Intermodal Transportation Network Custom Evaluators for Environmental Policy Analysis Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making Rochester Institute of Technology J. Scott Hawker, Aaron Falzarano, Sai Ketha, Karl Korfmacher, James Winebrake, Steve Zilora University of Delaware James Corbett http://lecdm.rit.edu ESRI User Conference 2007-06-21 J. Scott Hawker hawker@mail.rit.edu
Presentation Objectives Describe our goal: Identifying public policies that leverage intermodal transportation (truck, rail, water) to reduce the environmental impact of freight transportation Describe a GIS-based computing infrastructure that enables the search for least-cost origin-destination freight transport routes Least Cost in terms of distance, time, operating cost, energy consumed, and/or pollutant emissions Motivate and describe the development of a GISbased decision support system to enable policy analysts to evaluate the impact of policy options Trade off policy costs and benefits
Environmental Problem Freight Transportation represents about 7% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product, and is growing In 2002, 64% of domestic freight shipments, by weight, were transported by truck, 10% by rail, and 3% by water Freight transportation is a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses and other emissions in the U.S. 8% of fossil fuel CO 2 emissions 8% of total CO 2 emissions 27% of NOx emissions 50% of emissions from mobile sources 30% of 10 micron diameter particulate matter (PM-10) from mobile sources [See the conference paper for citations of the data sources]
Trucking is Cheap, Fast, and Flexible, But Not Good on the Environment Mode Cost ($/TEU-mile) Energy (BTU/TEU-mile) CO2 (g/teu-mile) SOx (g/teu-mile) Truck $1.70 12,850 1000 0.22 Rail $1.60 1,850 140 0.03 Water $1.50 3,400 290 3.96 TEU: Twenty-foot Equivalent Freight Container Unit
Intermodal Transfers are Not Free 30 2,000 500 $25.00 12 -- Rail-to-Truck 820 57,030 500 $50.00 16 -- Water-to- Truck 830 57,720 500 $50.00 12 -- Water-to-Rail 3.96 290 3,400 $1.50 -- 25 Water 0.03 140 1,850 $1.60 -- 35 Rail 0.22 1000 12,850 $1.70 -- 50 Truck SOx (g/teu-mi or g/teu) CO 2 (g/teu-mi or g/teu) Energy (BTU/TEU-mi or BTU/TEU) Cost ($/TEU-mi or $/TEU) Transfer Time (hr) Average Speed (mph) Mode or Intermodal Transfer
Global Warming May Become as Important as Time and Cost Time and cost may no longer be the primary factors to consider in freight transportation Reducing energy consumption and harmful emissions may become equally (or more) important to society and the economy compared to reducing time and cost
Policy Options What policies will encourage the use of transportation modes that better balance the concerns of time, cost, energy consumption, greenhouse gasses, and airborne pollutants that impact health? Provide taxes and rebates that change the cost structure among transportation modes Mandate pollution control technologies and emissions caps (with associated cost impacts) Build more ports and other intermodal transfer facilities Educate consumers and shippers on the environmental impact of their transportation decisions etc. To make informed decisions, the policy maker needs to analyze the impact of policy options to identify appropriate trade-offs
The Geographic Intermodal Freight Transportation (GIFT) tool is a decision support tool for freight transportation policy makers
A GIFT Usage Scenario Move freight from New York to Jacksonville Least Cost: Mostly waterway Least CO2: Mostly rail with some barge Least Time: Truck
GIFT Implementation
Elements in the Intermodal Transportation Network At a transfer facility, provide artificial links that participate in each of the connected single-mode networks The transfer links have attributes for transfer cost, time, emissions, etc.
Network Attributes Define Costs Truck Segment Costs Distance Time Operating Cost Energy CO 2 NOx Add attributes to network using ArcCatalog Network Analyst uses attribute values to search for routes that minimize the total route costs of a selected attribute
Custom Evaluators for Network Attributes Rail Segment Costs Distance Time Operating Cost 14.3 mi. Energy CO 2 NOx Rail_Cost_Evaluator Rail_NOx_Evaluator Truck-Rail Segment Costs Time Operating Cost Energy CO 2 NOx Truck-Rail_Cost_Evaluator Truck-Rail_NOx_Evaluator Truck Segment Costs Distance Time Operating Cost 5.2 mi. Energy CO 2 NOx Truck_Cost_Evaluator Truck_NOx_Evaluator
Custom Evaluators Can Compute Costs Using Network Data and External Models Rail Segment Costs Distance Speed Operating Cost 14.3 mi. Energy CO 2 NOx Network Dataset Rail_Operating_Cost_Evaluator Rail_NOx_Evaluator C# modules enable complex computation External Operating Cost Database Regional NOx Dispersion and Inventory Models External Models
Evaluator and EvaluatorEditor Classes INetworkEvaluatorSetup «subsystem» ArcObjects Framework Implement ArcObjects Interfaces INetworkEvaluator IEvaluatorEditor BaseCostEvaluator TruckCO2Evaluator + QueryValue ( ) + «get» DisplayName ( ) + «get» Name ( ) + «get» CLSID ( ) + CLSID UID + EvaluatorCLSID BaseCostEvaluatorEditor TruckCO2EvaluatorEditor - RegisterFunction ( ) - UnregisterFunction ( ) - ArcGISCategoryRegistration ( ) - ArcGISCategoryUnregistration ( ) + «get» EvaluatorCLSID ( ) Common ( base ) implementation Mode and attribute-specific implementations
INetworkEvaluator.QueryValue() is the Workhorse public override object QueryValue( INetworkElement element, IRow row) { // Load cost factor values from database if not already loaded if (! CostFactors.loaded ) { base.loadcostfactors(); } // Get length of the network segment from the network dataset double lengthvalue = (double) element.get_attributevaluebyname(common.length_attribute_name); } // Compute cost using this attribute s cost factor and the segment length return (object) (CostFactors.Truck_CO2 * lengthvalue);
Deploying Custom Evaluators Register C# Classes with ArcObjects Framework Use ArcCatalog to associate attribute with evaluator
Autogenerated Code Goal: Policy analyst can define new attributes, and custom evaluator code is automatically generated The regular structure of the C# code allowed us to define template files with text strings which the code generators replace with terms that the analyst enters %TRANSPORTATION_MODE% Rail %COST_FACTOR%, SOx (Later) Automate installation and registration of evaluators and editors
Policy Costs Are in an External Database
Different Datasets Capture Different Policy Options (Detail from previous figure)
Make Manage Analysis Values Available in ArcMap Network Analyst Toolbar BaseCommand IApplication - application ManageAnalysisValues - RegisterFunction ( ) - UnregisterFunction ( ) + OnClick ( ) AnalysisValuesForm GetSetNameForm ManageSetsForm
Configure the Network Analyst Solver Select attribute to minimize Accumulate attributes
Network Analyst s Default Tools Provide Clunky but Useful User Interface Show Route on Map Total Route Costs Directions window shows truck-train transfer
Layer Symbology Provides a Cleaner Map Display
Next Steps: Policy Analysis User Interface Needs A clean and intuitive display of policy scenario (cost factors, route origin and destination, etc.) and results (accumulated costs for each of the transportation modes and visualization of the routes) The ability to visualize and compare results of different policy scenarios The ability to save and restore scenarios for later modification and analysis The ability to annotate, discuss, and create documentation of analysis sessions for inclusion in analysis reports
Next Steps: Computation Congestion models to reflect the increased emissions in congested highways, railways, and ports Capacity models for infrastructure improvement scenarios New truck/train transfer facilities New or improved ports New or improved highways Improved ship and barge canal locks Disaster response and recovery Emissions inventories and dispersion models and health impact models to understand policy options that move emissions away from population centers Access to Federal Highway Administration s Electronic Freight Management Initiative and the Environmental Protection Agency s AIRNow program Move to ArcGIS Server Network Analyst with web-based UI
Conclusions ESRI s ArcGIS system with Network Analysis is a powerful platform for intermodal freight transportation policy analysis Extensible user interface and network analysis custom evaluators allowed us to provide basic features that address the initial needs of a policy analyst C#-based extensions with ArcObjects enable us to add more powerful user interaction and environmental model computation Including integration with numerous external models and data sources Our Geographic Intermodal Freight Transportation (GIFT) implementation puts us on the path toward providing a powerful tool for understanding the myriad details and implications of environmental policy for intermodal freight transportation
Contact Information Scott Hawker +1 585-475-2705 hawker@mail.rit.edu RIT Laboratory for Environmental Computing and Decision Making http://lecdm.rit.edu