Analysis of spatiotemporal data to predict traffic conditions aiming at a smart navigation system for sustainable urban mobility

Urban traffic congestion created by unsustainable transport systems and considered as a crucial problem for the urbanised areas provoking air pollution, heavy economic losses due to the time and fuel wasted and social inequity. The mitigation of this problem can improve efficiency, connectivity, accessibility, safety and quality of life, which are crucial parameters of sustainable urban mobility. Encouraging sustainable urban mobility through smart solutions is essential to make the cities more liveable, sustainable and smarter. In this context, this research aims to use spatiotemporal data that taxi vehicles adequately provide, to develop an intelligent system able to predict traffic conditions and provide navigation based on these predictions. GPS (Global Positioning System) data from taxi are analysed for the case of Thessaloniki city. Trough data mining and map-matching process, the most appropriate data are selected for travel time calculations and predictions. Several algorithms are investigated to find the optimum for traffic states prediction for the specific case study concluding that ANN (Artificial Neural Networks) outperforms. Then, a new road network map is created by producing spatiotemporal models for every road segment under investigation through a linear regression implementation. Moreover, the possibility to predict vehicle emissions from travel times is investigated. Finally, an application with a graphical user interface is developed, that navigates the users with the criteria of the shortest path in terms of trip length, travel time shortest path and “eco” path. The outcome of this research is an essential tool for drivers to avoid congestion spots saving time and fuel, for stakeholders to reveal the problematic of the road network that needs amendments and for emergency vehicles to arrive at the emergency spot faster. Besides that, according to an indicator-based qualitative assessment of the proposed navigation system, it is concluded that it contributes significantly to environmental protection and economy enhancing sustainable urban mobility