Transportation Review

Data-Driven Transportation Operations and Safety

Transportation Review | Thursday, April 27, 2023

Data from TMCs and transportation can support proactive monitoring. TMCs and OCCs can integrate seamless Smart City technologies to support more efficient criminal investigations.

FREMONT, CA: Sharing information and improving communication can benefit security and transportation. A traffic management center (TMC) and an operations command center (OCC) operate similarly in transportation.

The cornerstone of any operation is gathering crucial data to deploy the right response and countermeasures, which is at the heart of a sophisticated and inventive solution. It's critical to comprehend how, in a smart city, we might use transportation data sets to assist our colleagues in safety and security.

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Most cities can gather and share data from a TMC, which is accessible to them, in the ways shown below to assist with their operations and safety. It will be assumed that every city, town, and incorporated or unincorporated region has worries about safety and security and wants to boost mobility to ease traffic and enhance the environment.

Assisting with operations and safety

With the introduction of fully functional edge devices with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities, cities will become even more of a data treasure trove.

Since operations have an ethernet or passive optical network (PON) through fiber connecting cloud services and local server-based data, TMCs are essential to a city's data interchange. Traffic lights, work zones, smart lighting, CCTV and license plate reader cameras with AI/ML capabilities, mobile devices, transit, fleet, and freight systems, and autonomous/connected cars are just a few of the sources of data that they ingest (CAVs). Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Morgan Stanley predict that CAVs will produce up to 40 terabytes of data every hour.

The number of vehicles on the roadway network, their efficiency in moving, basic safety messages from the CAVs (such as braking, acceleration, and windscreen wiper activation), the type, make, and model of the vehicles, and their license plates. From these fundamental sources, we can determine the number and types of pedestrians on sidewalks and crosswalks, the concentration and activities of people, and the location of transit, fleets, freight, and transportation.

When used effectively, this information can give communities various operations, safety, and security advantages.

The biggest ability of TMCs and OCCs in a reactive model is the capacity to identify and minimize a delay or identify and address an event. Getting precise data as soon as possible can help investigations be completed more swiftly, such as those into car accidents. Being able to foresee incidents or recognize circumstances with a high propensity to cause an incident is fundamental to the proactive model of a smart city.

Take the example of tourists visiting a city for a holiday or a special event as we start to see more people returning to cities as the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase. According to transportation data, more automobiles are entering and being seen in the city's central business district (CBD). This is indicated by sensor data and data from third parties (such as Google, Waze, Tom-Tom, HERE) showing an increase in vehicle traffic, and CCTV cameras corroborate it on approaches to the CBD that do not use analytics.

A proactive model enables two events. Secondly, by influencing traffic through phase changes in traffic signals to promote greater traffic flow and platooning, the TMC may efficiently use municipal streets. Congestion information from TMC operators can be shared with third-party applications, enabling more and safer pedestrian crossings. Second, the TMC may notify law enforcement of increased traffic and pedestrian activity, allowing them to dispatch extra officers and security guards to prevent criminal conduct and respond quickly to any events.

With a reactive model, strong cooperation between the TMC and law enforcement can aid in tracking the vehicles or people involved in events, giving investigators real-time data information, descriptions, and proof. Investigations will be more effective by giving actual evidence if law enforcement is given access to CCTV and LPR cameras and toll tags to track vehicle type, color, and movement.

A few American cities, such as Las Vegas, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Detroit, Michigan, are beginning to push advanced analytics and predictive modeling. Many implement and refine these capabilities using specialized software, algorithms, and operating experience.

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