and post-processing traffic data collection capabilities are increasingly used in other countries. (Byon, et al., 2006; Wang, 2008; McNally, et al., 2003) There are also studies that integrate GIS with GPS data for visualization of obtained information. (Ohmori, et al., 2002 and Owusu, et al., 2006) Most GPS-based studies on travel time data collection cover two important components namely, the hardware and software part of the system. The hardware consists of the GPS device, laptop, and or other equipment mounted on a test vehicle that can collect and store traffic conditions by monitoring the location and speed of the test vehicle. On the other hand, the software part refers to the data processing procedures and tools that can be used for postprocessing or real time monitoring of traffic data. Some good examples that developed GPSbased travel time collection system are GPS-GIS Integrated System for Travel Time Surveys or GISTT (Byon, et al., 2006) and GPS-Trek (Li, et al., 2002). There are important factors such as sample size requirements that may have an impact on a certain study. The common approach for transportation engineers is to rely only on the old method presented by manuals to determine the sample size requirements. However, it had been known that the old method contains systematic numerical errors and may not be applicable to GPS-based traffic data collection. This had been thoroughly examined by Li, et

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

al. (2002) wherein it was found out that five to ten samples would give reliable data for travel time and delay studies.

4. METHODOLOGY The methodological framework shown in Figure 1 and applied to this study is designed and implemented with a flexibility that would facilitate the collective and progressive development of tools and methods to be used. A survey procedure discussed in the next section is developed based on the performed preliminary study and further refined through case studies or application on other land developments.

Figure 1 Methodological research framework

5. DEVELOPED METHODOLOGY The developed methodology recommended for future travel time and delay surveys consists of five procedures summarized in Fig. 2. The details for connectors A, B, C, D and E in Fig. 2 are shown in Figs. 2.1 to 2.3. Commercial GPS devices have positioning errors that may have subsequent implications in the estimation of speeds. This must be considered and assessed whether the difference in the average corrected speed and the average uncorrected speed is significant or not. Significance testing particularly T-test for samples below 30 is recommended to address errors due to positioning. The commonly used error levels or the values for are (a) 5% for design, operations and evaluation studies and (b) 10% for planning, and policy-level studies [Turner, et. al., 1998]. Standard deviation is recommended to measure the dispersion of travel time, delay and speed data from which reliability in the measurements can also be inferred. It is also essential to establish confidence bounds on the calculated mean of a given data to determine uncertainties.

6. RESULTS 6.1 Equipment and Procedures Overall, the GPS equipment performed well and the data collection procedures utilized are effective.

TSSP 2011
ISSN 2012-3922

19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines, 9 Sept 2011

Data Processing and Management Selection of GPS unit

Criteria: c) The device has built-in internal memory for data storage. d) It has PC connection capability and included software program. e) Cost is within budget.

Field Procedure
Identify study area/s and corridors.

Select and export GPS data from GPS device to a computer.

Connect the GPS device to a computer thru USB connector and transfer the data.

Determine sample size. Save file as *.gdb. NO Criteria satisfied?

5-10 samples provide reliable data according to a study by Li, et al. [8]. Verify selected number of samples using statistical measures.

Select data points obtained for surveyed study corridor. Copy and paste selected data pts to MS Excel worksheet.
Prepare data worksheet in MS Excel.

YES

Observe proper timing of data collection.

Weekday: Tue, Wed, Thu Weekend: Sun *on dates with no holiday before or after survey day

Verification Test
Conduct preliminary runs on road corridors to investigate and record possible effect of high rise buildings, trees and overpass on the transmission of satellite signals to the GPS device.

Study periods:

Data Analysis and Presentation

Account for errors due to positioning. Consider confidence intervals and reliability. Include statistical measures (standard dev. & significance) in the computed speeds and travel times.

AM peak 7:00 to 9:00 Midday 12:00 to 2:00 PM for peak 4:00 to corridor 7:00 *Repeat each study and the considered sample size.

Figure 2. Flowchart of developed GPS-based travel time and delay survey methodology and traffic analysis

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Field data collection. Perform validation test to determine GPS error thru static positioning with respect to a known coordinate. A

One to two surveyors may perform the field surveys

- 3D fix of satellite signals

Determine a referenced location near your area. (e.g. for this study, a point in front of the building of the College of Education in UP Diliman with known coordinates: 1439'13.61"N, 121 4'19.35"E)

Check GPS settings.

- set correct time and date - battery capacity must be full for a whole day survey - set the desired units of measure

Get static position data using the GPS unit at this similar point and at one second intervals for 20 minutes.

(e.g. m, seconds, kph) Either on the panel GPS set-up: in a place where it can have under the front unobstructed view of the sky to receive - set frequency of data collection windshield of the GPS satellite signals. top of the vehicle.

to one second interval vehicle or secured on

Compute for the standard deviation and root mean square error of the 20-minute data with respect to the known coordinate.

Start survey runs at a reasonable distance before and after the end points of study corridor.
If GPS can store up to 10,000 data points, this is equivalent to approx. 2.77 hours when frequency of data collection is set to one second. For 3-hour PM peak surveys, use another GPS unit to complete the survey run.

GPS error

Save the entire track after every completed survey run.

Raw GPS data (travel time and delay)

Figure 2.1. Continuation of Figure 2 for connectors A and B

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Compute for average travel time, speed and delay per segment of each study corridor C
n=5 (samples)

Create corridor speed maps using Adobe Phoroshop CS3/MS Paint. D

Open base map (*.jpeg or *.png format) in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Arbitrarily assign certain colors to represent different travel speed ranges (e.g. red for speeds 0-10kph, orange for speeds 11-20kph, etc.)

Designate colors to the road segments according to the computed average travel speed per segment of the corridor. Color each segment using pen tool.

Ave. travel times, speeds and delays per segment of study corridors

Save changes to another filename (*.jpeg or *.png format)

Speed map

Figure 2.2. Continuation of Figure 2 for connectors C and D

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Create travel time contour maps using Surfer 9.0.

Open base map (*.jpeg or *.png format) in the plot window by clicking new base map icon in the toolbar.

One path from point of origin to destination?

NO

Determine the shortest path using Djikstras algorithm.

YES
Calculate the travel time at each node by adding average travel times per segment from the point of origin to other nodes.

Open a new worksheet by clicking new worksheet icon in the toolbar. Create set of X, Y, Z (latitude, longitude, travel time) data points. Obtain the X, Y points from the base map considering the nodes or intersection points along the study corridors then input the cumulative travel time per node as Y data. Create a grid (contour map). In the grid options, choose kriging as gridding method. Save the created grid as *.grid file and the grid report as *.rtf file.

Open created *.dat file.

Save XYZ data as *.dat file.

Save new contour

Add created contour layer to base map by clicking Map icon in the menu bar then, then the option add contour layer.
The properties of the contour layer such as opacity, background color, lines, among others may be adjusted as desired.

map as *.srf file.

Export and save it as *.jpeg or *.png file.

Travel time contour map

Figure 2.3. Continuation of Figure 2 for connector E

TSSP 2011
ISSN 2012-3922

19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines Quezon City, Philippines, 9 Sept 2011

6.1.1 Equipment Performance The GPS unit runs on two AA batteries. During the preliminary study, alkaline batteries have been used which last for two to three days and then they had to be discarded and replaced with new ones. This made the researcher opt for rechargeable batteries to be used during the validation part in order to save on added costs and reduce wastes. The rechargeable batteries last for two to three days as well but charging it takes ten hours. The other significant equipment problem is the limited number of data points that it can store which is 10,000 data points only or approximately equal to 2.7 hours when frequency of data collection is set to one second. This resulted in lost data sets specially during the PM peak period on the first survey day for validation part. However, this is addresed by using a second GPS unit when the memory of the first GPS unit reached 80%. 6.1.2 Personnel Compliance with Data Collection Protocol Almost most of the traffic surveys are performed by the reseacher. However, there are few instances when a surveyor is assigned to do the data collection wherein some errors such as failure to check on the equipments frequency of data collection has resulted to unusable data. This is due to the failure to specify procedures in advance and to adequately train the personnel. 6.1.3 Overall Data Collection Success Rate Despite the occurence of the data collection problems noted above, the overall data collection success rate is approximately 95%. The five percent is due to equipment and operator error. 6.1.4 Total Resources Required The total in-field resources required to conduct the traffic surveys amounted to approximately 8.5 hours per survey day. This is more than the seven hours that theoretically would be required for the actual travel time and delay runs (two hours in the AM, two hours in the midday and 3 hours in the PM peak periods). Some of the additional time is for driving to and from the study corridors. 6.2 Travel Time and Delay Results 6.2.1 Preliminary Study Performance of a preliminary study is a primary step in the development of travel time and delay survey methodology and traffic data analysis. This entails determining tools and methods to be used, learning and applying traffic survey concepts using chosen tools and established procedures on study corridors or areas and exploring possible presentation of traffic data analyses. A preliminary study using test vehicle is conducted on short segments of major corridors that are main access roads of University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman on July 13, 2010. The point of origin or destination is set at UP Diliman and particularly in front of the Quezon Hall. The access roads considered for network analysis are certain segments of Commonwealth Avenue, Visayas Avenue, North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, and Katipunan near the point of reference. The area covers MRT3 to UP, LRT2 to UP, and SM North EDSA to UP jeepney routes. The traffic data analyses are performed both for corridor and network levels. Traffic data obtained using GPS device are presented in conventional travel time trajectories and speed profiles, corridor speed maps, and travel time contours.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

The corridor speed maps for morning and afternoon peak are generated by arbitrarily assigning certain colors to represent different travel speed ranges. Then, designating the corresponding colors according to the average travel speeds per segment of the study corridor. Travel time contour maps are obtained by calculating the average travel time per segment from the origin or destination to every predetermined node along the study corridors. Then, a resulting XYT (latitude, longitude, travel time) data file is used to create a contour map. The contour lines in the study area indicate the amount of travel time required to reach or leave an arbitrarily chosen point of interest. 6.2.2 Validation The developed methodology is further validated by applying it to a different land development and also conducting evaluation and development monitoring of the procedures described in the previous chapter. For validation purposes, the chosen study area is the vicinity covering the hospital complexes near Quezon City Circle as shown in the Figure 3. The hospitals included are Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI), Philippine Childrens Medical Center (PCMC), Philippine Heart Center (PHC), and East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC).

N
LCP PCMC NKTI

PHC

EAMC

Figure 3 Study area considering selected medical centers in Quezon City

6.2.2.1 Traffic Analyses A total of ten corridors are considered as main access roads for the hospital complexes. The summary of the description of each road corridor and survey dates are presented in Table 2. A total of five runs for northbound and southbound directions for each study period are performed on a regular weekday. About two to four survey days are needed to complete the required number of runs for each study corridor. This is favorable because it allows randomness of traffic on a day-to-day basis to be factored in and thus, a more accurate estimates of travel time and delay will be obtained. The computed average travel time for weekday and their confidence intervals for the 12 study corridors are summarized in Tables 3. Confidence boundary for each study corridor is obtained by summing up the confidence boundaries of individual segments since uncertainty increases as one travels the entire corridor.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Table 2 Summary of description of road corridors and conducted surveys

Survey dates 8/17, 8/18 Length (m) 1860 *No. of lanes per direction 4 lanes; divided 2 lanes; undivided Physical description No. of No. of signalized checkpoints intersections 9 3

Study corridors 1) East Avenue

2) Timog Avenue

8/17, 8/18

2160

Other features Main access road for PHC and EAMC Roundabout at Timog AvenueTomas Morato intersection

3) North Avenue 4) West Avenue 5) Quezon Avenue

8/18, 8/24 8/18, 8/24 8/24, 8/25

2070 2330 2860

3 lanes; divided 2 lanes; undivided 4 lanes; undivided

5 7 8

3 2 1 Underpass at Quezon AvenueEDSA intersection; Main access road for NKTI, LCP Main access road for PCMC

6) BIR Road 7) Agham Road 8) Segment of Mindanao Avenue 9) Visayas Avenue 10) Segment of Commonwealth Avenue

8/25, 8/26, 9/2, 9/7 8/25, 8/26, 9/2, 9/7 8/26, 9/2, 9/7 9/7, 9/15, 9/21, 9/22 9/15, 9/21, 9/22

850 870 2700 2500 4480

2 lanes; divided 3 lanes; divided 4 lanes; divided 3 lanes; divided 9 lanes; divided

3 2 3 7 5

2 2 2 1 0

Overpass at Commonwealth Avenue-Tandang Sora Avenue intersection

11) Kalayaan Avenue 12) Quezon Memorial Circle

8/25, 9/7, 9/21, 9/22 8/17, 8/18

1840 1880

2-3 lanes; divided 10 lanes

7 7

2 0 Elliptical road, 590m diameter

*In the 4th column, divided means presence of a center island while undivided means absence of a center island.

Speeds are further computed based from the numerical values in Tables 3. Average speeds per segment of the study corridors then are illustrated in the form of speed maps. The generated speed maps for northbound and southbound directions for each study period are shown in Fig. 4. The base map used for the figures is obtained from Google Map - a free, regularly updated map and easily accessible through the worldwide web that can clearly illustrate study areas and corridors. This further shows the flexibility of Surfer 9.0 software in using any other reliable map as base map. Similar to the method in preliminary study, certain colors are assigned to represent different travel speed ranges. Then, the corresponding colors are designated according to the average travel speeds per segment of the study corridor. Fig 4 visually present the variations of travel speed on each segment of the study corridors during peak and off-peak periods. Traffic data presented in this manner is easy to understand for most road users. Visual inspection through such maps allows identification of problematic segments of roads and possibly the actual land developments along the study corridors that may have impacts on travel time and delays at certain time periods.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

Table 3. Summary of calculated average travel times for weekday

Study corridor 1) East Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-EDSA) 2) Timog Avenue (EDSA-Quezon Ave.) 3) North Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-EDSA) 4) West Avenue (EDSA-Quezon Ave.) 5) Quezon Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-DELTA) 6) BIR Road (East Avenue-Quezon Ave.) 7) Agham Road (Quezon Avenue-North Ave.) 8) Segment of Mindanao Avenue (North Ave.-Tandang Sora Ave.) 9) Visayas Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-Tandang Sora Ave.) 10) Segment of Commonwealth Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-Don Antonio) 11) Segment of Kalayaan Avenue (Quezon Memorial Circle-Kamias Road) 12) Quezon Memorial Circle *NB-northbound; SB-southbound Direction NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB NB SB Average travel time (min) AM Peak Midday PM Peak 4.23 (1.51) 7.24 (5.15) 3.52 (1.62) 6.13 (2.89) 5.52 (2.10) 4.64 (2.06) 4.42 ( 1.18) 6.53 (2.35) 5.61 (2.12) 11.11 (7.29) 8.12 (3.26) 7.39 (3.57) 6.69 (2.40) 6.79 (1.02) 8.75 (3.98) 5.87 (2.91) 5.07 (2.22) 7.63 (2.61) 4.66 (1.64) 5.11 (1.38) 6.88 (5.37) 5.82 (1.13) 5.66 (1.98) 6.27 (2.34) 7.04 (1.90) 8.41 (3.97) 10.75 (7.49) 6.24 (1.80) 6.01 (1.31) 6.25 (2.07) 2.38 (0.93) 2.97 (1.40) 3.43 (0.79) 2.87 (1.10) 1.90 (0.95) 2.69 ( 1.00) 2.50 ( 1.00) 1.97 (0.73) 2.44 (0.54) 3.35 (0.63) 2.87 (0.90) 2.70 (1.01) 4.04 (0.70) 4.06 (0.91) 6.35 (2.07) 9.78 (2.57) 9.42 (2.05) 9.46 (1.05) 4.56 (1.19) 5.71 (2.10) 11.24 (6.82) 7.07 (1.94) 7.79 (2.50) 10.67 (8.07) 4.97 ( 0.64) 5.25 (0.55) 6.25(1.11) 20.19 (10.8) 5.14 (0.38) 5.85(0.94) 4.25 (1.57) 4.67 (1.67) 5.31 (1.98) 8.77 (7.92) 5.44 (1.15) 9.83 (4.86) 3.66 (1.03) 2.76 (0.47) 3.38 (1.16)

For travel time contours, the point of origin or destination is set at the main entrance of PHC along East Avenue. Fig. 5 a to f shows the travel time contour maps for inbound and outbound directions for AM peak, midday, and PM peak periods considering the point of interest. These are generated by following similar procedures in the preliminary study except that Djikstras shortest path method has been introduced for some trips with more than one route from origin to destination. The red dots in the maps indicate the interpolation points or the nodes of the study corridors while the red star indicates the location of the hospital being considered. Visualization of traffic data through these figures gives information on variations of travel time for each survey period on a network level.

7. CONCLUSION The study presents a GPS-based travel time and delay survey and data analysis methodology that is being developed to gather reliable travel time and delay data of a road corridor. It presents the development and application of a methodological framework and also data analysis and presentation through the use of digital maps. An evaluation of the results obtained with the use of proposed methodology is also performed.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

(a) Northbound during AM peak

(b) Southbound during AM peak

(c) Northbound during midday

(d) Southbound during midday

(e) Northbound during PM peak

(f) Southbound during PM peak

(g) speed ranges for a to f Figure 4 Corridor speed maps on a weekday

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011) UP-Ayala Technohub

PHC

(a) Inbound

(b) Outbound

(c) Inbound

(d) Outbound

(e) Inbound (f) Outbound Figure 5 Road travel time contour map for inbound and outbound directions of Philippine Heart Center for AM peak (a & b), midday (c & d), and PM peak (e & f) on weekday

Local traffic studies have presented travel time and delay data through travel time trajectories and speed profiles. These data presentations allow corridor level of traffic analysis only. Corridor analysis may imply independent and segmented approach towards traffic information obtained for all roads and it fails to show the interconnectedness of all thoroughfares for which a more accurate travel condition can be viewed on macroscopic or network level. Consequently, traffic management, planning and operations would be limited

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

and may be biased to corridor level decisions only instead of considering and understanding the possible implications on a network level. In this study, traffic data are presented further through speed maps and travel time contour maps for a network level of traffic analysis. Visualizations of traffic data on a network level are relatively new concept in the Philippines. Speed maps on a network level adequately illustrate the level of service of a road network. In travel time contour map, the contour lines in the study area indicate the amount of travel time required to reach or leave an arbitrarily chosen point of interest. Primary uses and applications for such digital maps would help traffic engineers and planners for improved traffic management, planning and operations and transport efficiency of goods and people. Traffic information in the form of digital maps would have an added significance also when they are easy to understand and very useful for road users apart from its principal technical uses. Travel speed maps and travel time contour maps are easy to understand and reflect accurate travel conditions. Several uses and applications for such digital maps would help traffic engineers and planners for improved traffic management, planning and operations and transport efficiency of goods and people. Technical outputs presented in the form of digital maps would be easy to understand and very useful for road users. For instance, travel time contour maps of the PHC are valuable for faster emergency response and even for ordinary citizens who have immediate medical needs that only the PHC could adequately provide. These maps could also be used for critical situations like in cases of fire so that outside help will reach the place at the soonest possible time. Such presentation of travel time data would also be valuable when applied further to other land developments such as malls and factories. Positional and speed data on a per second basis generated from the GPS device can be further utilized for vehicle emission analysis by deriving acceleration and or deceleration characteristic of the test vehicle and also for the development of drive cycles. This gives more value to the GPS derived traffic data than the information obtained from conventional or stop watch method. The use of GPS in this study provides inputs towards the development of a probe car system but to a certain degree only. This study have shown that the use of GPS device alone allows post processing of obtained data from survey runs while the probe car system is designed for real time update and collection of traffic information. For a probe car system to be realized, other important IT requirements such as communication system and central facility have to be put in place. Further travel time and delay studies on weekends using the established methodology for the same study area may be performed to determine the variations of traffic information and obtain complete and reliable travel time and delay data. Improving the traffic analysis by automating or creating a program that would facilitate easier and faster travel time and delay computations is also recommended. The advent of cellular phones with capabilities similar to GPS units (e.g., android phones) may also be considered for more cost-effective data collection. However, these also need to be properly calibrated and their outputs validated for reliability.

Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference of the Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (2011)

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research was supported by the Engineering Research and Development for Technology (ERDT) program of the Department of Science and Technology. The first author would also like to thank the UP National Center for Transportation Studies (NCTS) for providing assistance and resources needed in undertaking this study. This paper was reformatted for presentation at the TSSP and is identical to the paper submitted to EASTS Conference in Jeju, Korea last June 20-23, 2011.

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