JP2003016571A - Method and device for inputting traffic flow simulation data - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and device for inputting road data which is provided with a road parts editing function for reducing, especially, a road structure data input work concerning a traffic flow simulation device for analyzing a traffic flow based on road structure data since road map data input work for simulation becomes more complicated as a road structure comes to be complicated by the length of the road and the position of an intersection. SOLUTION: The device is characterized as follows. Road map data of an area to be simulated is read from a road map database, road parts corresponding to the read map data are retrieved in the road parts database and, then, network data is edited which consists of the intersection positions and position relation between the intersections and which expresses the road structure through the use of the corresponding road parts when the parts exist. Unless the corresponding road parts exit, road parts data is generated based on the map data and registered in the road parts database and also network data is edited.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a simulation data input method and device for efficiently performing a road structure data input operation of a traffic flow simulator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Traffic flow simulators simulate traffic phenomena at parking lots and surrounding roads, traffic planning at signalized intersections, etc. by simulating phenomena on a computer and then change traffic volume and signal parameters. Let's evaluate it. Normally, network data representing the road structure such as the length of roads and the positions of intersections, which are required as input data for simulators, is McT of the University of Florida.
trans is federal highway agency (FHWA: Feder)
al HighWay Administratio
n) Traffic flow simulation model N developed for
As represented by ETSIW, the connection relationship of the evaluation target roads is described as intersections as nodes and line segments connecting the intersections as links. Actually, the coordinate data picked up from the drawing is digitized and directly input in a text file format.

As prior art, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-8304
There is a gazette No. 4 “Simulation device”. As described in this publication, there is a method of editing by a dedicated figure input function. This method is known as a general method. In addition, according to the "Instruction Manual for Traffic Flow Control Algorithm Evaluation Traffic Flow Simulator" issued by the Japan Traffic Management Association, a method of graphically inputting link information and node information on map data read by an image scanner. Is taking.

Also, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-046711 "Traffic flow simulator and navigation terminal", automatic extraction of network data from an image map has been attempted. Also,
JP-A-8-202729 "Road change method and map information system in digital map" describes
Attempts have also been made to represent roads with links and nodes.

[0005]

Network data is created by drawing road information such as road length, intersection position, and so on.
The intersection angle of each road at the intersection is read and digitized, and then created with data including node information and link information. Furthermore, for each link, information such as the number of lanes, the direction of the lane, and the destination is created. However,
As the scale of the simulation target increases,
Even if the input operation is a figure, the amount of input data is increased, so that an input error is likely to occur.

On the other hand, when newly creating network data, the network data that has been created previously often has the same shape as an intersection. Therefore, it is a great effort to create from the beginning each time without using these. In addition, intersections and road shapes with complicated shapes were created with difficulty, but if you forget the creation method, you will have to create it again when you create it next time.
A lot of time will be spent on input work.

An object of the present invention is to divide and register road intersection information and road information as road component parts, and to use the registered information to construct network data when a simulation is performed. The created network data is additionally registered as a road component to provide a data input method and device for improving the efficiency of data input for simulation.

[0008]

The above-mentioned problems can be solved by the following means. The road map data of the area to be simulated is read from the road map database, the road parts corresponding to the read map data are searched in the road parts database, and if there is a corresponding road part, the position of the intersection is used. Edit the network data representing the structure of the road based on the positional relationship between intersections and intersections, and if there is no corresponding road part in the search, create road part data based on the map data and register the road part database. To edit the network data together, transfer the edited network data to a network database, and perform a simulation based on the transferred data and traffic flow parameters related to the control of vehicles, traffic lights, etc. running on the network data. How to enter traffic flow simulation data It is characterized in.

Further, a road map database created based on a road map, a road parts database storing data as a partial configuration of the road, and the road based on the data read from the road map database. A road parts editing unit that searches and edits the parts database, a network data editing unit that forms a network with the read map data and the searched road parts, and the edited network data is received and used for simulation. A traffic flow simulation data input device consisting of a network data database.

Further, based on the data read out from the road map database, the road parts editing section reads out road parts data created and registered for intersections or roads alone, and inserts or replaces them in the network data. And edit road parts. Also,
The road parts editing unit creates a road structure of the road parts data and drawing information accompanying it based on the created road parts data, and registers the road parts data and the drawing information in association with each other. To be. Further, the road parts editing section is characterized in that the edited network data is cut out in units of intersections or in parts of roads and registered as road parts data in the road parts database.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the overall structure of the present invention. The traffic flow simulation data input device used in the present invention is a road map database (DB, hereinafter referred to as a database DB, which is stored as an image map as a rough sketch in creating network data and information that digitizes the shape of a road. The simulation data is input based on 1.

FIG. 1 further edits network data editing unit 2 for editing network data to be simulated, and data of road component DB3 that stores and stores pre-registered intersections and partial road shapes as road components. Road parts editing unit 4, network data DB 5 that stores network data used for simulation, traffic flow parameter DB 6 that stores control information of vehicles running on the network data, animation display of simulation execution results for each vehicle It is equipped with a landscape data DB 7 that stores the landscape data required for.

A traffic flow simulator 8 for simulating the flow of a vehicle on a computer, a display 9 for displaying a simulation result, and statistical data D for storing the simulation result as statistical information based on the above-mentioned respective data.
It is composed of B10.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The flow of the overall processing of the traffic flow simulation data input device is shown in FIG. First, step 21
Then, the road shape information of the area to be simulated is extracted from the road map DB1, and in step 22, the outer shape of the road is defined by the information of the intersections (nodes) and the roads (links) connecting the intersections to obtain a shape suitable for the purpose. Editing is performed by the network editing unit 2. That is, lane information such as the number of lanes of intersections and connecting roads, direction of lanes, and destinations is edited.

Here, although lane information and the like may be newly edited individually, whether or not an intersection of the same shape or similar intersections and connecting roads are registered in the road component DB 3 is registered. In step 23, the road parts DB3 is searched based on the drawing information of the road parts data. In step 25, it is determined whether or not there is a corresponding road part or a similar road part. If there is, a calling process of the corresponding road part data is performed in step 24. This is continued until it is judged in step 26 that the editing is completed. In this way, if there are registered road parts, reuse them, and if there are no road parts,
The network data that is the target of simulation evaluation is edited by repeating the work of individually defining.

Up to this point, the explanation has been made on the premise that the road component data has already been registered, but when newly editing the road component data, the method shown in FIG. 3 is used. In step 31, the road part data editing unit 4 defines the outer shape of the road and edits the lane information as in the case of editing normal network data. Then, in step 32, it is registered in the road parts DB 3. In step 33, the road parts data editing unit 4 creates drawing information based on the road parts data so that the shape of the registered parts is known (parts icon creation), and in step 34, the road parts data and the drawing information are associated with each other. It is attached and registered in the road parts DB3.

Next, the flow of processing for extracting and registering reusable road part data from the network data created so far will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step 41, the previously created network data is read from the network data DB 5 by the road component editing unit 4, and in step 42, a region surrounding the shape data of the road component to be registered is designated and extracted.
At 3, the road parts are registered in the road parts DB3.

As a result, a simulation is executed by the traffic flow simulator 8 using the edited network data 5, traffic flow parameters 6 and landscape data 7,
As an execution result, the behavior of each vehicle is displayed as an animation on the display 9, and the traffic congestion on the road is digitized and stored in the statistical data DB 10.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of editing road parts. In the figure, the outline information of the road, which is composed of the link (Lk) and the node (n) information, is edited at the four-road intersection with the right turn guide zone added. As a setting method,
The method described as the prior art can be used. That is, the road network to be evaluated on the edit screen,
With the nodes n1 to n7 and the links Lk1 to Lk6, the outline information of the road is defined by designating the coordinates with the mouse. Here, the nodes n6 and n7 are provided to create a right turn guide zone. Basically, a node is provided corresponding to a change point where a situation judgment is required when a vehicle travels on a road.

FIG. 6 shows an example in which lane attribute information is added to the road outline information consisting of the links (Lk1 to 6) and nodes (n1 to 7) shown in FIG. The setting of the lane information can be edited by selecting the lane outside with the outer shape information of the road as the center line and using the mouse or the like to increase or decrease the lane information with a constant width based on the lane. In this example, the road R1 has two lanes on one side, and the road R2 in the horizontal direction is edited to have one lane on one side. Data necessary for the vehicle to travel is associated with each lane. Also, lane 6
The right turn direction is set in 3, the left turn and straight line are set in the lane 64, the right turn, the left turn and straight line are set in the lane 62, and the diversion zone is set in the lane 61.

FIG. 7 shows the data structure of the road component data shown in FIG. 5. Basically, the starting point node (n
1, n6, n3, n7) and the end point node (n5, in this case, an intersection node) define a link number. actually,
Since there are uplink and downlink bidirectional links, bidirectional links are defined by changing the combination of the start point node and the end point node.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the lanes Ln1 and Ln2 corresponding to the link 71 (Lk2), and the direction of the lane and the data of the connection destination of the lane are defined. The direction of the lane is the same as the condition of the vehicle that can make a transition to the lane, and only vehicles having the attribute of the traveling direction can enter. The destination of the lane is information that defines the connection relationship between the lanes, for example, the lane 63.
Is a right turn, so the link ahead is Lk1 in FIG.
Becomes The vehicle can travel by repeating the transition between lanes based on this information. As described above, the road component data can be created by inputting data on the editing screen based on the information of the actual road shape.

FIG. 9 shows the data structure of the lane data corresponding to the link 72 (Lk5) in FIG.
FIG. 10 shows an example of road component data for five different roads. Generally, in a simulation, a vehicle is driven by setting a branching ratio in three directions of turning right and left at a branching point such as an intersection. Therefore, when the number of intersections is large and the intersection angles are not orthogonal as in the case of a 5-way crossing, it is difficult to automatically set the destination direction, and manual setting is performed, which complicates input work. Therefore, if the road parts can be registered and reused, the input work can be significantly reduced. FIG. 11 shows an example of road component data for three different roads. The number of crossings for the three-way crossing is also small, but depending on the crossing angle, it may be possible to automatically determine which is straight, so manual setting is required.

In addition to the intersection, the road component data is also used for alternating traffic on one side and for straight roads such as median strips.
By creating and registering once the network data that needs to be modified at the time of editing, it can be easily edited from the next time. For example, in the case of FIG. 12, the link Lk22 connecting the nodes n2 and n3 has links in two directions, an up link and a down link.
It is realized by filling it as 21.

In the method of increasing or decreasing the number of lanes with respect to the median strip also with respect to the median line, if the median line can be defined only by a straight line, the vehicle can be defined by defining nodes and links as shown in FIG. It is possible to create and represent the section Lk31 in which the vehicle cannot run. Nodes n2, n5 and n
Since links 3 and n6 are links whose link lengths are so short that no vehicle can run, they are treated as having no vertical lane as shown in FIG.

The use of road component data will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. FIG. 14 is data newly created by network data editing. For example, when it is desired to change the 4-way intersection C2 to an intersection with a diversion zone, the road component data of FIG. 6 is changed to the road component DB3.
Read from. Next, the intersections before the change and the intersections after the change are to be linked, but since the number of intersections is the same for all four, it is possible to replace them by taking the correspondence of the nodes. For example, the node n2 in FIG.
If the N8 correspondences are taken and the nodes are sequentially arranged clockwise, the links in the vertical direction (vertical direction in the figure) have two lanes on one side and the links in the horizontal direction have one lane on one side. Figure 1
If a clockwise correspondence is made based on N6 of 4, the links in the vertical direction (vertical direction in the figure) are one lane on one side and the links in the horizontal direction are two lanes on one side. In this way, by performing the correspondence relationship between the nodes on a node-by-node basis, the correspondence relationship between the link and lane data can be edited into an actual shape or a similar shape.

Further, when it is desired to change to the intersection of five different roads, the road component data of FIG. 10 is read out, and the intersection before the change and the link after the change are similarly taken. In this case, the intersection C2 before the change is a four-way crossing, and the number of intersections is different and cannot be dealt with.
The link L10 is defined by adding the node N11. Now that the number of intersections is the same, it is possible to replace the five-intersection intersection data later by establishing the node correspondence.

To replace the road part data other than the intersection, as shown in FIG. 15, the link L9 is cut once to be separated into two pieces of network data, and then FIG.
The road parts data of the one-sided alternating traffic shown in FIG. 15 is inserted, and the correspondence relationship of each node is shown in FIG.
(N9) and 152 (n1) are combined to form a node N9. Similarly, the nodes 153 (n4) and 154 (N10) are connected to form N10. In this way, the replacement of road component data becomes possible. As a result, link data 162, 163, and 164 as shown in FIG. 16 are added. Here, the link data of 161 is L9 in FIG.
The link data 161 in FIG. 16 is deleted by deleting the link on the edit screen.

Further, in order to extract the necessary road part data from the already created network data, for example, on the screen of FIG. 14, the nodes and links existing in the range surrounded by the rectangular area 141 at the intersection C2. Based on the information
Corresponding data can be extracted.

In the above hardware configuration of FIG. 1, the editing procedure is actually arranged as follows, taking the network data diagram 14 as an example. The road map DB1 stores map data in vector or image format.
First, the map data of the area required for the simulation is cut out from the stored road map DB1. Here, the link data consisting of nodes and links extracted based on the cut out map data is rarely used without modification, but in most cases, roads with new development are added. To be done. Therefore, based on the extracted link data, nodes and links are modified to create desired link data.

Next, the lane data for adding the data such as the number of lanes and the destination for each lane to the created link data is edited. Since the editing unit is generally edited for each intersection or single road, in the case of the link data of FIG.
An intersection C1 including 1, N2, N3, N5 and N9, a road L9 including nodes N9 and N10, and nodes N10 and N8.
The intersection C2 consisting of N6, N7 and N4 is divided and edited.
For editing, first, it is checked whether or not the desired lane data is already designed and registered in the registration data of the road parts database 3. The data registered as the part data in the road parts database is the link data defined by the node and the link, with the information about the lane such as the number of lanes and the destination being added, but it is attached to the intersection. Parameters such as signal setting seconds and branching rates may also be registered in association with each other.

For example, if the intersection C1 has no registered parts and the intersection C2 and the road L9 have registered parts, the intersection C
The road component 2 is newly created by the road component editing unit 4 and is registered in the road component database 3 for use. Intersection C2 and road L
9 can read registered data in the road parts database 3 and reuse it. In this way, the network data can be created by reusing the registered parts and the work of editing the new parts in parallel. The created network data is stored in the network database 5.

Further, the road parts data database 3 is cut out by the road parts editing section 4 from the data of the network database 5, which has been registered once, in units of intersections or roads.
You can also register at.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a dialog screen for editing nodes and links on the edit screen.
The intersection C2 in FIG. 14 is a four-way intersection, but if a five-way intersection is desired, add link is selected and l10 is defined. When a node is required on the link initially defined in FIG. 14, the node can be divided by inserting it into the link like n9 and n10. It is used for the purpose of performing the reverse operation to delete links and nodes.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a dialog screen displaying a list of shapes of registered road component data. As a result, it is possible to judge the type of registered road component data and whether or not it can be used, and use it by selecting the corresponding shape cell with the mouse. Regarding the drawing of the shape, based on the coordinate values (x, y) of the predefined node, for example, the lane width is set to a fixed value, and the drawing is displayed based on the lane data information of the network data. The enlargement / reduction ratio is determined according to the display area per one part of the prepared road parts data list display dialog, and the image is displayed so as to fit within the display area. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently create network data that is input data to the traffic flow simulator, and as a result, it is possible to quickly change and evaluate the simulation conditions.

According to the present invention, there is provided road part data editing means for editing, as road parts, intersections and partial road shapes forming network data representing a road structure required for traffic flow simulation. This makes it possible to save labor for creating and inputting network data. Further, by providing the road part shape display means for graphically displaying the shape of the registered road part, it is possible to efficiently search for the corresponding part when reusing.

[0037]

According to the present invention, since the road part data is edited based on the road part data already created for the map data of the simulation target area, the efficiency of the work of creating and inputting the network data is improved. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of using registered road component data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flow of processing of road component data editing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a flow of road part data extraction processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing link data of a four-way intersection.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing lane data at a four-way intersection.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of a four-way intersection.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data structure of a link Lk2 at a four-way intersection.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data structure of a link Lk5 at a four-way intersection.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a structure of road component data of a 5-way intersection.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure of road component data of a three-road intersection.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a structure of road component data for alternate passage on one side.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a structure of road component data of a median strip.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a structure of network data.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining replacement of road component data.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a data structure of network data.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of an edit command.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a list display screen of road component data.

[Explanation of symbols]

1; Road map DB 2; Network data editor
3; road parts DB 4; road parts editor 5; network DB 6; traffic flow parameter DB 7; landscape data DB 8; traffic flow simulator 9; display 1
0; Statistical data DB

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A traffic flow simulator for simulating the flow of vehicles on a computer to plan and evaluate a traffic plan. Road map data of a region to be simulated is read from a road map database, and the read map is read. The road parts database is searched for a road part corresponding to the data, and if there is a corresponding road part, the network data representing the structure of the road including the position of the intersection and the positional relationship between the intersections is edited, and the search is performed. When there is no corresponding road part, the road part data is created based on the map data, the road part database is registered, the network data is edited, the edited network data is transferred to the network database, and the transfer is performed. Control of vehicles, traffic lights, etc. running on the recorded data and network data. Traffic flow simulation data input method and performing a simulation based on the traffic flow parameters related. 2. A traffic flow simulator for simulating the flow of vehicles on a computer to plan and evaluate a traffic plan, and stores a road map database created based on road maps and data as a partial configuration of roads. Road parts database, a road parts editing unit for searching and editing the road parts database based on the data read from the road map database, and the read map data and the searched road parts. A network data editing unit that configures a network, a database of network data that receives the edited network data and is used for simulation, and data of the network data database and control of vehicles, traffic lights, and the like that run on the network data. Simulate based on traffic flow parameters Deployment traffic flow simulation data input device and performs. 3. The network according to claim 2, wherein the road parts editing section reads out road parts data created and registered for an intersection or a road alone based on the data read out from the road map database, A traffic flow simulation data input device characterized by inserting or substituting in data to edit road parts. 4. The road component editing unit according to claim 2, wherein the road component data is created based on the created road component data, a road structure of the road component data, and drawing information associated therewith. A traffic flow simulation data input device characterized in that it is registered in association with drawing information. 5. The road parts editing unit according to claim 2, wherein the edited network data is cut out in units of intersections or a part of a road as a unit and registered as road parts data in a road parts database. Traffic flow simulation data input device.