Towards an Affordable GIS for Analysing Public Transport Mobility Data: A Preliminary File Naming Convention for Avoiding Duplication of Efforts

Identifier:  imarina:9161965

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/imarina9161965

Authors:  Zaragozi, Benito; Gutierrez, Aaron; Trilles, Sergio

Abstract:
Automated fare collection systems for public transport generate a large volume of information on the mobility of people in urban environments. New technologies associated with Big Data can facilitate the analysis of these data. However, the application of these technologies can be expensive and resource-demanding, especially in medium and small cities. This paper presents the case of the metropolitan transport authority of Tarragona, for which an affordable and extensible analysis system has been developed, based on relational databases and custom scripts. Among the technical problems that have had to be overcome, one of the first has been the unambiguous definition of the numerous queries required by mobility experts. For different reasons, mobility researchers request aggregate data queries from smart transport cards logs (e.g. providing a descriptive statement) and expect manageable tables to be analysed in a spreadsheet. To standardise the definition of queries, a domain-specific language as a file naming convention has been proposed with which database managers and mobility experts can communicate efficiently, avoiding confusion, duplication of efforts and other problems detected. The file naming convention has been applied as an early version within the defined use case to verify the viability of this idea.