Research and Application of the Beijing Road Traffic Prediction System

As an important part of the urban Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) and Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), short-term road traffic prediction system has received special attention in recent decades. The success of ATMS and ATIS technology deployment is heavily dependent on the availability of timely and accurate estimation or prediction of prevailing and emerging traffic conditions. We studied a real-time road traffic prediction system developed for Beijing based on various traffic detection systems. The logical architecture of the system was presented, including raw data level, data processing and calculation level, and application level. Four key function servers were introduced, namely, the database server, calculation server, Geographic Information System (GIS) server, and web application server. The functions, function modules, and the data flow of the proposed traffic prediction system were analyzed, and subsequently prediction models used in this system are described. Finally, the prediction performance of the system in practice was analyzed. The application of the system in Beijing indicated that the proposed and developed system was feasible, robust, and reliable in practice.