Home > Geospatial Application Papers > Utility > Transport
Power | Telecom | Transport | Others

Abstract | Full Paper | PDF | Printer friendly format

Page 2 of 2
| Previous |


Public Transport Information System for Chennai city using GIS - A Pilot Project


The algorithm considers the following parameters
  1. Time of travel from place of boarding to destination, that is, time as an impedance
  2. One or Two way nature of the road
  3. Minimum number of transit stops – limited to one
  4. Frequency of the buses


The algorithm proceeds as follows
  1. Consider the place of boarding and destination of the commuter.
  2. Traverse along the routes to obtain all possible paths of travel for the commuter.
  3. Take one route at a time
  4. Take up all the bus numbers, already in the database, and go comparing with bus numbers to find the ones, which travel from the place of boarding to a particular bus stop along the selected route.
  5. Eliminate the bus numbers, which do not travel up to that particular bus stop.
  6. Proceed in the same manner for the various bus stops until the destination is reached or all the bus numbers are exhausted.
  7. If the destination is reached, retain the route and the corresponding bus number.
  8. If the destination is not reached and the bus numbers are also exhausted, consider the bus stop as the first transit point
  9. The algorithm is such that it allows for a maximum of one transit point.
  10. From the transit point to the destination, obtain the bus numbers in the above fashion.
  11. Retain the routes with a transit point also.
  12. To select the best route with time as impedance, the total travel time is determined to obtain the “best route”, as the one that takes the minimum time.
  13. The “best route” could be the one with a transit point or it could be a direct route from the place of boarding to the destination.
  14. If there is only one bus route with as many number transit routes then that is given as the best route.
3.3 Customization using Arc Avenue
Customization is the process of adapting and extending the basic GIS product to the specific application requirements, and using the GIS to create an empty database with a suitable structure to support those requirements.

Avenue will be used to customize the way ArcView works for the public, to enable easy and correct user input. The algorithm is only the way the information system functions, but for user input the Public Transport Information System looks towards customization. . Some new tools can be added to get input. This would enable the public to just key in the source and destination. The output would be the desirable route or rather to say the optimal route with the time taken.

4. Results
The algorithm was introduced into the GIS using Arc Avenue Script. The impedance for the various routes was given based on the average velocities of the roads along each route. The best route was found out based on the travel time taken and frequency of the bus. With the authors being conversant with the bus routes chosen for the study, the results were predetermined. The routes for which the algorithm was applied were Vadapalani to Parys and Vadapalani to Thiruvanmiyur. While the former was chosen for the normal direct route, the latter was selected for the transit route comparison. The results were found to be consistent with the expected results.

5. Conclusion
The algorithm, which has been the focus of this entire paper, has thus been validated for the obstacles that were being considered critical, by the authors. Further, with the results being fruitful, it augurs well for the GIS based information system’s implementation in Chennai city.

6. Scope of the Project
The scope of the project
  1. Addresses of the households when integrated to the database of the Bus Information System, then address matching can be performed which will be of much more use.
  2. Touch screen facilities at all bus terminuses and at important bus stops can be set up for the utilization at the terminus or bus stop itself.
  3. Bus route optimization and bus stop reallocation can be best studied with the output of the project.
7. Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Dr. K.Venugopal, Director, Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai for his kind permission in carrying out this project and providing the facilities required.

Also we would like to thank Dr.S.S.Ramakrishnan, Lecturer, Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai for his guidance and valuable advice throughout the entire project.

Our sincere thanks to Mr.Srinivasa Raju, Lecturer, Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai for allowing us to use the hand-held GPS receiver.

8. References

8.1 From books
  • Peter A. Burrough and Rachael A. McDonnell, Principles of Geographical Information Systems, Oxford University Press, 1998.
  • Avenue Customization and Application Development for ArcView GIS, Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.
  • David L. Verbyla, Practical GIS Analysis, Taylor and Francis 2002.
  • Paul A. Longley, Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, David W. Rhind, Geographical Information Systems Principle and technical Issues, Volume 1,John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1999.
  • Scott Hutchinson and Larry Daniel, Inside ArcView GIS, OnWord Press, 1997.
8.2 From papers
  • C.M.S.L. Sivaram and M.N. Kulkarni, IIT, Mumbai, GPS-GIS Integrated Systems for Transportation Engineering.
  • Chandrasekhar, Kumaran, Senthil Kumar, Anna University, Chennai, GIS based Tourist Information System.
8.3 From the World Wide Web

Page 2 of 2
| Previous |