Department of Construction Engineering and Srijan ‘23

presents

SMART TRAFFIC FORUM

Date of the event: April 15, 2023 (Saturday)

PROBLEM STATEMENT
Introduction:
The act of gathering and analyzing information about traffic flow, including the movements of
vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists, is known as traffic data analytics. Decisions about urban
planning and transportation management can be based on the data's insights regarding traffic
patterns, congestion, and potential safety hazards. Traffic data analytics can assist
transportation planners and engineers in optimizing traffic flow, reducing congestion, and
enhancing safety on roads by utilizing cutting-edge analytical tools and approaches. The purpose
of the event is to use the various data analytics tools in our engineering field to leverage our
skills from the four years using these tools to draw engineering conclusions.

No. of team members:

01 (min.) to 02 (max.) Students from various educational institutions and departments of any
year of study at the Undergraduate level can work together to form a team.

Task:
You are given the real field coordinates (X and Y coordinates) and instantaneous accelerations
(lateral and longitudinal directions) of vehicles in a mixed traffic condition for a road section
along with some other details (length and width of each vehicle, vehicle id and class, and the
time frame corresponding to that field coordinates.
Time:
A total time of 01 hour and 15 minutes will be provided for analyzing the data, drawing the
inference, and preparing a one-slider PPT.

Problem Statement:
The given data set in (Excel format) must be cleaned, sorted and worked upon according to the
following requirements:
● The instantaneous (speed between two successive trajectories) and average (speed for
each vehicle throughout its journey) speed of each vehicle must be calculated.
● The speed must be segregated as per vehicle class wise and a graph or chart must be
plotted to show the speed ranges for each vehicle class.
● Additionally the mean, standard deviation, median, maximum and minimum values for
average speed of each vehicle class can also be plotted.
● The vehicle class wise distinction must be done for both lateral and longitudinal
accelerations and retardation as well.
● The vehicle flow/volume (is the number of vehicles passing a reference point per unit of
time, vehicles per hour) as per vehicle class wise must also be calculated. The equivalent
PCU flow shall also be calculated.
Passenger Car Unit (PCU) is a relative weightage factor given to the traffic volume of
an individual vehicle class to deal with the heterogeneity in a mixed traffic situation.
PCU values for cars is 1, for motorcycles is 0.75, bus is 2 , auto/rickshaws is 2, LCV(Light
Commercial Vehicle) is 1.4 and truck is 2.
● A table containing all the above analysis must be submitted.
● The inference drawn from the above analysis in terms of engineering logic can be drawn
and put forward in a PowerPoint presentation of 1-2 slides along with the underlying
facts/reasons behind the conclusion.

Judging Criteria:
● The speed (both average and instantaneous) must be calculated accurately.
 ● The parameters in the graphs and charts should have engineering logic behind it and
accurately done.
● The significance of analyzing the lateral and longitudinal acceleration for each vehicle
type and flow values, must be clearly mentioned.
● The final dashboard containing all the data inferences must be presented in one or two
slides.
● The engineering inference that is being presented along with any suggestions for
improving the traffic flow will be considered.

General Rules:
● The participants must bring their own laptops.
● The data analysis should be measured with respect to the original dataset and can be
done in any software of choice, but must be finally presented in an EXCEL file.
● The graphs/dashboarding/plots must be clearly distinguishable and aesthetically
appealing.
● The approach in calculating the parameters must be logical and if there are any
assumptions in doing so, that must be clearly mentioned beforehand
● The inferences drawn from the data analysis must be thought of in terms of improving
the traffic flow parameters.

Important Points :
● The data set contains 9 columns namely, vehicle id, vehicle class, time of recording (sec),
length of vehicle (m), width of vehicle (m), longitudinal distance/X coordinate (m),
longitudinal acceleration (m/𝑠𝑒𝑐 2 ), lateral distance/Y coordinate (m) and lateral
acceleration (m/𝑠𝑒𝑐 2 ) respectively. The vehicle class is ranging from 1-6, where, 1 –
Motorcycle, 2 – Car, 3 – Bus, 4 – Truck, 5 – Light commercial vehicle, 6 – Auto-
Rickshaw
● Data cleaning should be based upon common sense, for example: a row which contains
any blank values should be neglected, length or id of the vehicle cannot be 0 or negative,
etc.
● The speed must be calculated with the help of distance formula from the
coordinates/time. For instantaneous speeds, two successive coordinates for a particular
 vehicle must be considered, whereas for average speed, the total journey time and net
distance must be considered.
● The traffic flow/volume is the number of vehicles of each vehicle class that is present
in one hour (vehicle/hour). If the dataset has time ranging for 30 minutes then the final
flow/volume shall be adjusted accordingly. The equivalent PCU flow can be calculated as
follows:
For example we have 100 cars in 1 hour, the equivalent PCU value for car is given as 1
so the final PCU flow will be 100*1=100 vehicles/hour.
● The graph/charts containing the average speed, flow and PCU flow, lateral and
longitudinal acceleration and retardation must then be done after doing the above
analysis.
● Any other analysis can be done to calculate parameters you seem fit to judge the traffic
condition of the road.

For any further queries or clarifications:

Aritro Roy Mitra - +91 70446 34674
Uttarayan Roy - +91 80170 47670