GAO Liping et al. /J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63
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technology with comprehensive utilization of the modern GIS(geographic information system) technology, network technology, monitoring technology, and communicationtechnology to guide the road users to arrive at the destinationssuccessfully, so as to realize the optimization of the trafficflow, prevent the traffic jams, and manage the modern trafficin a more effective way. The ATIS includes the generationand release of guidance information. The generation of guidance information covers information collection, pathguidance algorithm, etc., whereas the release of guidanceinformation, as the interface between the ATIS and the guidedobjects, is to serve the travelers and the in-transit vehicles. At present, the common forms of the advanced trafficinformation include the fixed model-like fixed message signs,variable group guidance model, such as traffic radio, variablemassage signs, and traffic information Websites, and variableindividual guidance model, such as in-car guidance screen andmobile phones. The purpose of the guidance information is toaffect the routing of the travelers and manage and control roadnetwork traffic.The simulation of the regional traffic flow guidanceinformation, featured by intuition, correctness, andconvenience, is a traffic analysis technology that uses thecomputer-based mathematical model to reflect the effects of regional information guidance. Through the simulation studyon the regional traffic organization before and after theguidance, we may arrive at the distribution law that the statevariables of traffic flow vary with time and space, and therelations between such law and the traffic control variables,recurring or grasping before the behaviors of the existing or future traffic system, in order to infer the true performance of this system. With the rapid development of computer technologies, using the computer simulation method to studyissues concerning road traffic has become one of the researchhot spots in traffic engineering field. In the engineering practice area, many people pay their attention to simulationtechnology and study the regional traffic flow informationguidance system
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by simulation technology in combinationwith the existing traffic flow and traffic planning theories andmethods. This paper adopts VISSIM to make the simulationstudy on the effects of the regional traffic flow guidance.
2.2 VISSIM simulation model
VISSIM is a micro-traffic flow simulation software systemdeveloped by the PTV and is used to analyze themicrooperation of the traffic system
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. It can simulate and setthe traffic operation situation composed by different roadtypes, traffic compositions, and signal controls and is alsowidely used in traffic network analysis, evaluation andoptimization, and comparison of designs as an effective tool toanalyze traffic problems.The basis for VISSIM is the psycho-physical car-followingmodel proposed by Wiedemann. This model considers thedriver-vehicle-units as a unity and divides the drivers’following state into four car-following characteristics. Itsimulates the traffic flow by moving the driver-vehicle-unitsin the traffic network, and the vehicles move in the wayscustomized by users or determined by the data input from theVISSIM.The car-following model proposed by Wiedemann is one of the most accurate models applied to the computer trafficsimulation up to today. Therefore, from this perspective, themicro-traffic simulation software VISSIM developed on the basis of the theory should be able to authentically reflect andrecur the actual traffic situation and have a wide practicalvalue. Indeed, the traffic composition of China is differentfrom foreign countries. In foreign countries, cars remaindominant, whereas in China bus service dominates, which,however, does not exert any impact on the application of thissoftware in China. VISSIM software not only takes intospecially detailed account of the composition and operatingcharacteristics of the bus service but also makes aconsideration of the bicycles and pedestrians in the trafficflow composition. However, everything has two sides. The particularity of the traffic model of this software and thediversity of the traffic composition simulated increase in theconsumption of the computer hardware resources (particularlyconspicuous during 3-D simulation); accordingly, they putforward high requirements to the computer hardware. Nevertheless, with the development of the network technology,multiprocessor technology and parallel computing technology,this shortcoming will become more and more insignificant.
2.3 Software modules and functions
In this paper, we adopt the VISSIM 3.60 version. Thissoftware system is mainly constituted by vehicle definitionmodule, vehicle speed distribution module, car-followingmodule, driving behavior module, lane-changing module, andtraffic volume definition module; moreover, it makes thesemodules have the functions of simulating and analyzing theoperation of motor vehicles in the sections and intersections,reflecting the traffic status quo and problems through 2-D and3-D demo, and quantitatively outputting the evaluation resultson the subjects of traffic, providing policy support for trafficdesign, planning, and reconstruction.The regional traffic guidance simulation is mainly tosimulate the operation characteristics
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of regional traffic flowunder different guidance conditions and evaluate the resultsobtained by different guidance facilities. Presently,researchers with regard to traffic guidance mainly tend to doresearch concerning ATIS
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, whereas researches regardingspecific implementation impacts are relatively fewer innumber. For this reason, this paper combines the functions of the VISSIM simulation software to make the simulation studyon the effects of regional traffic flow guidance and make anevaluation on the guidance measures.
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