Traffic simulation and data: validation methods and applications

"This book provides a comprehensive overview of calibration and validation techniques for traffic simulation models. It details the data required as an input for the calibration and validation processes and shows how to increase its applicability using data enhancement techniques. It presents an extensive overview of traffic estimation, calibration and validation techniques, taking into account the key factor of uncertainty. This book derives from the methods and tools for supporting the use, calibration and validation of traffic simulation models project of the European Union COST framework"--

"Preface This report has been written within work package 1 of the Multitude project. Multitude is a European network, funded by COST, an intergovernmental framework for European Coop-eration in Science and Technology. The main objective of Multitude is to develop, imple-ment and promote the use of methods and procedures for supporting the use of traffic simulation models, especially regarding model calibration and validation, to ensure their proper use and the validity of the results and the decision made on them. In order to reach the objective, four work packages have been defined: 1. State-of-the-art of traffic simulation practice and research. 2. Highway modelling. 3. Network modelling. 4. Synthesis, dissemination and training. This report is one of the three deliverables of work package 1. The other two deliverables are a report on the state-of-the-practice and an overview of national guidelines on perform-ing traffic simulations and calibration and validation of traffic models. Special thanks go to Jean-Michel Auberlet (IFSTTAR, France), Carlos Azevedo (National Laboratory for Civil Engineering, Portugal), Jaume Barcelo (Universitat Politecnica de Ca-talunya, Spain), Ashish Bhaskar (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland), Mark Brackstone (IOMI, United Kingdom), Jordi Casas (Transportation Simulation System, Spain), Arie van Ekeren (Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands), Gunnar Fl.

Front Cover -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- List of Contributors -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Data collection techniques -- 3. Data processing and enhancement techniques -- 4. Calibration and validation principles -- 5. Sensitivity analysis -- 6. Network model calibration studies -- 7. Validation -- 8. Conclusions -- References -- Appendix A: Glossary -- Appendix B: Application of variance-based methods to microscopic traffic flow models.