Traffic Origins

We all know that road accidents sometimes result in congestion, but how exactly does this happen? By combining road-speed and traffic-flow data derived from the Singapore Land Transport Authority’s network of detectors with information regarding the time and location of traffic incidents, we can explore the dynamics of this phenomenon. We can also combine these visualization techniques with simulation models to better understand and predict how such disruptions may affect network performance, and how cities can better respond to traffic incidents. In the longer term, we envision using our research in the design and analysis of robust road networks.

Accidents are shown in pink, vehicle breakdowns in orange and the resulting heavy traffic, in light blue. This allows you to observe how nearby, unrelated traffic accidents can cause serious congestion on both highways and arterial roads.

Joint work with Till Nagel (KUL), Kristian Kloeckl (MIT) and Carlo Ratti (MIT).

---

A Anwar, T Nagel, C Ratti: Traffic Origins: A Simple Visualization Technique to Support Traffic Incident Analysis. IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium 2014, Mar 4 – 7, Yokohama, Japan (paper, presentation, video)

Chua, G. (4 Feb,2012). Five questions for… computer scientist Afian Anwar. The Straits Times (pdf)