Spatial Environmental Analysis on the Effects of a New Navigation System for Freight Transport

Abstract

Considerable attention has been paid to traffic pollution modeling for commercial vehicles due to their high amount of nitrogen compounds, particulate matter and greenhouse gas emissions. Conventional navigation systems for passenger cars enable the route choice process. However, commercial route guidance systems are not targeted to trucks specifically. Recently, a new navigation system has been designed to match the specific requirements of commercial vehicles. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of such a navigation system on the spatial environment. The major emissions varied by nitrogen compounds and particulate matters are approximated for hot emissions. Emissions on the fastest route and the suggested route followed by drivers are investigated respectively. Spatial analysis is used to investigate the influence on built-up areas along the routes, and a regression analysis is conducted to specify the effects of the new navigation information on total emissions. It is found that the new navigation system has a significant positive effect on the improvement of traffic emissions. The routes suggested by the new navigation system lead to less impact on the built-up areas than the shortest paths.