SmartPlanner Wiki

SmartPlanner engine, an open source information system that provides multi-modal transportation planning and real-time mobility data, obtained from the service providers and generated by the community of users. It runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, or potentially any platform with a Java virtual machine. The SmartPlanner engine is built on top of the OpenTripPlanner project, enhancing its basic functionality with the real-time information and customizing the planning flows and implementing the features required in the context of smart and sustainable mobility.

SmartPlanner Layers Model

The idea with this section is to understand the different layers of SmartPlanner engine.

images/layered-model.png Fig 1.

1. DATA LAYER

Smart Planner uses data from different sources.

• GTFS (Transit Schedule data)
• OSM (street data)
• NED (Elevation data)

Each data source has its own configuration options. For each type of data there exist common properties for e.g. route path in GTFS, street traversal permissions in OSM etc. We have configured these properties according to our settings in ‘Viaggia Trento’ and ‘Viaggia Rovereto’ applications.

1.1 GTFS

General Transit Feed Spec (GTFS) is an open and common data format for the temporal schedule data and spatial data that is required for transit trip itinerary planning.

1.2 OSM

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a worldwide street map, composed of network of street segments. Each importer of data can configure common properties like permissions, bicycle safety; slope override for e.g. A street type attribute could be used to make certain segments (e.g., highways) inaccessible to pedestrians. One such street property is the restriction attribute which can be leftOnly, RightOnly, StraightOnly etc.

1.3 ELEVATION

Elevation data reflects the slope of the ground. SmartPlanner engine can use elevation data in GeoTIFF elevation model (.tiff image file) and use it to help create bike routes with fewer hills.

2. ENGINE LAYER

The SmartPlanner engine not only integrates the features provided by OpenTripPlanner (shown Fig 2.1 with green border) but also the delta by building missing features in red.

The features added in this process include

• Real-time updates (ability to respond to route updates in real-time. If there are changes due to user's errors (user misses a bus, etc.) or service delays, an updated or a new route is offered.)

• Timetable (information on service times, to assist passengers with planning a trip. Typically, the timetable will list the times when a service is scheduled to arrive at and depart from specified locations. It may show all movements on a particular route or for a particular stop. Not only that it must be dynamic and must provide information about current delays for each route number)

• Notification mechanism (efficient communication mechanism for users in the loop)

• Park and Ride mode (provides real-time information on car parking/rental stations); park-and-ride mode which is common in metropolitan cities.

• Alerts (takes in to account the notification (delay, strike, work in progress, accident) from a user or from an authorized system and use this information in planning and notification phase)

images/2.png Fig 2.1

3. POLICY LAYER

Smart Planner Policy layer allows configuration and enforcement of mobility policies to be taken in to consideration during planning for e.g. green policy, safety factors, time factors, preferred streets etc.