Urban Bike Lane Planning with Bike Trajectories: Models, Algorithms, and a Real-World Case Study

Problem definition: We study an urban bike lane planning problem based on the fine-grained bike trajectory data, which are made available by smart city infrastructure, such as bike-sharing systems. The key decision is where to build bike lanes in the existing road network. Academic/practical relevance: As bike-sharing systems become widespread in the metropolitan areas over the world, bike lanes are being planned and constructed by many municipal governments to promote cycling and protect cyclists. Traditional bike lane planning approaches often rely on surveys and heuristics. We develop a general and novel optimization framework to guide the bike lane planning from bike trajectories. Methodology: We formalize the bike lane planning problem in view of the cyclists’ utility functions and derive an integer optimization model to maximize the utility. To capture cyclists’ route choices, we develop a bilevel program based on the Multinomial Logit model. Results: We derive structural properties about the base model and prove that the Lagrangian dual of the bike lane planning model is polynomial-time solvable. Furthermore, we reformulate the route-choice-based planning model as a mixed-integer linear program using a linear approximation scheme. We develop tractable formulations and efficient algorithms to solve the large-scale optimization problem. Managerial implications: Via a real-world case study with a city government, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithms and quantify the trade-off between the coverage of bike trips and continuity of bike lanes. We show how the network topology evolves according to the utility functions and highlight the importance of understanding cyclists’ route choices. The proposed framework drives the data-driven urban-planning scheme in smart city operations management.

Implementation of the gps-tracking system in Bulgarian military orienteering championships

This paper discusses the characteristics and implementation of the GPS navigation system Tracksport in the Bulgarian military orienteering championships. The real-time tracking was used to analyze the parameters of the races, the speed and the optimal route choices in the discussed orienteering military events. The research methods were observation and visualization of the data received from portable GPS-transmitters which used the available GSM-networks and their software processing for displaying real-time GPS tracking during the competitions. The contingent of the study were 41 women and 64 man who participated in the championships. The analysis reveals the necessity for GPS-tracking of such competitions and that it is an important precondition for improving their quality and understanding.

Understanding the diversity of recreational walking preferences and experiences: casual and serious walkers in the English Lake District.

This chapter will discuss the findings of a year-long survey of recreational walkers in the English Lake District to highlight the variety of contextual drivers of recreational walking and the motivations and experiences of recreational walkers. The research sought to tease out differences between walkers to develop a typology of walking tourists, and explore the range of associated motivations, the nature of people's walking behaviour and route choices, and their attitudes towards a range of elements related to walking and outdoor recreation. Most prominently this discussion will convey ideas on serious and casual walkers and the walks they choose, with links to the notions of serious and casual leisure proposed by Stebbins (1982).