We introduce a system for sensing complex social systems with data collected from 100 mobile phones over the course of 9 months. We demonstrate the ability to use standard Bluetooth-enabled mobile telephones to measure information access and use in different contexts, recognize social patterns in daily user activity, infer relationships, identify socially significant locations, and model organizational rhythms.

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Reality mining: sensing complex social systems

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides access to information on a variety of topics related to the environment and strives to inform citizens of health risks. The EPA also has an extensive library network that consists of 26 libraries throughout the United States, which provide access to a plethora of information to EPA employees, scientists, and researchers. The EPA implemented a reorganization project to digitize their materials so they would be more accessible to a wider range of users, but this plan was drastically accelerated when the EPA was threatened with a budget cut. It chose to close and reduce the hours and services of some of their libraries. As a result, the agency was accused of denying users the “right to know” by making information unavailable, not providing an adequate strategic plan, and discarding vital materials. This case study explores the background of the digitization project, the practices implemented, and the critiques of the project.

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The Environmental Protection Agency

The Analysis of Time Series: An Introduction, 4th edn. By C. Chatfield. ISBN 0 412 31820 2. Chapman and Hall, London, 1989. 242 pp. £13.50.

The Analysis of Time Series: An Introduction

Vehicular networking has significant potential to enable diverse applications associated with traffic safety, traffic efficiency and infotainment. In this survey and tutorial paper we introduce the basic characteristics of vehicular networks, provide an overview of applications and associated requirements, along with challenges and their proposed solutions. In addition, we provide an overview of the current and past major ITS programs and projects in the USA, Japan and Europe. Moreover, vehicular networking architectures and protocol suites employed in such programs and projects in USA, Japan and Europe are discussed.

Vehicular Networking: A Survey and Tutorial on Requirements, Architectures, Challenges, Standards and Solutions

Recently, many efforts have been made to develop more efficient Inter-Vehicle Communication (IVC) protocols for on-demand route planning according to observed traffic congestion or incidents, as well as for safety applications. Because practical experiments are often not feasible, simulation of network protocol behavior in Vehicular Ad Hoc Network (VANET) scenarios is strongly demanded for evaluating the applicability of developed network protocols. In this work, we discuss the need for bidirectional coupling of network simulation and road traffic microsimulation for evaluating IVC protocols. As the selection of a mobility model influences the outcome of simulations to a great extent, the use of a representative model is necessary for producing meaningful evaluation results. Based on these observations, we developed the hybrid simulation framework Veins (Vehicles in Network Simulation), composed of the network simulator OMNeT++ and the road traffic simulator SUMO. In a proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate its advantages and the need for bidirectionally coupled simulation based on the evaluation of two protocols for incident warning over VANETs. With our developed methodology, we can advance the state-of-the-art in performance evaluation of IVC and provide means to evaluate developed protocols more accurately.

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Bidirectionally Coupled Network and Road Traffic Simulation for Improved IVC Analysis

One full year of high-resolution driving data from 484 instrumented gasoline vehicles in the US is used to analyze daily driving patterns, and from those infer the range requirements of electric vehicles (EVs). We conservatively assume that EV drivers would not change their current gasoline-fueled driving patterns and that they would charge only once daily, typically at home overnight. Next, the market is segmented into those drivers for whom a limited-range vehicle would meet every day’s range need, and those who could meet their daily range need only if they make adaptations on some days. Adaptations, for example, could mean they have to either recharge during the day, borrow a liquid-fueled vehicle, or save some errands for the subsequent day. From this analysis, with the stated assumptions, we infer the potential market share for limited-range vehicles. For example, we find that 9% of the vehicles in the sample never exceeded 100 miles in one day, and 21% never exceeded 150 miles in one day. These drivers presumably could substitute a limited-range vehicle, like electric vehicles now on the market, for their current gasoline vehicle without any adaptation in their driving at all. For drivers who are willing to make adaptations on 2 days a year, the same 100 mile range EV would meet the needs of 17% of drivers, and if they are willing to adapt every other month (six times a year), it would work for 32% of drivers. Thus, it appears that even modest electric vehicles with today’s limited battery range, if marketed correctly to segments with appropriate driving behavior, comprise a large enough market for substantial vehicle sales. An additional analysis examines driving versus parking by time of day. On the average weekday at 5 pm, only 15% of the vehicles in the sample are on the road; at no time during the year are fewer than 75% of vehicles parked. Also, because the return trip home is widely spread in time, even if all cars plug in and begin charging immediately when they arrive home and park, the increased demand on the electric system is less problematic than prior analyses have suggested.

Electric vehicles: How much range is required for a day’s driving?

There has been increasing interest in the exploitation of advances in information technology in surface transportation systems. One trend is to exploit on-board sensing, computing and communication capabilities in vehicles, e.g., to augment and enhance existing intelligent transportation systems. A natural approach is to use vehicle-to-vehicle communications to disseminate information. In this paper, we propose MDDV, a mobility-centric approach for data dissemination in vehicular networks designed to operate efficiently and reliably despite the highly mobile, partitioned nature of these networks. MDDV is designed to exploit vehicle mobility for data dissemination, and combines the idea of opportunistic forwarding, trajectory based forwarding and geographical forwarding. We develop a generic mobile computing approach for designing localized algorithms in vehicular networks. Vehicles perform local operations based on their own knowledge while they collectively achieve a global behavior. We evaluate the performance of the MDDV algorithm using realistic simulation of the vehicle traffic in Atlanta area.

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MDDV: a mobility-centric data dissemination algorithm for vehicular networks

Several recent pilot studies combined Global Positioning System (GPS) technology with travel survey data collection to evaluate opportunities for improving the quantity and accuracy of travel data. These studies used GPS to supplement traditional data elements collected in paper or electronic travel diaries. Although many traditional trip elements can be obtained from the GPS data, trip purpose has remained an important element, requiring the use of a diary to continue. Presented are the results of a proof-of-concept study conducted at the Georgia Institute of Technology that examined the feasibility of using GPS data loggers to completely replace, rather than supplement, traditional travel diaries. In this approach, all GPS data collected must be processed so that all essential trip data elements, including trip purpose, are derived. If this processing is done correctly and quickly, then the computer-assisted telephone interview retrieval call could be shortened significantly, reducing both respondent burden and telephone interview times. The study used GPS data loggers to collect travel data in personal vehicles. The GPS data were then processed within a geographic information system (GIS) to derive most of the traditional travel diary elements. These derived data were compared with data recorded on paper diaries by the survey participants and were found to match or exceed the reporting quality of the participants. Most important, this study demonstrated that it is feasible to derive trip purpose from the GPS data by using a spatially accurate and comprehensive GIS.

Elimination of the Travel Diary: Experiment to Derive Trip Purpose from Global Positioning System Travel Data

Sustainability assessment at the transportation planning level: Performance measures and indexes

The Georgia Institute of Technology is evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of mileage-based pricing programs as transportation control measures. Incentives were provided to study participants who change driving behavior in response to cent per mile pricing (fixed pricing and pricing as a function of congestion level). In-vehicle Global Positioning System (GPS) devices were used to estimate distance traveled and driver behavior (e.g., speed and acceleration profiles). The accuracy of estimated mileage accrual speeds by road classification, and acceleration rates used in pricing algorithms, is paramount. Various data-smoothing techniques were applied to the instrumented vehicle GPS speed data, and performance of the algorithms was evaluated in minimizing the impact of GPS random error on speed, acceleration, and distance estimates. The conventional discrete Kalman filter algorithm was modified to enhance its ability to control GPS random errors. Each smoothing method produces different second-by-se...

Randall Guensler

Papers

Electric vehicles: How much range is required for a day’s driving?

MDDV: a mobility-centric data dissemination algorithm for vehicular networks

Elimination of the Travel Diary: Experiment to Derive Trip Purpose from Global Positioning System Travel Data

Sustainability assessment at the transportation planning level: Performance measures and indexes

Smoothing Methods to Minimize Impact of Global Positioning System Random Error on Travel Distance, Speed, and Acceleration Profile Estimates