Transport data analysis for the future European road network
Transport, just as any sector, needs to warehouse its data - clean, transform and catalogue the information - so that it is be accessible to policy makers. The Etis-agent project developed an integrated system made up of three components: data integration, data storage and front-end environment. The data integration component integrates transactional or operational data (road tolls, for example) to create policy-related indicators. The processes include collection, validation, consolidation of the data and, for analysis, models can be applied to pick out important trends. Data integration also involves loading the policy-related indicators as XML documents. These indicators are then housed in data storage, a repository comprising multiple databases to house variables on different aspects of Europe's transport. The indicators are multidimensional structures, data cubes, permitting a policy maker to observe an indicator from various policy perspectives. For instance freight traffic can be examined in terms of road, air and time. To access, compute and visualise policy-related indicators and their metadata, Etis-agent researchers created a front-end environment that allows a policy maker to perform various necessary functions related to the sector. Online analytical processing operations can be performed on indicators to view trends and retrieve the data in user-friendly form that is easy to analyse, graphs and bar charts. With the help of GIS View, the computed indicators can also be seen on maps. Etis-agent coordinated with two other projects: Etis-base and Etis-link and created a pilot which was employed throughout the course of developing the system. From this, five case studies were produced, four cover annual traffic flows in corridors that criss-cross the whole of Europe, for example Berlin to Istanbul. The fifth involves rail tunnel, the Brenner rail tunnel which, when completed in 2015 will be the second longest in the world. The case study time span covers the years 2000 to 2020, a promising sign for all key players and the future of European transport. Etis-agent has developed a system to translate indicators into well-planned sustainable policies for the seamless transport network of the future.