“We were able to analyse real-time population flow across the capital and around key events and we assisted TfL to make better-informed transport planning decisions”
a highly accurate indication of the popula- tion as a whole, but with slightly less loca- tion detail. “We get a real-time stream of data about
where each phone is within the network”, he continues. “Some of our software resides with the mobile network part- ner which provides us with this stream for further analysis at our data centre”. In total INRIX analyses more than 1.5 billion pieces of location data each day. I applaud him and the INRIX team for
successfully navigating the complexities of building the relationship with their mobile operator partner and for developing the first business cases for population analyt- ics; in the past in projects I have worked on getting a big mobile phone company to invest time and effort in non-core activi- ties has been difficult. “It was to start with” chips in Business Development VP Danny Woolard, “but
in this case they valued
INRIX’s experience and knowledge in the transport sector and they viewed our expertise as a way to help them enter new markets and drive additional revenues through big data analytics.” Now authorities are able to get accurate
data from a highly statistically significant sample size to analyse the movement of people in and out of their jurisdictions. By tracking these anonymised phone move- ments city planners and transport consul- tancies can see how those travelling along a road, or arriving at a station by train, then travel onwards across a city, exactly what the surveys attempted to do, but without the surly responses and hi-viz jackets. The clear advantage is that you not only
get volumes of people at particular places across a city, but you see how individuals move about so can track the number of people who live in the east but travel to the west in a way you could not do before. It is even possible to infer when people take the Underground, for example. If they dis- appear from view for a period of time and then reappear in another part of the city, it’s safe to assume they’ve travelled under- ground in the meantime. This information is highly useful in
transport planning and traffic manage- ment, but also in creating the smart city where understanding of population move- ment is vital in creating services for people. And it’s not just transport planners
smartHIGHWAYS Vol 2 No 1
who can benefit. The owners of at least one shopping centre have used popula- tion analytics to find out who is visiting, for how long and where they are going afterwards. They have even used it to judge the likely
demographic of their customers, given where they live. This has been extremely useful to see how various forms of adver- tising have affected the clientele; if after a campaign the number of visitors from more affluent areas start using the centre, they can adjust their offerings accordingly. Suddenly qualitative analysis becomes quantitative. For city planning the data can even be
used to judge the amount people from dif- ferent areas move around; it could even be able to better understand population movement and obesity levels.
During the London Olympics population analytics was used to better advise organisers, spectators and Londoners on travel during the games
modes may be overwhelmed. Similarly, during periods of bad weather
the actual journeys taken by people can be better understood, and management of the road network for journeys deemed essen- tial can be improved. Danny Woolard explains how Transport
for London (TfL)used these analytics to great effect during the Olympics, “we were able to analyse real-time population flow across the capital and around key events,” he says, “we assisted TfL to make better- informed transport planning decisions.” TfL analysed real time population flow
across the capital to model the potential impact of various Olympic events. It spot- ted pinch points on the network in real time to advise organisers, spectators and Londoners during the Games. This technology is working well in the
The data is also used for real-time
information as well as historical analysis. INRIX has created a “virtual ANPR” sys- tem on the M25 to create “virtual gantries” where travel through a section of the road is monitored using the mobile technology. This is used for travel time analysis and monitoring of road network performance. Population analytics can also be used to
analyse the effect of traveller information on the travelling public. By judging the changes in traveller patterns after piece of information has been published, authori- ties can conclude what percentage of peo- ple will make a change to their journey plans. This can be very useful in under- standing human behaviour given that it’s rare that transport managers would want every person to heed a warning, given that if they did the alternative routes and
smarthighways.net
UK, but Danny says there’s no reason why it can’t be exported around the world, “really all we need is a partner mobile phone network,” he says, “ and we can do the rest”. This is another example of British exper-
tise leading the way in ITS around the world. It may not be visible like cameras, loops and radar, but this invisible analysis, using an existing piece of everyday tech- nology – the mobile phone – could well be the future to transport and city planners’ efforts to keep us all moving in the future, without a surveyor and clipboard in sight!
populationanalytics@inrix.com
inrix.com
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