Design and Implementation of a Geographic Information Platform for Urban Management : Public Transportation Services and Route Planning in Urban Areas

Route planning is a task performed daily for our commutes. Research in this field has shown that it is executed through various strategies based essentially on spatio-temporal cognitive resources. These studies also demonstrate that route planning involves additional factors such as selection criteria, as well as individual and contextual parameters.

Within the framework of this project, we are primarily interested in public (or collective) transport route planning. Current responses to urban mobility must account for environmental concerns and road congestion in major cities. Consequently, this necessarily involves promoting more eco-friendly modes of transport that contribute to reducing private car usage.

Addressing this problem requires graph-based modeling of both the city’s road network and its multimodal transport network. In this context, a close collaboration has already been established with the Transport Directorate of the Wilaya of Oran, which is to be strengthened under the validated transport plan already in place. In this second phase, we will utilize results from the mapping of Points of Interest (POIs)—such as schools, administrative buildings, hospitals, and cultural spaces—obtained during the first phase of the geographical information platform design project.

The estimation of travel times across different public transport modes and networks will be conducted using geolocation sensors installed on buses and trams. A partnership must be established between the project team, the Transport Directorate, and a fleet geolocation operator. This component of the project will enable the proposal of an optimal route calculation system based on spatio-temporal criteria.

Furthermore, research shows that route planning is not guided solely by rational and calculable criteria (shortest path, time, cost minimization, etc.), but also by factors related to the user profile, behavior, and habits, which depend on sociodemographic indicators and the context of the trip. Accordingly, various surveys are planned to study user behavior regarding public transport, the criteria they rely on to plan their routes, and the strategies implemented by potential users.

Expected Results Quantitative and qualitative analysis of sociodemographic parameters related to public transport use.A PC and mobile platform providing users with:

Information on the public transport network.Information on city Points of Interest (POIs).Indications regarding specific, temporary situations (provided by local authorities regarding traffic and urban transport).

The problem of public transport route planning is of increasing interest to researchers across various disciplines (Computer Science, Psychology, Sociology, Geography, etc.). Consequently, the literature contains various works focused on specific disciplines or combining several of them.

Our proposed project is strongly linked to user behavior. Numerous qualitative studies have been conducted to gain better clarity on traveler attitudes toward public transport and their perceptions of service quality [1]. Route planning can also be considered a cognitive problem, as addressed in [2, 3]. These studies analyze cognitive processes within an urban mobility context, including eye-tracking studies of users navigating road network maps and the impact of user profiles on route determination.

Other works focus on the development of multimodal shortest-path algorithms [4]. Here, the multimodal transport network is represented by a multilayer graph, where each layer corresponds to a transport mode. Transfer arcs connect vertices between these layers. Travel time, which depends on schedules, is managed via a space-time graph.

As users do not only seek the shortest route but also strive to optimize criteria such as cost and effort, researchers have proposed multi-objective routing systems that integrate roads and transport modes [5].

Socio-Economic Impact

The project aims to provide the administration with a platform centralizing transport-related information while offering users tools to facilitate route planning. Both objectives have a clear economic impact and serve frequent needs in human mobility.

Project Objectives Sociological Perspective: Analyze user behavior and appreciation of public transport versus private cars. Define, through surveys, the main parameters affecting modal choice and how public transport is perceived and evaluated.Public Utility: Develop mobile and PC applications for users to access useful information (POIs, socio-economic events, available transport modes by zone) to facilitate multimodal choices.Local Policy: Highlight user aspirations to help optimize local transport policies in collaboration with the Transport Directorate.R&D: Contribute to the problem of multi-criteria, multimodal route optimization. Long-Term Objectives

Urban transport issues are part of broader territorial development and planning challenges. While this project focuses on public transport in Oran, our long-term goals regarding Urban Environment Challenges (UEC) go further.

The work performed here is part of a larger objective: the design of a geographical information platform for the study and harmonious management of Algerian urban spaces. This involves structuring multi-source and multi-scale information to conduct diverse scientific studies that provide decision-makers with valuable assistance in urban planning.

The architecture of this platform intersects insights from various disciplines (geographers, historians, sociologists, urban architects, etc.) and integrates tools for data acquisition, indexing, research, and analysis.

The first phase (ending February 2018) focused on traffic in Oran, covering aspects such as official and informal parking, POI geolocation, and traffic tracking via GPS devices and mobile applications.

[1] G. Beira˜o, J.A. Sarsfield Cabral ‘Understanding attitudes towards public transport and private car : A qualitative study’, Transport Policy 14 (2007) 478–489information systems’, Transportation Research Procedia 22 (2017) 134–143.

[2] Gras, D., Gyselinck, V., Perrussel, M., Orriols, E., & Piolino, P. (2012). The role of working memory components and visuospatial abilities in route learning within a virtual environment. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(1), 38–50

[3] Elise Grison, Valérie Gyselinck, Jean Marie Burkhardt, Jan Malte Wiener. Route planning with transportation network maps : an eye-tracking study, Psychological Research, 2016, pp. 1-15.

[4] F. Gueye & al, ‘Planification d’itinéraires en transport multimodal’, ROADEF 2009 Nancy, 10-12 février 2009.

[5] Omar Dib et al.’ A multimodal transport network model and efficient algorithms for building advanced travele.