A multi-objective genetic algorithm approach to design optimal zoning systems for freight transportation planning

Chandra, Aitichya; Sharath, M.N.; Pani, Agnivesh; Sahu, Prasanta K.

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103037

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In this example, there is no dominant "gravitational force" to construct one ClockBoard around. ClockBoards could be constructed for each of these four cities, raising the question: how to design zoning systems for polycentric regions, or large regions that contain multiple monocentric settlements [6]? We explored the possibility of 'joining' ClockBoard systems that met, with the 'dominant' ClockBoard associated with the larger city, but the results were not promising and we suspect that a new approach altogether, perhaps building on experience from Computational Fluid Dynamics, where grid generation procedures need to take into account multiltiple factors [32].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A broader point is that too much academic research focusses only on a single city, without going to the effort of generalising the findings to multiple cities [6,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many cases it is useful for zones to be smaller near the centre of the study region surrounding cities. This truism is often reflected in traffic analysis zones (TAZ) used for transport modelling, which tend to be smaller near central areas where more detail is most important for policy-relevant outputs [6].…”

Section: Annuli Radiimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Prior work has demonstrated the sensitivity of urban analysis outcomes to zone system design, from the way cities are visualized to the impact of the nature of 'traffic analysis zones' on transport model outputs. In fact, this problem is a concise definition of the broader "zoning problem" that starts from the assumption that zones are to be composed of one or more basic statistical units (BSUs) [5,6] . Although the range of outcomes is a finite combinatorial optimisation problem (which combination of BSU-zone aggregations satisfy/optimize some pre-determined criteria) the zoning problem is still hard: "there are a tremendously large number of alternative partitions, a similar number of different results, and only a slightly smaller number of different interpretations" [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ClockBoard: a zoning system for urban analysis

Lovelace¹,

Tennekes²,

Carlino³

2021

Preprint

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Zones are the building blocks of urban analysis. Fields ranging from demographics to transport planning routinely use zones — spatially contiguous areal units that break-up continuous space into discrete chunks — as the foundation for diverse analysis techniques. Key methods such as origin-destination analysis and choropleth mapping rely on zones with appropriate sizes, shapes and coverage. However, existing zoning systems are sub-optimal in many urban analysis contexts, for three main reasons: 1) available administrative zoning systems are often based on somewhat arbitrary factors; 2) evidence-based zoning systems are often highly variable in size and shape, reducing their utility for inter-city comparison; and 3) official zoning systems are non-existent, not publicly available, or are too coarse, hindering urban analysis in many places, especially in low income nations. To tackle these three key issues we developed a flexible, open and scalable solution: the ClockBoard zoning system. ClockBoard consists of 12 segments divided by concentric rings of increasing distance, creating a consistent visual frame of reference for cities that is reminiscent of a clock and a dartboard. This paper outlines the design, potential uses and merits of the ClockBoard zoning system and discusses future avenues for research and development of new zoning systems based on the experience.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A broader point is that too much academic research focusses only on a single city, without going to the effort of generalising the findings to multiple cities [6,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Annuli Radiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

ClockBoard: a zoning system for urban analysis

Lovelace¹,

Tennekes²,

Carlino³

2021

Preprint

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show abstract

“…In the age of constrained survey assets and ever-developing demand for disaggregated travel information, examining the spatial transferability of models has become a pillar of travel demand analysis [28]. An overview of previous studies [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] shows that various measures could be used to assess the transferability of the estimated models. For instance, Atherton & Ben-Akiva [37] used transferability test statistic to assess the transferability of work-trip modal-split model.…”

Section: Application Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Freight Production Models Transferable between Urban and Suburban Areas? Guiding Model Transfer in Geographically Sprawling Indian Cities

Balla

Sahu

Pani

2021

J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. A

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Investigating the spatial transferability of freight generation (FG) models is an imperative research need to enable the usage of formerly estimated model parameters in new application contexts with or without the usage of local data. By understanding how to transfer models (and to what extent), planning agencies in large countries like India can save freight survey costs in regions where they lack the institutional capacity and resources. Due to geographically sprawling nature of most of the Indian cities, an important research question regarding transferability is whether the models developed for urban areas can provide accurate estimates of freight activity in the suburban areas or vice versa. This paper aims to provide two solutions to this problem: (i) compare the relative effectiveness of transferability depending up on the direction of transfer and (ii) assess which models can be transferred and which cannot. Data collected from seven cities are used for this study. A set of freight production (FP) models are developed using this data to understand the differential influence of geographical location and industry segment on the model coefficients. The estimated FP models show that suburban establishments exhibit significantly higher FP rates as compared to other establishments. Subsequently, transferability direction and accuracy are determined using standard metrics such as transfer R 2 , relative aggregate transfer error and transfer index. The transferability findings will provide actionable insights into development of FP models in regions with data constraints, which is of great value in an era of declining budgets for travel surveys.

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