Construction of realistic route choice sets using multi-label vine-building for real-time traveler information provision

Abstract

This paper proposes an algorithm to identify multiple alternative routes with the multi-label vine-building shortest path algorithm while incorporating turning penalties and prohibitions. The used shortest path algorithm keeps several node labels through the vine search and improves the backward tracing method by excluding all illogical movements at intersections. It also adopts the concept of the rational upper boundary in evaluating the realism of alterative routes considered. The multiple node labels used in the algorithm can foster more effectiveness of the routing advisories and information through analyzing alternative route characteristics in various ways. A simple network is used to analyze the applicability of the proposed algorithm to generate realistic route choice sets. The results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of incorporating various driver behavior classes. The reasonable multiple paths could be effectively used especially in application of ATIS operation which requires sophisticated alternative paths for each traveler.