A Dynamic Urban Mobility Index From Clustering of Vehicle Speeds in a Tourist-Heavy City

Research by: Marissa Liponhay, Jesus Felix Valenzuela, Michael Dorosan, Damian Dailisan, & Christopher Monterola

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Rapid urbanization presents a complex array of mobility challenges, notably traffic congestion, which can significantly undermine productivity and degrade quality of life. In developing countries, implementing smart city initiatives to address these challenges is often hampered by the lack of comprehensive infrastructure and high-resolution spatial and temporal data. This research, driven by data collected from the city of Baguio, the Philippines, introduces an innovative approach to urban mobility analysis by developing the Zone-based Speed Index (ZSI), leveraging GPS data from a diverse array of probe vehicles.

The ZSI index categorizes urban areas into speed-based zones, employing dynamic monthly speed thresholds to differentiate between fast and slow-moving zones. This methodology facilitates an hourly resolution analysis of urban vehicle mobility and adeptly captures the variations in traffic flow attributable to external factors such as typhoons and holidays. The adaptability and precision of the ZSI make it a valuable tool for characterizing and improving urban mobility, particularly in the context of smart city initiatives and transportation system development.

The insights derived from the ZSI offer significant contributions towards enhancing transportation systems, monitoring urban traffic dynamics, and evaluating the efficacy of smart city strategies, especially in regions with considerable tourist activity. In essence, this work addresses the critical issue of data scarcity in developing smart city solutions in less developed areas. It proposes a scalable and dynamic framework for urban mobility assessment. The findings suggest that even amid infrastructural and data limitations, innovative solutions like the ZSI can provide actionable insights for optimizing urban transportation and realizing smart city objectives.

Keywords: smart city; mobility index; transport; tourist hotspot; Baguio city

To cite this article:  Liponhay, M., Valenzuela, J. F., Dorosan, M., Dailisan, D., & Monterola, C. P. (2023). A dynamic urban mobility index from clustering of vehicle speeds in a tourist-heavy city. Applied Sciences, 13(23), 12763. https://doi.org/10.3390/app132312763

To access this article: https://doi.org/10.3390/app132312763

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