displaying travel times on changeable message signs in the sf bay area jd margulici & samuel...

Displaying travel times on Changeable Message Signs in the SF Bay Area

JD Margulici & Samuel Yang, CCIT

ITS America’s 2007 Annual Meeting & Exposition – Session #5

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Presentation Outline

• Program Overview

• System Capabilities

• Evaluation and User Feedback

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Program Participants

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Timeline

2005 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec



Code Verification

Program Start

Program Evaluation

Pilot Deployment Phase 1 Deployment

20 Signs

Architecture Completed

Phase 2 Start

Code Verification

Phase 2A Deployment

Public Transit Information

10 Additional Signs

Phase 1’ Deployment

Administrator GUI

Additional Destinations Phase 2B Deployment

10 Additional Signs

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How does it work?

SF DOWNTOWN VIA 101 24 MINVIA 280 40 MIN

Loop detectors

ETC readers

Changeable message sign

Speed radars

Data:

- 1/3 toll tag readers

- 1/3 inductive loops

- 1/3 Doppler radars

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Full Deployment “Vision”

• 80+ active Changeable Message Signs

• Freeway operator fully autonomous – System administration and maintenance– Programming routes and schedules

• TMC operators ‘in the loop’– Graphical User Interface to control CMS display in real time

• System deployable in other Caltrans districts

• And of course, HAPPY COMMUTERS

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System Workflow

Loop detectors & speed radars

ETC readers

ElementaryTravel Times

CMS messages

D4 TMC

Travel Times

SOCCS

CMS

MITTENS

Route travel times reconstruction

Configuration and scheduling

Real-time control

Business rules

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User model (1)

TRAVEL TIME TO SF DWNTWN 10 MINSFO ARPT 23 MIN

Real-time display

TRAVEL TIME TO SF DWNTWN -- MINSFO ARPT -- MIN

Current “Mask”Data

Business Rules

?

Processing

Dynamic field

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User model (2)

TRAVEL TIME TO LORM IPSM -- MINLORM IPSM -- MIN








CMS 1

CMS 2

CMS 3

MasksConfigurationCMS







Schedule

Configuration

Default masks

Routes

Displays

A B

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Administrator Operator

TRAVEL TIME TO SF DWNTWN 10 MINSFO ARPT 30 MIN

1. Define TT Messages2. Monitor System3. Reset MITTENS

1. Monitor TT Messages2. Turn On/Off3. Change TT Messages

From the operator’s point of view controlling the TT

messages will feel the same as using SOCCS GUI to control

the CMS

Operator GUI

Administrator GUI SOCCS GUI

SOCCSMITTENSTravinfo 511

User Interfaces to MITTENS

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Admin GUI: Creating a Mask

Example: Select CMS 12

List of all CMS in the system

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Creating a Mask - Select a Message Type

Example: Select Two Route Travel Times

Dropdown menu of message templates available based on

CMS Type

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Creating a Mask - Enter the Text to Display

Example: Select SF DWNTWN and OAKLAND

Dropdown menu of routes available from CMS 12

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Creating a Mask - Define Mask Name and ID

Example: Enter Mask Name

Mask ID is automatically generated but can be edited

by the user

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Creating a Mask - Confirm Mask Creation

Example: Confirm the creation of the mask

User views the formatted travel time message

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Operator GUI: View Current Messages

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Operator GUI: Select Alternative Message

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Upcoming feature: Public Transit Information

SJ –FWY 45 MINSJ -TRAIN 32 MINNEXT TRAIN 08:30

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Upcoming feature: Travel Times + Incident Msg.

Next Steps

• Scheduling different destinations for a special event

• Setting up MITTENS to respond to certain traffic conditions

• Displaying travel times with traffic incident messages

SF DWNTWN 32 MINOAKLAND 29 MINSFO ARPT 45 MIN

STALLED VEHICLELEFT 2 LANES

CLOSED

Work with operators to take advantage of the new features:

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Evaluation Components

• Validation of travel time estimates– Confirm 511 accuracy on selected routes to display– Verify similitude of estimates on CMS and 511 phone system– Validation conducted in April 2005

• Impact on freeway speeds– Traffic study in PeMS– Linear regression to correlate speed @ CMS with display / no display

• Commuter response: survey– 1,000 respondents– 2/3 online through 511 website– 1/3 mail-in recruited at casual carpool pick-up locations

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Impact on Freeway Speeds: Methodology

Y 0 1X1 2X2 3X3 4X4 5X5 6X6 (1)

where

Y Speed (mph) near CMS

X1 CMS dummy (CMS On1,CMS Off 0)

X2 Upstream occupancy (%)

X3 Precipitation (inches per hour)

X4 Time of day dummy (Peak 1, Off Peak 0)

X5 Imputed dummy (data imputed 1, otherwise 0)

Error term

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Survey results (1)

4 -- 35%

3 -- 18%

2 -- 6% 1 -- 4% NR -- 2%

5 -- 35%

On a scale 1 to 5, how useful are the travel time messages?

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Survey results (2)

5 -- 14%NR -- 6%1 -- 3%2 -- 8%

3 -- 25%

4 -- 44%

On a scale 1 to 5, how accurate are the travel time messages?

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Survey results (3)

Does displaying 3 destinations on one sign provide too much information while driving?

Yes -- 10%

Don't Know -- 4%

NR -- 2%

No -- 84%

Displaying travel times on Changeable Message Signs in the SF Bay Area

JD Margulici & Samuel Yang, CCIT

ITS America’s 2007 Annual Meeting & Exposition – Session #5

Thank You!!

displaying travel times on changeable message signs in the sf bay area jd margulici & samuel...

Documents

minlorm ipsm

cms display

cms typecreating

mask creationexample

message typeexample

sf dwntwn

user interfaces

mask namemask id