TransModeler is the name of a traffic simulation

Traffic Simulation

Traffic simulation or the simulation of transportation systems is the mathematical modeling of transportation systems through the application of computer software to better help plan, design and operate transportation systems...

 product for doing wide-area traffic planning

Transportation planning

Transportation planning is a field involved with the evaluation, assessment, design and siting of transportation facilities .-Models and Sustainability :...

, traffic management

Traffic management

Traffic management may refer to* Bandwidth management in computer networkingRoad traffic management in road transport* In combination with "policies", a black box of governmental or commercial policies...

, and emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation

Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...

 studies. It can animate the behavior of multi-modal traffic systems

Traffic estimation and prediction system

Traffic estimation and prediction systems have the potential to improve traffic conditions and reduce travel delays by facilitating better utilization of available capacity. These systems exploit currently available and emerging computer, communication, and control technologies to monitor, manage,...

 to show the flow of vehicles

Vehicle

A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

, the operation of traffic signals

Traffic light

Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...

, and the overall performance of the transportation network

Transport network

A transport network, or transportation network in American English, is typically a network of roads, streets, pipes, aqueducts, power lines, or nearly any structure which permits either vehicular movement or flow of some commodity....

.

About TransModeler

TransModeler is a powerful and versatile traffic simulation

Traffic Simulation

Traffic simulation or the simulation of transportation systems is the mathematical modeling of transportation systems through the application of computer software to better help plan, design and operate transportation systems...

 package applicable to a wide array of traffic planning and modeling tasks. TransModeler can simulate all kinds of road networks, from freeways to downtown areas, and can analyze wide area multimodal networks in great detail and with high fidelity. You can model and visualize the behavior of complex traffic systems in a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional GIS environment to illustrate and evaluate traffic flow dynamics, traffic signal and ITS operations, and overall network performance.

TransModeler breaks new ground in ease-of-use for complex simulation applications and integrates with TransCAD, the most popular travel demand forecasting software in the U.S., to provide a complete solution for evaluating the traffic impacts of future planning scenarios. Moreover, the TransModeler mapping, simulation, and animation tools allow you to present study findings to decision-makers in a clear and compelling fashion.

Based upon the latest research, TransModeler employs advanced methodological techniques and software technology to bring traffic simulation into a new era. TransModeler models the dynamic route choices of drivers based upon historical or simulated time dependent travel times, and also models trips based on origin-destination trip tables or turning movement volumes at intersections. It simulates public transportation as well as car and truck traffic, and handles a wide variety of ITS features such as electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept...

, route guidance, and raffic detection] and surveillance

Surveillance

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...

. TransModeler works with travel demand forecasting software to provide an integrated capability to perform operational analysis of transportation projects and plans. Traffic simulation results can also be fed back for use in travel demand forecasting.

Ease-of-use

Caliper Corporation

Caliper Corporation

Caliper Corporation was founded in 1983 as a developer of mapping software and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.Caliper develops geographic information systems and transportation software...

, a worldwide leader in transportation and GIS software, designed TransModeler for ease-of-use by traffic engineers and planners. TransModeler has an intuitive user interface and is the only simulation software that fully supports Windows standards. TransModeler lets you create and manage multiple projects, networks, demand profiles, and traffic signal control strategies for alternatives analysis. With TransModeler you can:

Import simulation data from Corsim

CORSIM

TSIS-CORSIM is a microscopic traffic simulation software package for signal systems, highway systems, freeway systems, or combined signal, highway and freeway systems. CORSIM consists of an integrated set of two microscopic simulation models that represent the entire traffic environment. NETSIM...

 and SimTraffic
Manage a variety of input files for multiple scenarios
Share project databases, traffic signal timing plans, and other input data between multiple projects
Export subareas of larger networks to simulate traffic operations on a more localized scale
Compare output results from multiple simulation runs
Generate nicely formatted reports, maps, and charts for inclusion in reports and presentation slides

Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes

Caliper Corporation has developed a TransModeler traffic simulation of the forthcoming High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes on the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Virginia with Transurban, a leading toll road owner and operator in Australia and North America. The Capital Beltway HOT Lanes project is a nearly two billion dollar public-private partnership that is intended to be an innovative solution to traffic congestion through dynamic, open-road tolling. Sensors will monitor traffic levels continuously, and a tolling algorithm designed to maintain a target level of service in the HOT lanes will adjust the price dynamically. Drivers who choose to use the HOT lanes will pay a toll conveyed to them via dynamic message signs. Carpools with three or more persons, buses, and emergency vehicles will be able to use the HOT lanes without charge.

INTEGRATED CORRIDOR MANAGEMENT PROGRAM – ANALYSIS, MODELING AND SIMULATION (AMS) FOR THE I-270 CORRIDOR IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND (PHASE I)

Caliper Corporation developed a pilot TransModeler micro-simulation model for the I-270 corridor in Montgomery County, MD. This work was conducted for the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT) and Maryland’s State Highway Administration (SHA). The objective of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of TransModeler in supporting large-scale corridor analyses such as the Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) initiative by the US DOT. The ICM initiative aims to demonstrate the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to plan and manage congested traffic corridors by assisting decision-makers in identifying gaps, evaluating strategies, and investing in the best combination of strategies that would minimize congestion and improve safety. The I-270 corridor in Maryland is one of eight test sites selected by the US DOT.

Micro-simulation of Greater Eureka Area, CA

Caliper is presently developing a micro-simulation model of the Greater Eureka Area (GEA) in Northern California for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and Humboldt County. The simulation in TransModeler will be integrated with the GEA travel model in TransCAD and will include a number of base year and future scenarios. Ultimately, the simulation model and the GEA travel model will together provide a comprehensive travel demand and traffic simulation platform with which Caltrans, county, and city staff can evaluate projects now and in the future.

County Route 93 (Myers Corners Road/Middlebush Road) Corridor Management Plan

The Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council (PDCTC) is working with Wilbur Smith Associates to develop a Corridor Management Plan that identifies and recommends policy and project actions to improve vehicular and non-vehicular movement along CR 93 in the Town of Wappinger, New York. The Town of Wappinger sits in the southern part of Dutchess County, which has experienced a large increase in population over the past ten years. This increase in population has contributed to increased traffic volumes on the CR 93 corridor and, in turn, resulted in poor levels of service during peak periods. Dutchess County and the Town of Wappinger expect future population growth and the continued appeal of CR 93 to intensify already poor traffic conditions. The CR 93 Corridor Management Plan will inform decision-makers, the public, local agencies, and other stakeholders about the causes of traffic congestion on CR 93 and recommend potential solutions. As part of the analysis, Wilbur Smith Associates will use TransModeler to prepare micro-simulations of the corridor, including current year and future year base scenarios as well as several future year alternatives implementing various land use and transportation strategies. The TransModeler micro-simulations will allow the PDCTC, the project’s Advisory Committee and the public to visualize alternatives for the corridor and understand trade-offs between the alternative scenarios.

State Route 91 corridor system management plan

CLR Analytics is developing, calibrating, and validating a traffic microsimulation model for the State Route 91 (SR-91) Corridor System Management Plan (CSMP) study in Orange County, CA. The calibrated model will be used as the base model for testing alternative build scenarios under future conditions. The Orange County section of the SR-91 is 25 miles long from the Los Angeles County line to the Riverside County line and includes interchanges with 5 different freeways. SR-91 contains both HOV, Toll, and mixed use lane facilities. All freeway facilities as well as most major arterials and their signalized intersections are included in the model. This model focuses on both the morning and afternoon rush hours from 6:00 to 10:00 AM and 2:00 to 8:00 PM, respectively, in order to cover all periods of congested travel.

Downtown Owensboro traffic study

ENTRAN, PLC is evaluating the impacts of the Downtown Owensboro Master Plan, a comprehensive set of recommendations that will change and revitalize the face of downtown in this western Kentucky city. The recommendation to convert downtown streets from one-way flow to two-way operation is a keystone of the entire plan. The simulation model in TransModeler will be integrated with the TransCAD county-wide travel demand model to predict changes in travel patterns that would result from the conversion and to evaluate the associated operational impacts. From the analyses, improvements to the street system, including the addition of turn lanes and modifications to traffic signals, will be identified. The study also will involve a complete street analysis using methods from the recently completed National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 616, Multimodal Level of Service Analysis for Urban Streets. The methods predict level of service from the perspective of the traveler for the four modes most commonly found on urban streets – autos, buses, bicycles and pedestrians. Finally, the project includes a parking inventory and analysis that will be used to develop a downtown parking management plan.

Product history

TransModeler was first released in December 2005. Version 1.1 was released on October 23, 2006. TransModeler 2.6, the current version, was released on June 28, 2010.