Study Technique with "Floating Car" Data for Winter Traffic Patterns in Cold, Snowy Region - Sapporo's Experience with "Taxi GPS" Data

In a cold, snowy region, the traffic function of roadways declines considerably due to constant snowfall and icy or snow-packed road surface. It is a critical issue that provides a reasonable level of the traffic function of roadways in winter; therefore, it is necessary to understand winter traffic patterns quantitatively. However, because of a traditional survey technique, represented by a winter road traffic census, with limited survey days and the number of survey points, it is difficult to understand winter traffic patterns. The Civil Engineering Research Institute of Hokkaido: CERI) therefore attempts to apply Taxi Floating-Car Data (Taxi GPS Data) in order to analyze the winter traffic characteristic in Sapporo Metropolitan Area as an advanced survey technique. By the cooperation of a taxi company that accumulates the traveling data of the taxies, the study applies data of their time instants and locations as floating-car data. With reaching to a total mileage of 60,000 km per day with 115 taxis, it is possible to understand travel speeds on not only arterials but also other roadways with different days and times, and especially this would enable understanding changing conditions of winter travel speeds, which could not be identified by using traditional approaches. The paper outlines the ongoing activities to understand the winter traffic patterns; including the changes of travel speeds throughout the year, with the influence of the winter weather, and before and after the winter road maintenance such as snowplow works, by applying data concerned in Sapporo Metropolitan Area. For the covering abstract see ITRD E143097.