ADVANCED TRAVELLER INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR CHANDIGARH CITY USING GIS

ADVANCED TRAVELLER INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR CHANDIGARH CITY USING GIS Bhupendra Singh 1, Ankit Gupta 2 and Sanjeev Suman 3 1 Former M.Tech. Student, Transportation Engineering, Civil Engineering Department, NIT Hamirpur (HP) 177005. Email: bhupendra2211@gmail.com (Corresponding Author) 2 Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, IIT (BHU) Varanasi (UP) 221005. Email: anki_ce11@yahoo.co.in 3 Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, College of Technology, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar (U. S. Nagar), Uttarakhand 263145. Email: sanjeevsumanemail@gmail.com ABSTRACT Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is an area of wide research in developed countries. Significant research work has been done in this area in the past many decades. In the developing countries like India, China, Brazil, etc. much of the work is going on in this field. ITS includes the application of advanced technologies to solve transportation related problems. There are many sub branches of ITS out of which one of the most widely used is Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS). As a traveller the biggest problem faced is the unavailability of the information. This problem can be solved using ATIS, which can provide the information regarding the basic facilities, bus routes, emergency Services etc. and these information proves to be very vital for an user who is new to that city. As Geographical Information System (GIS) is a powerful tool for storage, graphical representation and analysis of information of large data. These all features make it very useful for the development of ATIS. In this study, a comprehensive framework comprising of system architecture, development methodology, and salient features of a GIS based ATIS is developed for the Chandigarh City. The developed system is able to provide the information about the basic facilities of the city and help the users in planning and decision making about their trips by providing shortest routes, nearest facilities and bus routes. This system can be stationed for use at public places like KIOSK, etc. and can be used in computers at homes and offices. Keywords: Advanced Traveller Information System, Intelligent Transportation System, Geographical Information System, ArcGIS. 1. Introduction Growing traffic problems are a major concern for the countries all over the world. Almost every country of the world whether developing or developed, facing problems in the management of transportation facilities (Singh and Gupta, 2013). Transportation infrastructure is growing but the traffic population is growing at a much faster rate which is the main cause of traffic related problems. This is a genuine problem because it is almost impossible to match the transport infrastructure rate with the traffic population growth rate. India's freight volume has increased at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.08% and vehicles have grown at 10.76%, the road length was increasing at a rate of 4.01% only. So the focus of all researchers is shifting from the development of the infrastructure development to the optimal use of the already available facilities. Science have made progress by leaps and bound in the past century, new technologies have been invented to solve different problems. Many newly invented technologies also provide the help in solving traffic related problems. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is relatively a new branch of Transportation Engineering which studies and implies new technologies to solve the different traffic and transportation problems. For the optimum use of the available transportation infrastructure, ITS is being developed and used all over the world. ITS is an integrated system that implements a broad range of communication, control, vehicle sensing and electronics technologies to help in monitoring and managing traffic flow, reducing congestion, providing optimum routes to travellers, enhancing productivity of the system, and saving lives, time and money. ITS aims to improve the safety and efficiency of the transportation system. ITS has many sub branches concentrating on different aspects traffic safety and management. The current study concentrates on the Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS). Advanced Traveller Information System (ATIS) implements a wide range of technologies, such as internet web sites, telephones,

cellular phones, television, radio, etc. to assist travellers and drivers in making informed decisions regarding trip departures, optimum routes, and available modes of travel. 2. Study Area In this study Chandigarh is taken as the study area for the development of the ATIS. Chandigarh is known to be the first planned city of India. The study area is bounded by the latitudes 30.806141º N & 30.652385º N and longitudes 76.667007º E & 76.86478º E. The base map of the Chandigarh city is shown in Figure 1. There are two main reasons for selecting Chandigarh as our study area. According to the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) survey (2011): Chandigarh has 441284 vehicles per 1000 km of road length whereas Delhi has 243783 vehicles per 1000 km of road length. Chandigarh has 227 cars per 1000 people, whereas Delhi has 117 cars per 1000 persons. So it can be concluded from the above statistics that the vehicle density with respect to road length and population in Chandigarh is almost double than that of the Delhi. So in such scenario Advanced Traveller Information System, installed in the vehicles, which can provide user pre trip and en route guidance can be really helpful to the travellers. Second, Chandigarh being the capital of the two states i.e. Haryana and Punjab attracts large numbers of travellers and commuters. Information regarding the basic facilities of the city such as nearest facilities, shortest routes, bus routes, emergency services, etc. becomes a challenge for them. So in this scenario a well-developed ATIS installed at public places (KIOSKs) and in personal computers (connected with internet) for personal use will prove to be very helpful. 3. Literature Review There are mainly two platforms i.e. Geographic Information System (GIS) and World Wide Web (WWW) which are largely used for the development of the ATIS. Both the platforms have their distinct advantages such as GIS allows large data to be effectively processed, stored, analyzed, logically associated, and graphical displayed and WWW platform makes the system available accessible to a much larger user population. Some of the studies of both the platforms has been included in the literature review. Peng (1997) presented a GIS based automatic transit traveller information system (ATTIS). The system was based on the idea to provide the users optimal trip option with least travel time between the traveller's origin and destination, including walking, waiting, transfer, and in-vehicle time based on their origins, destinations, and bus schedules and/or real-time information of bus locations. Wu et al. (2003) gave an ATIS based on the Web service and wireless communication technologies and in order to make the data more reliable and useful for the commuters, the methods of lost data reconstruction and travel time prediction were also proposed and examined in the study. An interpolation method was used for the lost data construction based on the periodical behavior of the traffic. Kumar et al. (2005) developed a GIS based advanced traveller information system for the Hyderabad city, India under ArcView GIS environment. The developed system provides information about basic facilities in Hyderabad City, such as road networks, hospitals, government and private offices, stadiums, bus and railway stations, and places of tourist interests. Hasnat et al. (2006) developed a similar system using web and wireless communication technologies. The system works in two different modules 1. Web Based Service, which provides the service to the user both in text and map format. 2. SMS Based Service, which receives the queries from the users in the pre-defined format and then provide the user information. In the computation of the total travel time each road/ edge is given a weight based on some constraints as traffic jam etc. and on the basis of this the travel time is calculated. Singh and kumar (2010) presented an overview of a web based ATIS for developing countries keeping in mind that local traffic, roadway, signalization, demographic, topological, and social conditions in developing countries are quite different from those in developed countries. This was a three tier architecture system consisting of presentation tier, application tier and data tier. Pal and singh (2011) gave a systematic overview of a GIS system that can be used for structuring, storing and dissemination transit information for transit networks for Metropolitan Cities in India which was capable of handling real-time information. The system is also based on similar three tier architecture. 4. Methodology Geographic Information System (GIS) platform is used to develop the ATIS. Using GIS environment to develop the ATIS offers many advantages such as it allows large data to be effectively processed, stored, analyzed, logically associated, and graphical displayed. ArcGIS 10.0 software developed by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) is used in the development of the system. ArcGIS is a very powerful software which provides geographic and spatial analysis and can be used in different ways. In the study the software will be used for the preparation of different layers of the facilities of the Chandigarh city and their database. ArcGIS 10.0 also provides the facility to add

customized features through the programming in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). VBA is the implementation of the Microsoft s programming language Visual Basic 6. VBA is widely used to develop user-defined functions, automation and other low level functionalities. So the features for giving the information about the different tourist places of the city and bus routes between a selected source and destination will be added. Methodology flow chart of the system is given below in figure 1. Proposed system will provide following information: Shortest Routes among different places Closest Facilities Service Area of the facilities Basic Information about the Chandigarh city. Information about tourist destinations of the city Bus Routes between a source and destination Information about the emergency services of the city. Problem Statement Data Collection and Design of ATIS High resolution Map of the city City Bus Service Time Table Information regarding other facilities Constraints on the Roads Emergency Services Information Digitization & preparation of the different feature layers DataBase Creation 1. Roads 2. Transport Facilities ArcGIS 10.0 Customization with Visual Basic 6.0 3. Educational Institutes 4. Hospitals 5. Offices Shortest Path Nearest Facilities Service Area of Facilities Bus Routes Tourist Places Emergency Services 6. Tourist Places 7. Hotels 8. ATM Conclusions and Recommend 9. Petrol Pumps 10. Police Stations 11.Sectors Figure 1: Methodology Flow Chart

5. Themes and Layers Different features were digitized to prepare layers of different facilities. As many layers as possible have been included in the system to provide the user more and more information to the users. Approximately 5000 major and minor roads, 300 ATMs, 150 Hospitals, 170 schools and colleges, 100 bus stops, 80 government and private offices have been included in the system. Apart from these layers of major tourist attractions, police stations, petrol pumps and sectors have also been included in the system. Digitized map with all the layers is shown in figure 2. The system consists of the following layers: Roads Hotels Transportation Facilities ATM Educational Institute Petrol Pumps Hospitals Police Stations Offices Sectors Tourist Places Figure 2: Digitized Map of Chandigarh City 6. System Modules: 6.1 Shortest Route Module: The Shortest Route is calculated by using Dijkastra s shortest route algorithms. Both the performance measures i.e. distance and time are taken to find the shortest route. An average travel speed of 30kmph is adopted for the calculation of travel time for all the roads. Travel time is calculated by dividing the total travel distance by the speed of 30kmph. Developed system is capable of providing shortest route among the user given points. Figure 3 shows the shortest route between four points:

Figure 3: Shortest Route between Point 1 to 4 via Point 3 and 4 The route shown in above figure is not the optimal route with respect to the distance travelled. In the above case system calculated the shortest route based on the order of points given by the user but if the user wants optimal route neglecting the order of points, with shortest travelling distance then the system rearranges the order of the points to give the final optimal route with minimum travelling distance, so if the user want the optimum route between his desired points irrespective of the order of the points he can check the optimal route box and the system will give him optimal route between the points by rearranging the order of the points. Figure 4 shows the optimal route between the points: Figure 4: Optimal Route between the Points If the user want to avoid some roads due to poor road condition or traffic condition he can simply put barrier on those roads and while calculating the shortest route system will avoid these roads and will give shortest route without these roads. Figure 5 shows the shortest route by avoid barrier marked roads:

Figure 5: Shortest Route by Applying Restrictions on Certain Roads The system has two different networks one for light vehicles only which includes both major and minor roads of the city and other for the heavy vehicles which includes major roads only. Figure 6 shows the shortest route for heavy and light vehicles. For Heavy Vehicles For Light Vehicles Figure 6: Shortest Route between the Points for Heavy and Light Vehicles 6.2 Closest Facility Module: With the help of closest facility module the user can find out the closest facilities from their own locations. The user can choose the facility about which he wants to get the information i.e. hospitals, ATMs, petrol pumps, schools etc., and the number of closest facilities he want to know about and the system gives them route to the closest facilities from his locations. Figure 7 shows the route to the four closest facilities from the location of the users. Figure 7: Four Closest Facilities from the User s Location

6.3 Service Area Module: As the name suggests with this module let the user to find out the service area of any facility situated in the location. This module calculate the area which is accessible by network layer within given parameter constraint i.e. time or distance and based on that it calculates the service area of that facility. Shaded area in figure 8 shows the service area of two facilities: Figure 8: Service Area of the Selected Facility 6.4 About Chandigarh: This is the first customized feature which has been added in the system to give the user basic information about the Chandigarh city. As shown in figure 9 when user clicks any of the three buttons i.e. History, Geography and demography, the information about that comes in the text box of the about Chandigarh. So with the help of this feature the user can get the information about the history, geography and demography of the system. Figure 9: About Chandigarh Window 6.5 Tourist Places Module: This is second customized feature which has been added in the system mainly for the tourist population of the city to provide information about the famous tourist places of the city. Tourist place Details window consists of a combo-box containing a list of famous tourist destinations of the city, when a user selects a tourist place and click detail button the information about that particular facility is displayed in the text box along with its picture in the picture box. Figure 10 shows the tourist place detail window:

Figure 10: Tourist Places Detail window 6.6 Bus Time Table Module: The Bus Time Table module is also added in the system through customization to provide the users, information about the various bus routes of the city. The bus time table window consists of a combo-box with list of all the bus routes of the city. When the user selects his/her desired bus number and clicks the search button, the route of selected bus is shown in the text box and the schedule of the bus is also displayed in the label above the text box. Figure 11 shows the Bus Time Table window of the system. Figure 11: Bus Time Table Window 6.7 Emergency Services Module: The information and most important numbers of the emergency services of the city is one of the most needy and hardly available information. To help the users with this problem, Emergency Services module has been added in the system. The module consists of the information about the emergency services such as hospitals, fire brigade, police station, etc. Emergency Services window which consists of the buttons of different emergency services. When the user clicks any of these buttons, it further open up the window of that particular service and in this window when the user selects a particular facility in the combo-box list and clicks the details button the phone number and address of that particular facility is displayed in the text box. Figure 12 shows the Emergency Services and Hospitals Information windows:

Figure 12: Emergency Services and Hospitals Information Window 7. Future Scope The developed system is GIS based basic ATIS for Chandigarh City. System can further be developed to give various real time information such as current condition of traffic on the road, current position of emergency vehicles on the road etc. the system can further be developed in to a web GIS based EMS which will make it much more accessible to a larger population. Mobile app of the system will make it more accessible. 8. Conclusion The developed GIS based ATIS can give user some useful information such as closest facility, his location, shortest route between his origin and destination, city bus routes, etc. These information can be very useful for the planning of the trip. If the user s trip will be well planned then he has to spend less time on the roads which will save the fuel cost and also checks the adverse pollution effects due to vehicles. The proposed system is useful to the users who are relatively new to the city. They can use the system to get the information about of the basic facilities of the city. Chandigarh, being the capital city of two states is a popular tourist destination in North Indian region, so the developed system can prove to be very useful. The system has a simple user interface. Many day to day needed basic facilities such as Petrol pumps, ATMs, Hospitals, etc. are added in the system to give user information about these facilities. The developed package can be used at different public places areas in the KIOSKS to give information to the travellers. References: 1. Hasnat, M. A., Haque, M. M., and Khan M., (2005), GIS Based Real Time Traveler Information System: An Efficient Approach to Minimize Travel Time Using Available Media, available from http://www.bracu.ac.bd/directories/www/?code=56014. 2. Kumar, P., Singh, V., and Reddy, D., (2001), Advanced Traveler Information System for Hyderabad City. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, VOL. 6, NO. 1, pp. 26-37. 3. Pal, S. and Singh, V., (2011), GIS Based Transit Information System for Metropolitan Cities in India, Proceedings of Geospatial World Forum, 18 21 January 2011, Paper Reference No.: PN-250. 4. Peng, Z. R., (1997), A Methodology for Design of a Gis-Based Automatic Transit Traveler Information System, Comput., Environ. and Urban Systems. Vol. 21. No. 5, pp. 359-372. 5. Singh, B. and Gupta, A., (2013), Advancements in Intelligent Transportation Systems: A Review, in the proceedings of International Conference on Advance Trends in Engineering and Technology (ICATET), 2013, Jaipur, India. 6. Singh, V. and Kumar, P., (2011), Web-Based Advanced Traveler Information System for Developing Countries, Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 136, No. 9, pp. 836-845. 7. Wu, C. H., Su, D. C., Chang, J., Wei C. C., Ho, J. M., Lin, K. J., and Lee, D.T., (2003), An Advanced Traveler Information System With Emerging Network Technologies, in the proceedings of 6th Asia-Pacific Conf. Intelligent Transportation Systems Forum.