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Business Challenge
Our customer created a technology that utilizes real-time traffic information, road
maps and mathematical algorithms to route vehicles to destinations via road networks.
The technology had to address the problem of finding the best route, and reducing
travel time and distance. Based on this technology, a web-based intelligent transportation
solution needed to be developed.
Software Solution
Axmor Java EE developers implemented a web application
that provides trip optimization services for fleet operators and individual drivers.
The most challenging task was to integrate geophysical data of road networks with
actual traffic data received from different sources.
Vehicle routing in the developed software follows this scenario:
- A transportation company dispatcher, or an individual driver, specifies a trip start
time, and starting and destination points. For each stop, the priority of its cargo
can be determined.
- The software creates the most efficient route, including all stops, based upon a
digital road map, and adjusts the sequence of stops to maintain vehicle capacity
and weight within limits. Then the optimal route between two locations is determined
using traffic statistics, current traffic information, and road attributes (such
as one-way streets and speed limits).
- The trip is visually displayed with “turn-by-turn” instructions. The estimated travel
time and distance are shown for each route section. The route can also be viewed
on the road map. The system has PDA/HTML interface for drivers to view the route
during the trip using the mobile device.
xmor's PDA developers designed an application that allows a user to walk through
a marina and verify that each rental location contains the correct occupant using
a PDA device.
The software novelty is an implication of a complex mathematical
algorithm that:
- Sequences scheduled stops into a route;
- Forecasts a traffic network for a specified period of time;
- Routes vehicles based upon a stop sequence and real-time or forecasted traffic
speeds.
Routing algorithm
The algorithms are based upon our customer's research of hypothetical road models.
Axmor's Java EE developers elaborated the existing algorithm specification to make
it work with actual map data. This was achieved though prototyping and algorithm
revision. Our customer's vision of the integration of map and traffic information
was implemented by Axmor's Java EE developers via a new mathematical algorithm for
destinations, ordering, and routing optimization.
Traffic Forecast
The algorithm relies on actual traffic data, received from the Washington State
Department of Transportation (WSDoT). They are
archived and used to predict traffic for time and day of the week, when a trip is
planed. A trip can be also built using past traffic data. This allows the user to
compare the forecasted trip time with the real trip data and calculate a divergence
factor, reflecting personal driving habits.
Spatial Information
To achieve a sufficient level of precision for distance calculation, a NAVTEQ solution
was selected that provides digital map data containing road coordinates and road
attributes in the format of Oracle 9i Spatial database. This allowed our Java EE developers
to seamlessly integrate the geophysical data with the traffic information from WSDoT
that is also tied to road coordinates.
The graphic road map was drawn according to road coordinates provided by NAVTEQ.
The map illustrates the road network, actual traffic dynamics coming from WSDoT
or predicted traffic jams, and the route of a trip.
This service is now available for the state of Washington. In Seattle, a route is
calculated based upon actual traffic on highways. Routing for the other areas relies
on current speed limits.
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BRIEF:
Web-based Vehicle Trip optimization services utilizing the merged information of
road networks and actual traffic.
BENEFITS:
Axmor Java EE developers created a solution based on our
customers' rationalization technology, which required us to solve serious technical
and scientific problems:
- Seamlessly integrate different sources of road data and actual traffic speed;
- Develop and optimize complex vehicle routing algorithms to minimize travel distance
and time (salesman NP-hard problem);
- Draw the road map and depict the route and traffic speed on the map.
TECHNOLOGIES:
- Java EE
- EJB
- JDBC
- Java Servlet
- JSP
- JBoss Application Server
- WSDoT
- NAVTEQ Oracle 9i Spatial
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