IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cor/louvrp/3142.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Monitoring trucks to reveal Belgian geographical structures and dynamics: From GPS traces to spatial interactions

Author

Listed:
  • Adam, Arnaud

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

  • Finance, Olivier
  • Thomas, Isabelle

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

Abstract

Despite the fact that freight transport has a huge impact on the economy and the environment, Belgian datasets have always been scarce or restricted to very small a-spatial samples. Spatial data collected in Belgium for toll-paying trucks are here examined, and geographical structures and dynamics are extracted from this massive dataset. The originality of this dataset is its exhaustivity and its real-time approach: the location of all the trucks circulating in Belgium is collected every 30 s. The paper first relates to the methodology applied when using and transforming big data generated by On Board Units GNSS (cleaning, transforming and pre-processing). Second, it maps and comments on the movements (traffic) and stops of trucks within the whole country, providing a clear picture of the Belgian situation, useful for regional planners and logistics companies. Finally, the flows of trucks observed between Belgian locations enable the country to be divided into mathematical communities of places that interact the most. Analyses are performed for sub-categories based on the country of registration, underlining the spatial specificities of freight transit in Belgium. This exploratory spatial data analysis enables to reveal not only multi-level spatial structures associated with urban hierarchies and the transport infrastructure, but also firm locations or political organizations and to consider the complexity and interconnectivity of any measure taken for a more sustainable future. With a clear methodological framework to cope with the data pre-processing, this paper opens the way to various potential applications linked with freight transportation in Belgium.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam, Arnaud & Finance, Olivier & Thomas, Isabelle, 2021. "Monitoring trucks to reveal Belgian geographical structures and dynamics: From GPS traces to spatial interactions," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3142, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:3142
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.102977
    Note: In: Journal of Transport Geography, 2021, vol. 91, 102977
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2011. "Gravity, market potential and economic development," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 281-294, March.
    2. Joubert, J.W. & Axhausen, K.W., 2011. "Inferring commercial vehicle activities in Gauteng, South Africa," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 115-124.
    3. Florence Goffette-Nagot & Isabelle Reginster & Isabelle Thomas, 2011. "Spatial Analysis of Residential Land Prices in Belgium: Accessibility, Linguistic Border, and Environmental Amenities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(9), pages 1253-1268, February.
    4. Lambiotte, Renaud & Blondel, Vincent D. & de Kerchove, Cristobald & Huens, Etienne & Prieur, Christophe & Smoreda, Zbigniew & Van Dooren, Paul, 2008. "Geographical dispersal of mobile communication networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(21), pages 5317-5325.
    5. Li Shen & Peter R. Stopher, 2014. "Review of GPS Travel Survey and GPS Data-Processing Methods," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 316-334, May.
    6. Damiaan Persyn & Wouter Torfs, 2016. "A gravity equation for commuting with an application to estimating regional border effects in Belgium," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 155-175.
    7. Jonathan JONES & Christophe CLOQUET & Arnaud ADAM & Adeline DECUYPER & Isabelle THOMAS, 2016. "Belgium through the lens of rail travel requests: does geography still matter?," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2826, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    8. Arnaud Adam & Jean-Charles Delvenne & Isabelle Thomas, 2018. "Detecting communities with the multi-scale Louvain method: robustness test on the metropolitan area of Brussels," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 363-386, October.
    9. Laranjeiro, Patrícia F. & Merchán, Daniel & Godoy, Leonardo A. & Giannotti, Mariana & Yoshizaki, Hugo T.Y. & Winkenbach, Matthias & Cunha, Claudio B., 2019. "Using GPS data to explore speed patterns and temporal fluctuations in urban logistics: The case of São Paulo, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 114-129.
    10. FINANCE Olivier, & ADAM Arnaud, & JONES Jonathan, & THOMAS Isabelle,, 2018. "Révéler la polarisation économique d'une ville à partir de traces GPS de camions. Le cas de Liège," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2018033, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    11. Sonia Trabelsi & Lidia Casas & Benoit Nemery & Tim S. Nawrot & Isabelle Thomas, 2019. "Geographies of asthma medication purchase for pre-schoolers in Belgium," LIDAM Reprints CORE 3002, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    12. Verhetsel, Ann & Kessels, Roselinde & Goos, Peter & Zijlstra, Toon & Blomme, Nele & Cant, Jeroen, 2015. "Location of logistics companies: a stated preference study to disentangle the impact of accessibility," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 110-121.
    13. François Riguelle & Isabelle Thomas & Ann Verhetsel, 2007. "Measuring urban polycentrism: a European case study and its implications," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 193-215, March.
    14. Arnaud Adam & Jean-Charles Delvenne & Isabelle Thomas, 2017. "Cartography of interaction fields in and around Brussels: Commuting, moves and telephone calls," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2933, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    15. Isabelle Thomas & Arnaud Adam & Ann Verhetsel, 2017. "Migration and commuting interactions fields: A new geography with community detection algorithm?," LIDAM Reprints CORE 2946, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    16. Hess, Stephane & Quddus, Mohammed & Rieser-Schüssler, Nadine & Daly, Andrew, 2015. "Developing advanced route choice models for heavy goods vehicles using GPS data," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 29-44.
    17. Isabelle Thomas & Marie-Laurence De Keersmaecker & Pierre Frankhauser, 2003. "Using fractal dimensions for characterizing intra-urban diversity. The example of Brussels," ERSA conference papers ersa03p116, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Roel Helgers & Erik Buyst, 2016. "Spatial and Temporal Diffusion of Housing Prices in the Presence of a Linguistic Border: Evidence from Belgium," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 92-122, March.
    19. Viljoen, Nadia M. & Joubert, Johan W., 2019. "Supply chain micro-communities in urban areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 211-222.
    20. Joubert, Johan W. & Meintjes, Sumarie, 2015. "Repeatability & reproducibility: Implications of using GPS data for freight activity chains," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 81-92.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lv, Ying-Yue & Yan, Xiao-Yong & Jia, Bin & Yang, Yitao & Liu, Erjian, 2024. "Quantifying the overall spatial distribution characteristics of urban heavy truck trips: The case of China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Trent, Nadia M. & Joubert, Johan W., 2022. "Logistics sprawl and the change in freight transport activity: A comparison of three measurement methodologies," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    2. Nathan Lachapelle & Francesco Pascucci, 2021. "Wage Rigidities in a Quantitative Spatial Economy: Commuting and Local Unemployment," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2021027, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    3. Siripirote, Treerapot & Sumalee, Agachai & Ho, H.W., 2020. "Statistical estimation of freight activity analytics from Global Positioning System data of trucks," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    4. Ann Verhetsel & Joris Beckers & Michiel Meyere, 2018. "Assessing Daily Urban Systems: A Heterogeneous Commuting Network Approach," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 633-656, September.
    5. Seter, Hanne & Arnesen, Petter & Hjelkrem, Odd André, 2019. "The data driven transport research train is leaving the station. Consultants all aboard?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 59-69.
    6. McLeod, Sam & Schapper, Jake H.M. & Curtis, Carey & Graham, Giles, 2019. "Conceptualizing freight generation for transport and land use planning: A review and synthesis of the literature," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 24-34.
    7. Roberta Capello & Andrea Caragliu & Ugo Fratesi, 2018. "Breaking Down the Border: Physical, Institutional and Cultural Obstacles," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 94(5), pages 485-513, October.
    8. Benjamin Davies & David C. Maré, 2020. "Delineating functional labour market areas with estimable classification stabilities," Working Papers 20_08, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    9. Viljoen, Nadia M. & Joubert, Johan W., 2019. "Supply chain micro-communities in urban areas," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 211-222.
    10. Laranjeiro, Patrícia F. & Merchán, Daniel & Godoy, Leonardo A. & Giannotti, Mariana & Yoshizaki, Hugo T.Y. & Winkenbach, Matthias & Cunha, Claudio B., 2019. "Using GPS data to explore speed patterns and temporal fluctuations in urban logistics: The case of São Paulo, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 114-129.
    11. Basso, Franco & Núñez, Matías & Paredes-Belmar, German & Pezoa, Raúl & Varas, Mauricio, 2024. "Estimation of stops of last-mile delivery vehicles: An application in the food industry in the city of Santiago de Chile," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    12. Arnaud Adam & Jean-Charles Delvenne & Isabelle Thomas, 2018. "Detecting communities with the multi-scale Louvain method: robustness test on the metropolitan area of Brussels," Journal of Geographical Systems, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 363-386, October.
    13. Yang, Yitao & Jia, Bin & Yan, Xiao-Yong & Li, Jiangtao & Yang, Zhenzhen & Gao, Ziyou, 2022. "Identifying intercity freight trip ends of heavy trucks from GPS data," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    14. Juan Guillermo Urzúa-Morales & Juan Pedro Sepulveda-Rojas & Miguel Alfaro & Guillermo Fuertes & Rodrigo Ternero & Manuel Vargas, 2020. "Logistic Modeling of the Last Mile: Case Study Santiago, Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, January.
    15. Jae Ik Kim & Chang Hwan Yeo & Jin-Hwi Kwon, 2014. "Spatial change in urban employment distribution in Seoul metropolitan city: clustering, dispersion and general dispersion," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 355-372, November.
    16. Sébastien Laffitte & Farid Toubal, 2022. "Multinationals' Sales and Profit Shifting in Tax Havens," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 371-396, November.
    17. Zuzana Zilincikova & Christine Schnor, 2023. "Trends in Distance Between Non-resident Parents and Minor Children Following Separation: Analysis of the Belgian Case, 1992–2018," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 39(1), pages 1-35, December.
    18. Yaxuan Zhang & Chunjiang Li & Ying Song & Yanwei Chai & Yingling Fan, 2024. "Personalizing the dichotomy of fixed and flexible activities in everyday life: deriving prism anchors from GPS-enabled survey data," Transportation, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 1063-1088, June.
    19. Sébastien Laffitte & Farid Toubal, 2018. "Firms, Trade and Profit Shifting: Evidence from Aggregate Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 7171, CESifo.
    20. Jacks, David S. & Novy, Dennis, 2018. "Market Potential and Global Growth over the Long Twentieth Century," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 221-237.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cor:louvrp:3142. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Alain GILLIS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/coreebe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.