Spatial-temporal traffic flow pattern identification and anomaly detection with dictionary-based compression theory in a large-scale urban network

Zhenhua Zhang, Qing He, Hanghang Tong, Jizhan Gou, Xiaoling Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Traffic flow pattern identification, as well as anomaly detection, is an important component for traffic operations and control. To reveal the characteristics of regional traffic flow patterns in large road networks, this paper employs dictionary-based compression theory to identify the features of both spatial and temporal patterns by analyzing the multi-dimensional traffic-related data. An anomaly index is derived to quantify the network traffic in both spatial and temporal perspectives. Both pattern identifications are conducted in three different geographic levels: detector, intersection, and sub-region. From different geographic levels, this study finds several important features of traffic flow patterns, including the geographic distribution of traffic flow patterns, pattern shifts at different times-of-day, pattern fluctuations over different days, etc. Both spatial and temporal traffic flow patterns defined in this study can jointly characterize pattern changes and provide a good performance measure of traffic operations and management. The proposed method is further implemented in a case study for the impact of a newly constructed subway line. The before-and-after study identifies the major changes of surrounding road traffic near the subway stations. It is found that new metro stations attract more commute traffic in weekdays as well as entertaining traffic during weekends.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)284-302
Number of pages19
JournalTransportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
Volume71
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Dictionary-based compression theory
  • Traffic anomaly detection
  • Traffic flow pattern identification

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Automotive Engineering
  • Transportation
  • Management Science and Operations Research

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