A Geostatistical Approach for Improved Prediction of Traffic Volume in Urban Area

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As inaccurate traffic volume prediction may result in inadequate transportation planning and design, traffic volume prediction based on traffic volume data is very important in spatial decision making processes such as transportation planning and operation. In order to improve the accuracy of traffic volume prediction, recent studies are using the geostatistical approach called kriging and according to their reports, the method shows high predictability compared to conventional methods. Thus, this study estimated traffic volume data for St. Louis in the State of Missouri, USA using the kriging method, and tested its accuracy by comparing the estimates with actual measurements. In addition, we suggested a new method for enhancing the accuracy of prediction by the kriging method. In the new method, we estimated traffic volume data: first, by applying anisotropy, which is a characteristic of traffic volume data appearing in determining variogram factors; and second, by performing co-kriging analysis using interstate highway, which is in a high spatial correlation with traffic volume data, as a secondary variable. According to the results of the analysis, the analysis applying anisotropy showed higher accuracy than the kriging method, and co-kriging performed on the application of anisotropy produced the most accurate estimates.