Technology Profile |
Reducing congestion and
improving safety with data
Engineering firms rely on
video data collection devices
to gather the data necessary
to complete their traffic studies.
Such devices tend to be portable
and durable, and provide firms
with reliable, and verifiable
count data. In the case of
Miovision Scout however such a
solution is more than just a basic
vehicle counter.
Many engineering firms
and data collectors use Scout
to gather bicycle and volume
counts, or use the video
captured to visualise queue
lengths at traffic signals.
Miovision Scout with Connect
can even be used to collect travel
times by MAC (media access
control) address data.
Case study
Modus Consult, an engineering
firm based out of Germany, has
used Miovision Scout to collect
data for a variety of traffic
studies over the years. In 2019,
they were approached by the
traffic team of a 10,000 resident
tourist town to find out what
was causing traffic congestion
along the main corridor and
provide recommendations to
help minimise the problem.
The town sees roughly
200,000 motorised vehicles
through its city centre each
day along the main road – a
state street running east along
the river providing many small
towns with a direct connection
to other nearby cities. This leads
to an increase in traffic during
peak times, disrupting the city
centre, limiting access to
businesses, increasing safety
concerns for pedestrians and
contributing to an increase
in emissions.
Data collection
In order for Modus Consult
to present recommendations
to the city, the project required
Miovision’s Scout
can be used to
collect travel times
| Need to know
Miovision Scout is
a connected video data
collection solution
> Full connected: boosts
efficiency meaning less
time in the field
> Portable and durable:
designed, tested, and built
to withstand vibrations
and drops in the field.
Sets up in five minutes
> Weatherproof: from
Alaska to Dubai, it works
in extreme climates
the collection of quantitative
and qualitative traffic data on
all modes of transportation. The
study included stationary and
flowing traffic, heavy vehicles,
bicycles, and pedestrian
behaviour at crossings along
the main artery, as well as the
effects of traffic jams around
intersections.
Setup
The team at Modus Consult
used Miovision Scout to gather
data for the project due to the
fact that they could use it to run
many simultaneous studies. The
expedited project timeline also
led the team to select Scout,
thanks to its quick and simple
deployment capabilities.
In addition, with access to
video-based technology, many
of their qualitative questions
could be answered through
the capture and analysis of
video data showing the
behaviour of cyclists on bicycle
paths, and queue lengths in front
of traffic signals.
Data capture
In addition to the video
captured during the study,
Scout Connect was used to
collect anonymised MAC
address data which helped
the team identify travel times
through town during the day.
Further, MAC data provided
insights into ingress and egress
streets into town, as well as
indicated which streets were
used. The traffic flows during
the day were derived from the
latter data, forming the basis for
evaluating shifts in traffic flows.
Overall, 28 Miovision Scout
units were deployed to collect
study data including TMC
counts, and ped and bike
counts. Futhermore occupancy
rates and usage of parking lots
and roadside parking were
assessed by field teams to
estimate demand.
Analysis
Once the data was captured,
it was displayed in a bar chart.
The chart showed the daily
volume at a cross-section
with the selected bin size
of 30 minutes (see image). The
individual black bars represent
the total heavy vehicle volume
for each 30-minute stretch over
a 24- hour period.
To gain insights into travel
times along the selected
corridor, the travel time chart
was taken from Miovision
DataLink. The graph indicated
a heightened travel time
between the count locations
along the main road. This data
was instrumental in identifying
the problem early on, and
064 www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
Traffic Technology International January/February 2020
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com