Utilising dynamic traffic and transport information in freight

transport

Ragnhild Wahl
SINTEF Technology and Society, Transport Safety and Informatics, Norway.
Adress: NO-7465 Trondheim - Phone: +47 73 59 46 60 - E-mail: ragnhild.wahl@sintef.no

ABSTRACT

Providing excellent customer service within freight transport involves both fulfilling the
transport assignment and informing the customer about status and estimated arrival time.
Dynamic traffic and transport information is an important input for decision making regarding
route choices and for estimation of travel times. It is of great importance that the transport
companies have access to such information and are able to utilise it for transport planning and
customer information.

This paper presents experience with utilising dynamic traffic and transport information in a
freight transport context. The paper is based on the research project "Dynamic information
services within the transport sector, DynamIT", which aims at developing a system for
establishing dynamic traffic information.

KEYWORDS

Dynamic traffic information, travel times, logistics, freight transport, planning.

BACKGROUND

Excellent customer service is a premise for obtaining and maintaining competitive

advantages. Efficient logistics and accurate information is of great importance. For a transport
company this implies a number of service elements:

• Fulfilling a shipment pursuant to an agreement

• Effectuate actions when deviations occur
• Informing the customer about shipment status
• Informing the customer when deviations impede fulfilling of the agreement
• Provide transport services to a competitive price by efficient utilisation of available
resources

Estimating arrival time for a transport assignment involves coordination of information about
both freight handling and transport. Freight handling is to a large extent controlled by the
transport company itself, and thus the main parameters for estimating the handling time is
known.

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However, estimating the transport time involves many external issues which the transport
company has limited information about and cannot control. If the traffic situation diverges
from the transport plan, the transport company can choose to revise the plan and make other
route choices. If the company chooses to carry out the original plan, late arrival might be the
consequence.

Dynamic traffic and transport information is an important input for decision making regarding
route choices, and also an important input for estimation of transport times. In order to
provide excellent service to their customers, it is of great importance that the transport
companies have access to such information and are able to utilise it for transport planning and
customer information. From a logistical point of view, accurate information about arrival
times can be of greater importance than minimizing the transport time. Informing the
customers is therefore an important element of the transport service.

FREIGHT TRANSPORT IN THE DYNAMIT PROJECT

The research project "Dynamic information services within the transport sector, DynamIT"
aims at developing a system for establishing dynamic traffic information. This includes both
the general traffic situation and freight transport. For freight transport issues, dynamic traffic
information is being combined with information about the transport assignment.

A traffic data collection system has been developed and tested along a 130 kilometre long
section of highway E18 in eastern Norway (Oslo - Larvik). This is a road with high traffic
density and traffic congestion problems. There are alternative routes along parts of the test
site. The system provides both average travel times and individual travel times for specific
vehicles. Freight transport vehicles has been positioned and tracked along the test site and
adjoining areas.

A major Norwegian transport company has participated in the project. A total of 8 heavy
vehicles have been directly involved in positioning and tracking issues. Furthermore, the
company’s communication centre have utilised traffic information for managing the whole
fleet of heavy vehicles.

POSITIONING TECHNIQUES

In order to estimate the transport time at any phase of the transport assignment it is necessary
to have information about the vehicles current position. Both GSM and GPS positioning
techniques have been tested for their ability to provide precise positions for the participating
vehicles.

A driver independent log unit with GPS receiver and GSM card has been used for testing the
techniques. This was a "black box" which protected the driver's privacy and was unaffected to
user mistakes. GPS positions were registered every 30 second, while GSM positions were
polled every 60 second. The following figures provide a comparison between the two
techniques.

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Figure 1: GPS positions, example 1 Figure 2: GSM positions, example 1

The positions in Figure 1 and Figure 2 have been registered in the same vehicle and trip. The
figures illustrate that GPS positions are accurate and a single position can be used for
determining which road the vehicle is using. GSM positions have not the same level of
accuracy. However, by using several subsequent positions the most possible road can be
determined.

Figure 3: GPS positions, example 2 Figure 4: GSM positions, example 2

The example in Figure 3 and Figure 4 is not promising on behalf of the GSM technique. The
GPS positions are accurate, but the GSM positions can hardly be used for determining the
road.

Both GPS and GSM techniques are sensitive to satellite and phone coverage respectively. The
GPS technique might fail in an urban area with tall buildings, due to the “Grand Canyon
effect”. The GSM phone coverage varies around the world, and if combined with low
capacity inaccurate or missing positions might be the result. Figure 5 presents an example of
this, where the GSM positions (lilac dots) are clustered while the GPS positions (pink dots)
are distributed along the road.

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 Figure 5: GPS and GSM positions, example 3

Based on our experiences, GPS is the most accurate technique for measure vehicle position
and estimating arrival time on the selected roads. However, in Norway there are still a
significant number of vehicles without a GPS receiver on board, while “everybody” owns a
mobile phone. It is thus interesting to test whether the GPS technique is accurate enough for
this utilization.

A WEB BASED PLANNING TOOL

A web based planning tool is developed both for planning and re-planning of trips. Two
Internet services constitute the planning tool:

• Open Internet service

• Restricted Internet service

Open Internet service

The open Internet service offers dynamic travel times for the road users in general. Average
real time travel times and delays for the last 5 minutes are presented by text and numbers. In
addition, the delays are presented on a stylistic map, by using four colour codes for
symbolizing four different delay situations. The colour codes are:

• Red: Heavy delay

• Yellow: Some delay
• Green: No delay
• Grey: No data available

Figure 6 presents the stylistic map.

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 Figure 6: Open Internet services – stylistic map

Restricted Internet service

This service is developed for freight transport companies, and is restricted to the participating
freight transport company only. The colour codes presented above are displayed on a
graphical map, as illustrated in Figure 7. The red code (heavy delay) is displayed as pink on
the map, because the map provider uses red as default colour on highways.

Figure 7: Restricted Internet service – graphical map

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Two main features are included in the web application; travel times and fleet management.
Figure 8 presents a screen print of the travel times menu.

Normal travel time

Estimated travel time

Delay

Traffic messages

Figure 8: Travel times

A travel time calculator offers estimation of arrival times for each assignment. The calculator
makes use of information about average travel times measured from the test site (cf. open
Internet service), time for departure and the vehicles accurate position and road choice. This
information is displayed on the map as text. Three travel time measures are given; normal
travel time, estimated travel time and delay.

Traffic messages for the relevant area can be presented on the screen. This feature was
included in the pilot, but has been removed from the system which is being tested autumn
2005. This was chosen because the traffic messages are not offered at a coordinate level,
resulting in inaccurate information in the system.

The fleet management system is presented in Figure 9.

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 Position Registration number

Driver information

SMS text

SMS number

Figure 9: Fleet management

Positions of all the participating transport company's vehicles are displayed on the map,
allowing the operator a visual check of whether the vehicles are approaching into a congestion
area. The system also allows the operator to choose a minor number of the vehicles.

The operator manages the fleet by communicating and re-routing the drivers according to the
traffic situation and the customers’ needs. An SMS messages services is therefore included in
the planning tool to simplify these actions.

SMS text can be generated and edited directly from the application. Driver information
(name, registration number end telephone number) are displayed on the screen, together with
a selection tool for sending the SMS messages. Thus, the operator can select the drivers from
the list, or manually type the telephone number of the SMS message receiver. The SMS
opportunity can also be used for informing the customers about delays or other relevant
aspects of the assignment.

Other information channels

Dynamic traffic information is also available on variable message signs (VMS) and dynamic
message signs (DMS) in the southern part of the test site. Information about alternative routes
is given in situations with heavy delays on the highway. The information will also be offered
to radio channels for distribution to the public in general.

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TESTING AND EVALUATING THE PLANNING TOOL

The planning tool will be tested on dynamic data collected from the test site and in
cooperation with the transport company during autumn 2005. The following questions will be
studied in particular:

• Is the system stability satisfactorily?

• Does the system offer the information demanded?
• Does the operator manage to utilize the information for better fleet management?
• Does the operator manage to utilize the information for better customer service?
• Does the planning tool create value to the freight transport company and their
customers?
• Is the web tool user-friendly?

Some information elements are not fully implemented in the system, and thus will probably
be requested during the test and evaluation process. One example of such elements is detailed
information about the specific transport assignments for each vehicle. Some information is
already included, but it might be valuable to extend the system with an on-line system
offering information about when the assignment is fulfilled, updated information about
customer needs (for instance when ordered and effectuated volumes differ), etc.

Displaying map and traffic conditions on mobile terminals in the vehicles are not included in
the project. However, this is also an example of additional services which can be included
later on.

Based on the experiences during test and evaluation, the DynamIT project will make some
recommendations for further development of the planning tool. The evaluation report will be
published December 2005.