Mapping Apeldoorn

Abstract

Navigation around urban areas is often constraining for the mobility-impaired due to the fabric of the urban landscape, and there is a need to provide maps tailored to individual abilities. Barriers to effective navigation, such as slope, surface type and dropped kerbs, differ for able-bodied pedestrians and wheelchair users. This study identifies and quantifies such differences, and develops a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) network model for the creation of accessibility maps for wheelchair users. The measurement of barriers uses Digital Elevation Models, calculation of rolling resistance, and surveys in the field using hand-held GIS. A spatial database has been constructed which contains the pedestrian route network and barriers to navigation. A GIS application runs the model, providing a user-friendly interface to define and calculate routes through the pedestrian route network that take account of impedances to accessibility. The model, application and interface has been tested with wheelchair users and the route selection provides a good correspondence with patterns of route finding already established through experience. The interface and individually tailored maps generated, provide a tool suitable to assist wheelchair users new to an area; to enable better navigation for existing users, and a means for planners to consider the way in which access is restricted for wheelchair users in their designs for more inclusive urban environments.     

Measuring the Reliability of Wheelchair User Route Planning based on Volunteered Geographic Information

The development of a wheelchair user friendly route planning application inherits a number of special requirements and details that need to be considered during the generation of the routing graph and the corresponding algorithm, making this task much more complex than car or pedestrian related applications. Each wheelchair type and, more importantly, each individual user might have different needs with regards to the way condition or other criteria. This study proposes a new approach to route planning for wheelchair users tailored for individual and personal requirements provided by the user and the calculation of a reliability factor of the computed wheelchair path. The routing graph is based on the freely available Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) retrieved from the OpenStreetMap (OSM) project. The newly created algorithm is evaluated and tested for a selected area in Bonn, Germany. A new reliability factor is introduced that gives direct feedback about the quality of the generated path. Similar factor estimations can also be utilized for multiple route planning applications where VGI or other commercial or administrative data is implemented and more detailed factors than a simple geometric representation of a street network are of importance.     

Conflation of OpenStreetMap and Mobile Sports Tracking Data for Automatic Bicycle Routing

This article investigates how workout trajectories from a mobile sports tracking application can be used to provide automatic route suggestions for bicyclists. We apply a Hidden Markov Model (HMM)‐based method for matching cycling tracks to a “bicycle network” extracted from crowdsourced OpenStreetMap (OSM) data, and evaluate its effective differences in terms of optimal routing compared with a simple geometric point‐to‐curve method. OSM has quickly established itself as a popular resource for bicycle routing; however, its high‐level of detail presents challenges for its applicability to popularity‐based routing. We propose a solution where bikeways are prioritized in map‐matching, achieving good performance; the HMM‐based method matched correctly on average 94% of the route length. In addition, we show that the extremely biased nature of the trajectory dataset, which is typical of volunteered user‐generated data, can be of high importance in terms of popularity‐based routing. Most computed routes diverged depending on whether the number of users or number of tracks was used as an indicator of popularity, which may imply varying preferences among different types of cyclists. Revising the number of tracks by diversity of users to surmount local biases in the data had a more limited effect on routing.     

Formal definition of a user-adaptive and length-optimal routing graph for complex indoor environments

Car routing solutions are omnipresent and solutions for pedestrians also exist. Furthermore, public or commercial buildings are getting bigger and the complexity of their internal structure has increased. Consequently, the need for indoor routing solutions has emerged. Some prototypes are available, but they still lack semantically-enriched modelling (e.g., access constraints, labels, etc.) and are not suitable for providing user-adaptive length-optimal routing in complex buildings. Previous approaches consider simple rooms, concave rooms, and corridors, but important characteristics such as distinct areas in huge rooms and solid obstacles inside rooms are not considered at all, although such details can increase navigation accuracy. By formally defining a weighted indoor routing graph, it is possible to create a detailed and user-adaptive model for route computation. The defined graph also contains semantic information such as room labels, door accessibility constraints, etc. Furthermore, one-way paths inside buildings are considered, as well as three-dimensional building parts, e.g., elevators or stairways. A hierarchical structure is also possible with the presented graph model.     

电子海图最短距离航线自动生成的改进方法

针对航路二叉树方法绕行碍航区处理不完备、效率低等缺点,提出了最短距离航线自动生成的改进方法。通过复杂碍航区路径的递归搜索和碍航区绕行规则的优化,实现了复杂情形下的航线自动生成;利用方向一致性判断、边界检测和动态包络矩形排斥等策略优化航线生成,并采用递归处理和动态判断的方式求解最短距离航线。此方法与已有的航路二叉树方法相比,在自动生成航线的质量和效率上都有明显提高。     

A GIS-based decision support system for analysis of route choice in congested urban road networks

Urban congestion patterns have become ubiquitous and complex. Traditional, “static” approaches are no longer adequate for analyzing network flows and conducting minimum cost routing. This paper reports on a GIS-based decision support tool for modeling dynamic network congestion and conducting minimum cost routing. The system predicts network flows at a detailed level of temporal resolution, capturing dynamic congestion propagation effects. A Route Planner module solves for the combined departure time and minimum cost routing required for a trip to reach its destination by a given deadline. The GIS provides effective decision support through its database management capabilities, graphical user interfaces and cartographic visualization. This supports analyses of “what-if?” scenarios for strategic planning and tactical management subject to unplanned network disturbances. Received: 1 October 1999/Accepted: 21 September 2000     

A fuzzy logic map matching for wheelchair navigation

Global Positioning System (GPS) plays a central role in solving the location-based needs of wheelchair users and efficient route guidance. An essential process in wheelchair navigation is matching the position obtained from GPS or other sensors on a sidewalk network. This process of map matching in turn assists in making decisions under uncertainty. However, GPS-based wheelchair navigation systems have difficulties in tracking wheelchairs in urban areas due to poor satellite availability. To overcome this, a fuzzy logic-based algorithm is applied to effectively perform matching wheelchair movements on sidewalks. Fuzzy logic, based on fuzzy reasoning concepts, in many circumstances can take noisy and imprecise input to yield numerically accurate output. Experiments on a university campus validate it practicable.     

Collaborative personalized multi‐criteria wayfinding for wheelchair users in outdoors

While finding the optimal route for users with physical disabilities and personalizing routes for each user, on the one hand, and collaborative wayfinding, on the other hand, have been addressed in the pedestrian navigation systems literature, there has not been much research on combining the two activities. The problem associated with wayfinding approaches solely based on information about network segments and personal preferences is that the information about segments in the database may not, correctly and/or adequately address user preferences. The problem associated with wayfinding approaches solely based on the ratings given to routes by wheelchair users is the lack of rates (or scores) for all possible routes between all possible origin‐destination pairs in the network. This article discusses an approach to combine these two approaches for wayfinding to augment each other's shortcomings. To evaluate the personalized wayfinding approach, we utilize a route index, called a comparison index. The results show that with a P‐value of 9%, the routes obtained from our approach are more accessible than the routes obtained from another approach developed in another study. To evaluate the collaborative wayfinding approach, a Monte Carlo simulation was conducted which reflects the updates in routes as users' feedbacks become available.     

Interpreting map usage patterns using geovisual analytics and spatio-temporal clustering

Extracting meaningful information from the growing quantity of spatial data is a challenge. The issues are particularly evident with spatio-temporal data describing movement. Such data typically corresponds to movement of humans, animals and machines in the physical environment. This article considers a special form of movement data generated through human–computer interactions with online web maps. As a user interacts with a web map using a mouse as a pointing tool, invisible trajectories are generated. By examining the spatial features on the map where the mouse cursor visits, a user's interests and experience can be detected. To analyse this valuable information, we have developed a geovisual analysis tool which provides a rich insight into such user behaviour. The focus of this paper is on a clustering technique which we apply to mouse trajectories to group trajectories with similar behavioural properties. Our experiments reveal that it is possible to identify experienced and novice users of web mapping environments using an incremental clustering approach. The results can be used to provide personalised map interfaces to users and provide appropriate interventions for completing spatial tasks.     

The global climate monitor system: from climate data-handling to knowledge dissemination

This paper summarizes our work on building a data model and a geovisualization tool that provides access to global climate data: the Global Climate Monitor Web Viewer. Linked to this viewer, a complete set of climate-environmental indicators capable of displaying climate patterns on a global scale that is accessible to any potential user (scientists and laypeople) will be built and published using the same online application. The data currently available correspond to the CRU TS3.21 version of the Climate Research Unit (University of East Anglia) database – a product that provides data at a spatial resolution of half of a degree in latitude and longitude, spanning January 1901 to December 2012, on a monthly basis. Since January 2013, the datasets feeding the system have been the GHCN-CAMS temperature dataset and the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) First Guess precipitation dataset. Climatologists, hydrologists, planners and non-experts users such as media workers, policymakers, non-profit organizations, teachers or students, can access useful climatological information through the Global Climate Monitor system.     

REMOTE SENSING IN THE STUDY OF LANDSCAPE STRUCTURE

Applications of remote sensing, in particular space imagery, in the study of the physical structure of landscapes are described. Special attention is paid to space imagery's capacity for instantaneous analysis of extensive areas, its potential for combined use with more traditional methods, and the multiscalar quality of the data obtained. Joint use of a variety of image products and imaging sequences provides diverse information which can be integrated for a more comprehensive understanding of landscape structure in a variety of physical environments. Translated from: Izvestiya Vsesoyuznogo geograficheskogo obshchestva, 1985, No. 3, pp. 266-270.     

基于瞬时水深模型的最短时间航线自动生成算法

优化的海图航线设计是舰船安全、经济航行的先导和基础。本文提出了一种基于瞬时水深模型的最短时间航线自动生成算法。基于海图静态水深和海域潮位模型,构建瞬时水深模型,动态提取碍航区,并进行航线可行性分析;利用动态规划思想,进行最短时间路径搜索;采用矩形包络分析、相近节点搜索和冗余点删除等策略,进行航线优化。实验表明：本文所提算法,能动态分析航线可行性,搜索最短时间航线; 与传统的最短时间航线算法相比,所提算法可提取航行时间更短的航线;所提取的最短时间航线,与舰船航行的起始时间和舰船航速相关。     

Routing through open spaces – A performance comparison of algorithms

Abstract

Finding the shortest path through open spaces is a well-known challenge for pedestrian routing engines. A common solution is routing on the open space boundary, which causes in most cases an unnecessarily long route. A possible alternative is to create a subgraph within the open space. This paper assesses this approach and investigates its implications for routing engines. A number of algorithms (Grid, Spider-Grid, Visibility, Delaunay, Voronoi, Skeleton) have been evaluated by four different criteria: (i) Number of additional created graph edges, (ii) additional graph creation time, (iii) route computation time, (iv) routing quality. We show that each algorithm has advantages and disadvantages depending on the use case. We identify the algorithms Visibility with a reduced number of edges in the subgraph and Spider-Grid with a large grid size to be a good compromise in many scenarios.     

New analytical and numerical approaches for geopotential modeling

 The standard analytical approach which is applied for constructing geopotential models OSU86 and earlier ones, is based on reducing the boundary value equation to a sphere enveloping the Earth and then solving it directly with respect to the potential coefficients _n,m . In an alternative procedure, developed by Jekeli and used for constructing the models OSU91 and EGM96, at first an ellipsoidal harmonic series is developed for the geopotential and then its coefficients _n,m ^e are transformed to the unknown _n,m . The second solution is more exact, but much more complicated. The standard procedure is modified and a new simple integral formula is derived for evaluating the potential coefficients. The efficiency of the standard and new procedures is studied numerically. In these solutions the same input data are used as for constructing high-degree parts of the EGM96 models. From two sets of _n,m (n≤360,|m|≤n), derived by the standard and new approaches, different spectral characteristics of the gravity anomaly and the geoid undulation are estimated and then compared with similar characteristics evaluated by Jekeli's approach (`etalon' solution). The new solution appears to be very close to Jekeli's, as opposed to the standard solution. The discrepancies between all the characteristics of the new and `etalon' solutions are smaller than the corresponding discrepancies between two versions of the final geopotential model EGM96, one of them (HDM190) constructed by the block-diagonal least squares (LS) adjustment and the other one (V068) by using Jekeli's approach. On the basis of the derived analytical solution a new simple mathematical model is developed to apply the LS technique for evaluating geopotential coefficients. Received: 12 December 2000 / Accepted: 21 June 2001     

OpenStreetMap data quality enrichment through awareness raising and collective action tools—experiences from a European project

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, several research projects show interest in employing volunteered geographic information (VGI) to improve their systems through using up-to-date and detailed data. The European project CAP4Access is one of the successful examples of such international-wide research projects that aims to improve the accessibility of people with restricted mobility using crowdsourced data. In this project, OpenStreetMap (OSM) is used to extend OpenRouteService, a well-known routing platform. However, a basic challenge that this project tackled was the incompleteness of OSM data with regards to certain information that is required for wheelchair accessibility (e.g. sidewalk information, kerb data, etc.). In this article, we present the results of initial assessment of sidewalk data in OSM at the beginning of the project as well as our approach in awareness raising and using tools for tagging accessibility data into OSM database for enriching the sidewalk data completeness. Several experiments have been carried out in different European cities, and discussion on the results of the experiments as well as the lessons learned are provided. The lessons learned provide recommendations that help in organizing better mapping party events in the future. We conclude by reporting on how and to what extent the OSM sidewalk data completeness in these study areas have benefited from the mapping parties by the end of the project.     

绝对空间定位到相对空间感知的行人导航研究趋势

相对空间比绝对空间更易于被人理解。行人导航本质是以相对于人的导航环境视觉与空间等相对语义来动态引导行人的过程,即相对导航。目前,GIS导航理论以绝对定位与空间建模为基础,没有充分理解人对相对语义的认知差异,缺乏基于相对语义的导航理论模型。首先,总结了以绝对空间定位与表达为基础的行人导航研究,提出了相对空间感知的行人导航研究新方向。然后,剖析了相对导航研究的理论研究需求,如:行人相对导航数据采集与建模、行人导航环境相对语义的提取、行人导航行为的自动感知分析、行人导航的多感官交互机制、行人导航路径选择与确认机制等。最后,展望了未来行人导航研究与重要创新的3个阶段。     

Extracting commuter-specific destination hotspots from trip destination data – comparing the boro taxi service with Citi Bike in NYC

ABSTRACT

Taxi trajectories from urban environments allow inferring various information about the transport service qualities and commuter dynamics. It is possible to associate starting and end points of taxi trips with requirements of individual groups of people and even social inequalities. Previous research shows that due to service restrictions, boro taxis have typical customer destination locations on selected Saturdays: many drop-off clusters appear near the restricted zone, where it is not allowed to pick up customers and only few drop-off clusters appear at complicated crossing. Detected crossings imply recent infrastructural modifications. We want to follow up on these results and add one additional group of commuters: Citi Bike users. For selected Saturdays in June 2015, we want to compare the destinations of boro taxi and Citi Bike users. This is challenging due to manifold differences between active mobility and motorized road users, and, due to the fact that station-based bike sharing services are restricted to stations. Start and end points of trips, as well as the volumes in between rely on specific numbers of bike sharing stations. Therefore, we introduce a novel spatiotemporal assigning procedure for areas of influence around static bike sharing stations for extending available computational methods.     

ColorBrewer.org: An Online Tool for Selecting Colour Schemes for Maps

Abstract

Choosing effective colour schemes for thematic maps is surprisingly difficult. ColorBrewer is an online tool designed to take some of the guesswork out of this process by helping users select appropriate colour schemes for their specific mapping needs by considering: the number of data classes; the nature of their data (matched with sequential, diverging and qualitative schemes); and the end-use environment for the map (e.g., CRT, LCD, printed, projected, photocopied). ColorBrewer contains 'learn more' tutorials to help guide users, prompts them to test-drive colour schemes as both map and legend, and provides output in five colour specification systems.