Analysis of parking traffic in Cologne, Germany, based on an extended Macroscopic transport model and parking API data

Abstract

While macroscopic transport models are recognised as valuable tools for strategic transport planning, parking is rarely explicitly considered in such models. On the other hand, park-search traffic represents a significant portion of traffic in urban areas, according to many studies. Even if there are already some attempts to integrate parking into transport models, they have not found their way into the practice of modellers.The presented work enhances and combines previous approaches for modelling parking, and proposes a tool for practitioners to analyse common transport problems involving parking. It builds upon existing, even calibrated transport models, using the conventional four-step modeling technique. The approach also explores some emerging, internet-based data sources for transport models. Parking data is accessed from an Application Programming Interface (API) and embedded within the model procedure. Such new data resources resolve some problems from previous model approaches, which see the availability on parking data as problematic. With the combination of a macroscopic transport model and parking data from an API, aspects of parking supply and demand are represented within the model setting, whereas parking choice is calculated via an optimisation of a park-search route.The conceptual approach is demonstrated in the context of an existing macroscopic transport model for Cologne, Germany. This model is extended and refined to represent parking patterns within the study area. As a result, the spatial distribution and the effects of park-search traffic are explicitly shown, indicating some realistic results. It is also shown that the level of detail and the expressiveness of the existing model is increased.