scholarly journals Exploring Spatiotemporal Accessibility of Urban Fire Services Using Real-Time Travel Time

Author(s):  
Yuehong Chen ◽  
Yuyu Li ◽  
Guohao Wu ◽  
Fengyan Zhang ◽  
Kaixin Zhu ◽  
...  

The accessibility of urban fire services is a critical indicator in evaluating fire services and optimizing fire resource allocation. However, previous studies have mainly concentrated on measuring the spatial accessibility of fire services, and little, if any, consideration has been paid to exploring the spatiotemporal dynamics of the accessibility of urban fire services. Therefore, we used real-time travel time to extend an existing spatial accessibility method to measure the spatiotemporal accessibility of fire services in a case study of Nanjing, China. The results show that (1) the overall accessibility of fire incidents and fire stations in Nanjing, China, is uneven, with relatively high accessibility in the southwest and northeast of the city center; (2) the number of fire incidents with low-level accessibility apparently increases in rush hours (i.e., 07:00–09:00 and 17:00–19:00 hours) in the southeast and north of the city center, and the fire incidents with medium-level and high-level accessibility easily change to lower levels under the influence of traffic congestion, with fire incidents with medium-level accessibility being affected the most; (3) the accessibility of fire stations changes over time with an obvious W pattern, with lower accessibility during rush hours than at other times, and several fire stations in the city center present an asymmetric W pattern; (4) the accessibility decline ratio for fire stations in rush hours is greater in the city center than in urban suburbs, and the decline ratios are strongly related to the travel time increase and the percent increase in uncovered fire incidents during rush hours. The results and findings demonstrate that our method can be used to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of the accessibility of fire services, and so can guide policymakers in improving fire services.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kainan Mao ◽  
Yuehong Chen ◽  
Guohao Wu ◽  
Junwang Huang ◽  
Wanying Yang ◽  
...  

The measurement of spatial accessibility of fire services is a key task in enhancing fire response efficiency and minimizing property losses and deaths. Recently, the two-step floating catchment area method and its modified versions have been widely applied. However, the circle catchment areas used in these methods are not suitable for measuring the accessibility of fire services because each fire station is often responsible for the fire incidents within its coverage. Meanwhile, most existing methods take the demographic data and their centroids of residential areas as the demands and locations, respectively, which makes it difficult to reflect the actual demands and locations of fire services. Thus, this paper proposes a fixed-coverage-based two-step floating catchment area (FC2SFCA) method that takes the fixed service coverage of fire stations as the catchment area and the locations and dispatched fire engines of historical fire incidents as the demand location and size, respectively, to measure the spatial accessibility of fire services. Using a case study area in Nanjing, China, the proposed FC2SFCA and enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) are employed to measure and compare the spatial accessibility of fire incidents and fire stations. The results show that (1) the spatial accessibility across Nanjing, China is unbalanced, with relatively high spatial accessibility in the areas around fire stations and the southwest and northeast at the city center area and relatively low spatial accessibility in the periphery and boundary of the service coverage areas and the core of the city center; (2) compared with E2SFCA, FC2SFCA is less influenced by other fire stations and provides greater actual fire service accessibility; (3) the spatial accessibility of fire services is more strongly affected by the number of fire incidents than firefighting capabilities, the area of service coverage, or the average number of crossroads (per kilometer). Suggestions are then made to improve the overall spatial access to fire services.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Borowska-Stefańska ◽  
Szymon Wiśniewski

In this article, the goal was to assess spatial accessibility to the parks in Łódż for example of cycling, individual transport and public transport. Parks represent basic units of recreational greenery in the city. (Czerwieniec, Lewińska 2000). In Łódź are 43 parks, which are located mainly in the rail peripheral or right behind her (Jakóbczyk-Gryszkiewicz 2008). To determine the spatial accessibility to the parks in the analyzed city, were calculated the number and percentage of the population, which living in 2016 in isochrones: 0-5; 5-10; 10-15; 15-20; 20-25; 25-30 minutes from the parks. In the study were taken into account the different means of transport - car, bicycle and public. It was found that the most beneficial for the residents of the city is by bike. In the case of 3/4 of the population of Łódż travel time by bike to the park is less than 5 minutes. Bicycle and public transport provide access to the parks, the vast majority of inhabitants of the city in time to 5 minutes, while individual transport in time 5-10 minutes. Most preferably, due to the accessibility for the residents of the city, are located parks in the city center, and behind its borders, in turn, within the rail perimeter. Over there the population density is greatest, unfortunately, a small area of parks.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Imam Setyohadi

Batam Island’s role as an industrial development center causes fast-paced growth in many sectors with an uneven inhabitant distribution. With most people inhabit the Batam city.The hinterland area is characterised by islands and housing pattern of community clusters in the form of fishermen’s neighborhood along the coastal region with most of the houses are semi-permanent buildings. Most of people’s activities there are consisted of fishing. With limited infrastructure, the mode of transportation used in between the many islands there is with motor boats (Pancung). This is very much in contrast with the condition down the Batam City, in terms of its socio-economic, housing and other aspects.This research is aimed at figuring out the reason as to why people prefer to have their house located in rural areas and finding out the characteristic pattern of people’s movement around the Batam Island.Samples were taken using the sample random proporsional method. Samples were taken randomly from many districts with a proper ratio of people from weak, middle and upper class economic strata. The data were then analyized with cross classification.Results show that people chose rural areas because that where the industrial locations are so that it is closer for them to go to work, and the housin price or rent there are relatively cheaper too. Whereas people who chose to live in the Batam City do so because they want to improve their livelyhood by opening up alternative businesses other than working within the industry.People’s traveling destination is in and around the rural areas because it is where the industries are located evenly and the rest of them travel to the areas surrounding Batam Island. Such as people of Nongsa, 23% of the travel to the Kabil industrial area, and 12% of them go to the city center (Nagoya). In contrast, people of the Sekupang District, 29% of them travel only in and around Sekupang area. Other than that only 2% of Batam inhabitants travel to the islands surrounding Batam Island. Whereas for the people of Sei Beduk, 29% of them go to Muka Kuning and 14% of them to the city center. And for the people of Lubuk Baja District, 32% of them go to the city center (Nagoya), because it is actually the CBD center.The type of transportation used by people in rural areas are mostly private vehicles because they are thought to be more comfortable and safe, as is the case for Nongsa and Sekupang. Nonetheless, 2% of Sekupang inhabitants use motor boats to travel to the islands surrounding Batam Island. In Nongsa, 36% of the people use motorcycle, public transportation account for 32%, and in Sekupang car owners are around 35%. Contrary, the people of Sei Beduk are mostly using public transportation, 42%, due to the already availabel public road and vehicles and only 34% use cars.As for the distance covered by those people, Nongsa and Sekupang residents are 42% cover around 5-10 Km with a travel time of 20-30 minutes a day. Whereas the people of Sei Beduk, 45% of them only cover 105 km in around 10 minutes a day due to the proximity of their living place with the industrial location.On the other hand, Lubuk Baja (city center) people are 43% using cars,  for the are much more comfortable and allow them to have higher mobility. And only 31% of the inhabitants there use public transportation. Most of the people there cover 1-5 km (52%) to 5-10 km (27%) a day with a travel time of around 10 to 20-30 minutes. 


Author(s):  
Lan Ma ◽  
Nianxue Luo ◽  
Taili Wan ◽  
Chunchun Hu ◽  
Mingjun Peng

Healthcare accessibility has become an issue of social equity. An accurate estimation of existing healthcare accessibility is vital to plan and allocate health resources. Healthcare capacity, population demand, and geographic impedance are three essential factors to measure spatial accessibility. Additionally, geographic impedance is usually represented with a function of travel time. In this paper, the three-step floating catchment area (3SFCA) method is improved from the perspectives of the temporal dimension and population demand. Specifically, the travel time from the population location to the service site is precisely calculated by introducing real-time traffic conditions instead of utilizing empirical speed in previous studies. Additionally, with the utilization of real-time traffic, a dynamic result of healthcare accessibility is derived during different time periods. In addition, since the medical needs of the elderly are higher than that of the young, a demand weight index of demand is introduced to adjust the population demand. A case study of healthcare accessibility in Wuhan shows that the proposed method is effective to measure healthcare accessibility during different time periods. The spatial accessibility disparities of communities and crowdedness of hospitals are identified as an important reference for the balance between the supply and demand of medical resources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 2029-2040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghufraan Mohammed Aboud ◽  
Areej Muhy Abdulwahab ◽  
Qais Sahib Banyhussan ◽  
Hamsa Abbas Zubaidi

Roundabouts are progressively being utilized on occupied arterial streets for traffic quieting purposes. Be that as it may, on the off chance that one indirect leg is close to a conveyance center point, for instance, stopping territories of strip malls, the passage traffic volumes will be especially high in pinnacle hours. On the basis of the Al-Turkman Roundabout, which is one of the most important roundabouts in Baghdad city, linking the areas of east of Baghdad to the city center in the area of Bab Al-Moatham. This area is characterized by its high traffic volumes (congestion), especially at peak periods causing a low level of service (LOS) with increased travel time delay, costs, and CO2 emissions. The research relied on the use of the SIDRA software to assess these variables by collecting traffic volumes in this area. The research proposed a series of planning procedures which are divided according to serial time scales. These planning procedures are to address the problem of congestion and traffic jams in the area, improve the level of service, and reduce travel time, cost and CO2 emissions. The research concluded that the application of the planning proposals in the study area has improved the level of service from E and F to C, reduced travel time by 16%, reduced costs by 25% and reduced CO2 emissions by 29%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7618
Author(s):  
Jiahui Qin ◽  
Yusi Liu ◽  
Disheng Yi ◽  
Shuo Sun ◽  
Jing Zhang

Parks are an important component of the green infrastructure in cities. They provide multiple benefits for residents’ life. Due to the uneven spatial distribution of parks, it is necessary to evaluate the spatial disparity about residents’ access to parks. The two-step floating catchment area method is suitable for measuring the accessibility of urban parks. However, few studies have noticed the representative of entrances of parks, especially adding them into the process of accessibility measurements. The floating catchment area is often determined by road speed and empirical travel time. In this article, the impact of multi-entrances of the park will be considered and real-time travel time is used in calculating accessibility. In a case of multi-entrance parks in Beijing, the average travel time of the sub-district is calculated, and with the support of the modified method, the spatial accessibilities of car driving, public transport and car-public transport mixed travel modes are obtained. The results show that the time–space compression effect of car driving is more obvious and the mixed travel mode presents the advantage of high accessibility index. This study has a theoretical and practical value for urban planning, such as advising urban planners on the siting of green park space.


Author(s):  
Mark R. Virkler

A methodology to predict the walking and queueing times on pedestrian routes is developed. Walking time predictions are based on either average pedestrian space or flow rate. Queueing time estimates at signalized intersections are based on an assumption of random arrivals. The methodology is tested by comparing travel time predictions with the results of travel time runs on several routes near the city center of Brisbane, Australia. Data from 49 signalized intersections within the routes indicate that upstream coordinated signals can significantly affect downstream signal delay. It was also found that, in a coordinated signal system, the standard deviation of delay at a signal can be much different from what would be expected if arrivals were random. The effect of signal coordination on average delay was also apparent at the arterial level.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (06) ◽  
pp. 1350039 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. FOWDUR ◽  
S. D. D. V. RUGHOOPUTH

Expansion of a road network has often been observed to cause more congestion and has led researchers to the formulation of traffic paradoxes such as the Pigou–Downs and the Braess paradoxes. In this paper, we present an application of advanced traffic signal control (ATSC) to overcome the Pigou–Downs paradox. Port Louis, the capital city of Mauritius is used to investigate the effect of using a harbor bridge to by-pass the city center. Using traffic cellular automata (TCA) simulations it has been shown how, if traffic is only gradually deviated along the by-pass, an overall longer travel time and decreased flux would result. By making use of ATSC, which involves traffic lights that sense the number of vehicles accumulated in the queue, better travel times and fluxes are achieved.


2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 439-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saburo SAITO ◽  
Tran Ngoc HUY ◽  
Masakuni IWAMI ◽  
Takahiro SATO ◽  
Kosuke YAMASHIRO ◽  
...  

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