Visualization in Transportation Roundup March 2019 No. 2
Brittany Gernhard
Visualization in Transportation Roundup
Brought to You by the TRB Standing Committee on Visualization in Transportation (ABJ95)
Upcoming Events
9th International Visualization in Transportation Symposium: A Better View
The 9th International Visualization in Transportation Symposium will be held on November 5-6th at the National Academy of Sciences in DC. The theme of this Symposium is A Better View. This symposium will explore the opportunities and challenges of visualization in the diverse transportation industry while presenting examples of how visualization is giving us a better view of problems, solutions, and communication strategies with our colleagues and the public.
Transportation Visualization in the News
Florida Local Agencies Benefit from Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures
The city of Tallahassee, FL, expanded implementation of automated traffic signal performance measures (ATSPMs) from an initial 22-signal installation to 40 signals. ATSPMs produced benefits such as a reduction in peak-hour delays at a congested intersection and the discovery and correction of a signal controller firmware bug. Seminole County implemented ATSPMs for its 383 signals in less than 2 years. The county reports that ATSPMs reduced the need to conduct traffic counts, making funding originally budgeted for data collection available for other initiatives. For ATSPM information, contact Eddie Curtis of the FHWA Resource Center.
Cubic’s Trafficware Releases Latest Version of its Traffic Management Platform
Several customization enhancements to the graphical user interface are included as part of the standard system offering. Among the upgrades to the system’s user experience is a new intersection layout, allowing a more intuitive visual display of geometry, phasing, movements and priorities. Users can create templates for different intersection types and load predefined templates if intersections have identical or similar layouts. Additionally, users can choose to create scan elements automatically with all parameters pre-populated, after defining the layout for a new intersection.
Uber Has Open-Sourced Autonomous Vehicle Visualization
With an open source version of its Autonomous Visualization System (AVS), Uber is hoping to create a standard visualization system for engineers to use in autonomous vehicle development. With the new AVS, Uber is offering engineers a web-based toolkit for building applications for analyzing perception, motion, and planning data from autonomous vehicles. By open-sourcing the toolkit, Uber wants to provide a standalone and standardized visualization layer for developers that will eliminate the need for developers to build their own custom visualization software for autonomous vehicles.
https://www.enotrans.org/article/population-density-and-high-speed-rail/
General Dynamics (GD) Says FAA Awards it Data, Visualization, Analysis and Reporting System Contract
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) announced today it has been awarded a new contract by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to design, implement, install and maintain their Data, Visualization, Analysis and Reporting System (DVARS). The single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract holds a total estimated value of $99 million. Commercial offerings for functions such as reporting and visualization will further enable the FAA to leverage market best practices and product improvements.
Other News
Population Density and High Speed Rail
World Population Density is a public Internet tool that uses the resident population GIS dataset from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) produced by the European Commission JRC and the CIESIN Columbia University and puts all that information in a map format that can be navigated in a web browser similar to Google Maps (powered by CARTO). The site design is by Duncan Smith.
The site allows easy visualization of comparative resident population density, per square kilometer, for any part of the globe, zooming in and zooming out to a variety of scales. One you find a scale you like for one area, you can then just rotate the earth around to another area to see the comparative population density of the other area at the same scale.
https://www.enotrans.org/article/population-density-and-high-speed-rail/
Data Visualization Tool Shows Carbon Footprint of Everyday Products
A Columbia researcher affiliated with the Data Science Institute and the Earth Institute has created a data-visualization tool that shows the carbon footprints of hundreds of consumer products. The tool makes it easy for everyone to explore the products’ carbon emission levels and the various strategies companies are employing to reduce emissions. The visualization tool, called Carbon Catalogue, breaks down the carbon footprint of a product during its entire life cycle.
https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2019/02/14/carbon-catalogue-products/
The Weekly Visualization Roundup regularly covers transportation research developments in the United States and abroad. This document is not a report of the National Research Council or of the National Academies of Sciences. The opinions expressed in content highlighted in Weekly Visualization Roundup are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Transportation Research Board or the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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