Browsing by Author "Huang, Arthur"
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Item Accessibility, Network Structure, and Consumers’ Destination Choice: A GIS Analysis of GPS Travel Data and the CLUSTER Simulation Module for Retail Location Choice(Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2012-10) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, DavidAnecdotal and empirical evidence has shown strong associations between the built environment and individuals’ travel decision. To date, data about individuals’ travel behavior and the nature of the retail environment have not been linked at the fine-grained level for verifying such relationships. GPS and GIS have revolutionized how we measure and monitor land use and individual travel behavior. Compared with traditional travel survey methods, GPS technologies provide more accurate and detailed information about individuals’ trips. Based the GPS travel data in the Twin Cities we analyze the impact of individuals’ interactions with road network structure and the destinations’ accessibility on individuals’ destination choice for home-based non-work retail trips. The results reveal that higher accessibility and diversity of services make the destination more attractive. Further, accessibility and diversity of establishments in a walking zone are often highly correlated. A destination reached via a more circuitous or discontinuous route dampens its appeal. In addition, we build an agent-based simulation tool to study retail location choice on a supply chain network consisting of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. The simulation software illustrates that the clustering of retailers can emerge from the balance of distance to suppliers and the distance to consumers. We further applied this tool in the Transportation Geography and Networks course (CE 5180) at the University of Minnesota. Student feedback reveals that it is a useful active learning tool for transportation and urban planning education. The software also has the potential of being extended for an integrated regional transportation-land use forecasting model.Item Axis of Travel: Modeling non-work destination choice with GPS Data(2015) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MBased on in-vehicle GPS travel data in the Minneapolis - St. Paul Metropolitan Area, this research investigates how land use, road network structure, and route familiarity influence home-based single-destination choice. We propose a new choice set formation approach which combines survival analysis and random selection. Our empirical findings reveal that: (1) Walkable opportunities and diversity of services at the destination influence destination choice. (2) Route-specific network measures such as turn index and speed discontinuity display statistically significant effects on destination choice. (3) The familiarity factors reflected by distance to home, work, and downtown also plays a role. A destination closer to home and work, all else equal, is more likely to be selected. A destination farther away from downtown is more attractive for auto users. This research contributes to methodologies in modeling destination choice using GPS data. The results enhance our understanding of non-work travel behavior and have implications for transportation and land use planning.Item Book Review: The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making(Journal of Transport and Land Use, 2009) Huang, ArthurThe author reviews the book The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making by Eran Ben-Joseph (MIT Press, 2005).Item The Effects of Daylight Saving Time on Vehicle Crashes in Minnesota(National Safety Council, 2010) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MDaylight saving time (DST), implemented as an energy saving policy, impacts many other aspects of life; one is road safety. Based on vehicle crash data in Minnesota from 2001 to 2007, this paper evaluates long- and short-term effects of DST on daily vehicle crashes. To provide evidence to explain the causes of more/fewer crashes in DST, we examine the impact of DST on crashes in four periods of a day: 3 am-9 am, 9 am-3 pm, 3 pm-9 pm, 9 pm-12 pm. The effects of risk and exposure to traffic are also separated. Our statistical models not only include weather conditions and dummy variables for days in DST as independent variables, but also consider traffic volumes on major roads in different periods of a day. Our major finding is that the short-term effect of DST on crashes on the morning of the first DST is not statistically significant. Moreover, it is interesting to notice that while DST per se is associated with fewer crashes during dusk, this is in part offset because it is also associated with more traffic on roads (and hence more crashes). Our path analysis shows that overall DST reduces crashes.Item Gasoline Price Effects on Traffic Safety in Urban and Rural Areas: Evidence from Minnesota, 1998–2007(2013) Chi, Guangqing; Quddus, Mohammed A.; Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MA large literature base has found that economic factors have important effects on traffic crashes. A small but growing branch of literature also examines the role that gasoline prices play in the occurrence of traffic crashes. However, no studies have investigated the possible difference of these effects between urban and rural areas. In this study, we used the monthly traffic crash data from 1998–2007 at the county level in Minnesota to investigate the possibly different effects gasoline prices may have on traffic crashes in urban versus rural areas. The results indicate significant difference of gasoline price effects on total crashes in urban versus rural areas. Gasoline prices also significantly affect the frequency of injury crashes in both urban and rural areas; however, the difference is not significant. Gasoline prices have no significant effects on the frequency of fatal crashes in urban and rural areas. Traffic volume plays a bigger role on the incidence of injury and fatal crashes. The results concerning the differences between urban and rural areas have important policy implications for traffic safety planners and decision makers.Item How Affordable is Transportation? A Context-Sensitive Framework(Center for Transportation Studies, 2011-05) Fan, Yingling; Huang, ArthurTransportation affordability refers to the financial burden households bear in purchasing transportation services. Traditional measures, which focus on what share of household disposable income or total budget goes to transportation services, often fail to consider the wide variation in households? transportation needs and locational settings. In this project, we propose a contextualized transportation affordability analysis framework that differentiates population groups based upon their socio-demographics, the built environment, and the policy environment. The necessity of such a context-sensitive framework is demonstrated via a case study of the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which shows heterogeneity among different population groups in terms of their transportation needs and resource availability. The proposed context-sensitive framework points to two dilemmas associated with transportation affordability. First, the socio-economically disadvantaged group has the lowest auto ownership rate, yet its transportation needs are better served by automobiles. Second, while automobiles can reduce transportation hardship for the socio-economically disadvantaged, the existing auto-oriented urban landscape in the U.S. requires more travel for access to destinations, which leads to higher transportation costs. The dilemmas call for a multi-modal transportation solution: reducing societal auto dependence and providing financial subsidies for car access among disadvantaged populations are equally important to enhance transportation affordability and social welfare.Item A model of two-destination choice in trip chains with GPS data(2016) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MStudying trip chaining behavior has been a challenging endeavor which requires the support of microscopic travel data. New insights can be gained given real-time GPS travel data. This research introduces a framework that considers two-destination choice in the context of home-based trip chains. We propose and empirically compare three alternatives of building choice sets where we consider various relationships of the two destinations (such as major-minor destinations, selecting one first, and select- ing two concurrently). Our choice set formation alternatives use survival models to determine the selection probability of a destination. Our results reveal that trip chaining behavior is shaped by the features of retail clusters, spatial patterns of clusters, transportation networks, and the axis of travel. This research supports our hypothesis that not only the spatial relationship but also the land use relationship of the destinations in a trip chain affect the decision making process.Item A Positive Theory of Network Connectivity(Pion, 2012) Levinson, David M; Huang, ArthurThis paper develops a positive theory of network connectivity, seeking to explain the micro-foundations of alternative network topologies as the result of self-interested actors. By building roads, landowners hope to increase their parcels’ accessibility and economic value. A simulation model is performed on a grid-like land use layer with a downtown in the center, whose structure resembles the early form of many Midwestern and Western (US) cities. The topological attributes for the networks are evaluated. This research posits that road networks experience an evolutionary process where a tree-like structure first emerges around the centered parcel before the network pushes outward to the periphery. In addition, road network topology undergoes clear phase changes as the economic values of parcels vary. The results demonstrate that even without a centralized authority, road networks have the property of self-organization and evolution, and, that in the absence of intervention, the tree-like or web-like nature of networks is a result of the underlying economics.Item Retail Location Choice with Complementary Goods: An Agent-based Model(ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 2009) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MThis paper examines the emergence of retail clusters on a supply chain network comprised of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. An agent-based model is proposed to investigate retail location distribution in a market of two complementary goods. The methodology controls for supplier locales and unit sales prices of retailers and suppliers; a consumer's willingness to patronize a retailer depends on the total travel distance of buying both goods. On a circle comprised of discrete locations, retailers play a non-cooperative game of location choice to maximize individual profits. Our findings suggest that the number of clusters in equilibrium follow a power-law distribution and that hierarchical distribution patterns are much more likely to occur than the spread-out ones. In addition, retailers of complementary goods tend to co-locate at supplier locales. Sensitivity tests on the number of retailers and retailers' sequence of moving are also performed.Item The South Gate: Increasing the Viability of Penn Station in Bryn Mawr(Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, 2011-05-17) Huang, Arthur; McLafferty, Brian; Moore, Marshall; Qualley, KayItem STREET: Where simulation meets reality.(University of Minnesota, 2012) Huang, ArthurSimulations and games are receiving increasing attention in teaching in higher education. In this context, we developed a series of simulation modules (STREET) in transportation engineering education and applied them in teaching undergraduate and graduate transportation courses at the University of Minnesota. After several years, we contend that they represent an effective pedagogical tool in transportation education. In this chapter we describe our motivation for this work, the program's development process, dissemination and impacts, and our future work.Item The Structure and Evolution of a Skyway Network(2013) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MAdopting an agent-based approach, this paper explores the topological evolution of the Minneapolis Skyway System from a microscopic perspective. Under a decentralized decision-making mechanism, skyway segments are built by self-interested building owners. We measure the accessibility for the blocks from 1962 to 2002 using the size of office space in each block as an indicator of business opportunities. By building skyway segments, building owners desire to increase their buildings’ value of accessibility, and thus potential business revenue. The skyway network in equilibrium generated from the agent model displays similarity to the actual skyway system. The network topology is evaluated by multiple centrality measures (e.g., degree centrality, closeness centrality, and betweenness centrality) and a measure of road contiguity, roadness. Sensitivity tests such parameters as distance decay parameter and construction cost per unit length of segments are performed. Our results disclose that the accessibility- based agent model can provide unique insights for the dynamics of the skyway network growth.Item To game or not to game: teaching transportation planning with board games.(Transportation Research Board, 2012) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MTraditional "chalk and talk" teaching in civil engineering has gradually been replaced with the idea of active learning focusing on encouraging students' knowledge discovery with innovative pedagogical methods and tools. One interesting tool is the board game. This research examines the efficacy of adopting transportation board games as a tool in graduate-level transportation planning and transportation economics classes at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Minnesota from 2008 to 2010. In these classes, a weekday night was scheduled for playing transportation board games. Students were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the games on their learning and to write a self-reflective paper about their findings. The majority of the students reveal that their understanding of the planning process, network deployment, and practical issues, and and their ability to form opinion about transportation planning has been improved. Their summaries on the game economy and its implications on planning validate that their understanding obtained from this game process has met the pedagogical goals. Our analysis further shows that students who are moderately/highly visual, sensing, active, or sequential, all else equal, tend to learn more effectively through this approach than those who are not. Overall, this research suggests that properly incorporating board games into the curriculum can enhance students' learning process in transportation planning.Item Why retailers cluster: An agent model of location choice on supply chains(Pion, 2011) Huang, Arthur; Levinson, David MThis paper investigates the emergence of retail clusters on supply chains comprised of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. Agent-based models are employed to study retail location choice in a market of homogeneous goods and a market of complementary goods. On a circle comprised of discrete locales, retailers play a non-cooperative game by choosing locales to maximize profits which are impacted by their distance to consumers and to suppliers. Our findings disclose that in a market of homogeneous products symmetric distributions of retail clusters rise out of competition between individual retailers; average cluster density and cluster size change dynamically as retailers enter the market. In a market of two complementary goods, multiple equilibria of retail distributions are found to be common; a single cluster of retailers has the highest probability to emerge. Overall, our results show that retail clusters emerge from the balance between retailers’ proximity to their customers, their competitors, their complements, and their suppliers.