Step-by-Step Tutorial NEXTA: Simulation Data Visualizer for Open-Source DTALite Engine NEXTA: Network EXplorer for Traffic Analysis This tutorial is prepared by Dr. Xuesong Zhou and Mingxin Li at Univ. of Utah

Major Components of Software Package DTALite: Open-source Assignment/Simulation Engine DTALite is a fast open-source dynamic traffic assignment engine, which aims to assist transportation planners to effectively utilize advanced dynamic traffic analysis tools with limited hardware and time resources. It uses a computationally simple but theoretically rigorous traffic queuing model in its lightweight mesoscopic simulation engine. DTALite is distributed as open-source software using the GNU General Public License (GPL). Its source code is available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/dtalite/ NEXTA: GUI for Visualization and Data Preparation NEXTA (Network EXplorer for Traffic Analysis) is a graphical user interface to facilitate preparation, post-processing and analysis of simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment datasets. NEXTA is extended from DYNASMART-P Graphical Input Editor (DSPEd) 1.0, which was initially developed by ITT Industries, Inc. for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in 2004. Dr. Xuesong Zhou has been maintaining and enhancing its capabilities since then. NEXTA is distributed as Freeware, and it is now also used as the visualization program for TRANSIMS, an open-source software package for transportation analysis and simulation.

Sample Data Set: Portland Network and Demand Data # of Zones = 2,013 # of Nodes = 10,094 # of Links = 25,804 # of Vehicles = 1.1M for 4 hours Computer Settings: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (2 processors) 2.26 GHz 4 GB of RAM Total computation time for 10 iterations: 4 hours Computation time per iteration: 24 min

Sample Vehicle Plot

Sample MOE Display

Sample Link MOE Plot

Sample Vehicle-path Analysis Plot

Tutorial Outline Software installation Exercise 1: View simulation results Exercise 2: Running traffic simulation and understand output files Exercise 3: Prepare input data from Excel spreadsheet

Install NEXTA for DTALite (1) Step 1: Install NEXTA “C:\Program Files\NEXTA_for_DTALite” Step 2: Install Visual C++ 2008 redistribution package Go to folder C:\Program Files\NEXTA_for_DTALite \VisualC++_RedistributionPackage and click on “vcredist_x86.exe” to install. Step 3: Install “Data Access Object” redistribution package Go to C:\Program Files\ NEXTA_for_DTALite\ VisualC++_RedistributionPackage\DISK1, click on “Setup.exe” to install.

Install NEXTA for DTALite (2) Remarks: You need an Administrator account to install the NEXTA package. Please save your DTALite data set to a “writable” folder (e.g. C:\DTALite\DataSets\”. Folder “Program Files” could be set to “read-only” by your Windows operating systems. Please visit http://docs.google.com/View?id=drpjtjx_112d99s3mgc for the latest NEXTA for DTALite software release and additional data set. 4) The release data of your current NEXTA package can be found at menu -> Help -> About.

Details at Installation Folder Dynamic Traffic Assignment Engine Datasets Graphical User Interface

Hardware and Software Requirements Hardware recommendations Minimum memory of 512 MB. Recommended options for large-scale network: 4GB of RAM Remarks: An insufficient amount of RAM can cause your computer to continually read data from disk instead of physical memory, please ensure there is sufficient memory for very large networks. Operating system requirements Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista (32 bit/64 bit) Windows 7

Exercise 1: Visualization What we will learn: Step 1: Import Data from Excel Spreadsheet Step 13: Multi-link Comparison Step 2: Save a project Step 14: Network-level MOE Step 3: Run Traffic Simulation/Assignment Step 15: Vehicle-path Analysis Step 4: Resize the Network Step 16: Find Paths in NEXTA Step 5: Double-Click a Link to Show Link Property Step 17: View Summary.log Step 19: Change Link Capacity Step 6: Display Capacity and Demand Attributes Step 20: Save the changes Step 21: Re-run Simulation Step 7: Select Display Mode to View Simulation Results (Density, Speed, Queue and Volume) Step 22: Save to Another Folder Step 23: Re-load previous dataset Step 24: Compare Capacity Change Visually Step 8: Select Vehicle Display Mode Step 25: Compare Network MOEs Step 9: Show Simulation Results at a Given Time Period Step 26: Run Simulation: Check Network-level MOE Step 10: Play Animation Step 27: Check Link-level MOE Step 11: Double-Click a Link to Show MOE Profile Step 28: Locate Other MOE files Step 29: Read On-line Document Step 12: Configure MOE Display Dialog

Step 1: Import Data from Excel Spreadsheet Filename: SampleNetwork.xls Dataset folder: C:\Program Files\NEXTA_for_DTALite\DataSets The data structure of the spreadsheet will be explained in Exercise 3.

Step 2: Save a project Suggested folder C:\DTALite\DataSets\Sample2

Step 3: Run Traffic Simulation/Assignment

Step 4: Tool bar -> Zoom In /Out, Resize the Network View Tools Distance Move Network Pan Zoom In Zoom Out Show Entire Network Show/Hide Grid Show/Hide Node Show/Hide Zone

Step 5: Double-Click a Link to Show Link Property

Step 6: Display Capacity and Demand Attributes Display link capacity Display OD volume

Step 7: Select Display Mode to View Simulation Results (Density, Speed, Queue and Volume)

Step 8: Select Vehicle Display Mode

Step 9: Show Simulation Results at a Given Time Period First number is current time stamp Second number is simulation horizon Clock Bar Slider

Step 10: Play Animation Rewind, play, pause, stop Remarks: Simulation clock is advanced in 1-min interval

Step 11: Double-Click a Link to Show MOE Profile Upstream node -> Downstream node (# link ID) Green line indicates the current simulation time Time axis (unit: min)

Step 12: Configure MOE Display Dialog Select MOE: Density, Speed, Queue Length, Volume Start Time, End Time, Max Y Export data to Excel Change Background color

Step 13: Multi-link Comparison Select multiple links (by using Ctrl+ mouse click) to display MOE time profiles simultaneously for multiple selected links, in the same or different projects.

Step 14: Display Network-level MOE

Step 15: Vehicle-path Analysis OD to paths Paths to vehicles Vehicles –to list of links Select a path from path list to highlight the path on the background network

Step 16: Find Paths in NEXTA Define Origin Define Destination Find Paths

Step 17: View Summary.log

Step 18: Change Link Capacity Change capacity from 900 into 800

Step 19: Change Demand Increase overall demand level Change demand of individual OD pairs Change OD demand (14) from 5000 into 6000 Change Overall Multiplication Factor from 1.0 into 1.5

Step 20: Save the changes

Step 21: Save to Another Folder C:\DataSets\Sample\After_Increase_Demand\After_Increase_Demand.dlp

Step 22: Re-run Simulation

Step 23:Re-load Previous Dataset Window Tile Vertically

Step 24: Compare Capacity Change Visually

Step 25: Compare Network MOEs

Step 26: Run Simulation: Network-level MOE

Step 27: Run Simulation: Link-level MOE

Step 28: Locate Other MOE files

Step 29: Read On-line Document

Advanced Topic 1: Scenario Configuration Locate major output files

Step 1: Configuring DTASettings.ini Global multiplication factor will multiply each OD pair by that factor.

Running Simulation: Illustration of Demand Loading/Simulation Horizon, Departure Time Interval

Step 2: View AssignmentMOE.csv Iteration Time stamp in minute Cumulative in-flow count Cumulative out-flow count Number of vehicles in the network Flow in a minute Average trip-time in minute The simulation results can be divided into three types: the individual link performance, vehicle trajectory and network performance.

Step 3: LinkMOE.csv Iteration From-node ID To-node ID Timestamp in minute Travel time in minute Delay in minute Link volume in vehicle Link volume in vehicle/hour/lane (vehphpl) Density in vehicle/mile/lane Speed in mph Exit queue length Cumulative arrival count Cumulative departure count

Step 4: Vehicle.csv Iteration Occupancy Vehicle ID Information type Origin zone ID Value of time Destination zone ID Minimum path cost Departure time Distance in mile Arrival time Number of nodes Complete flag Node id Trip time Node arrival time Vehicle type

Advanced Topic: Import and Change Time-dependent Demand Sample time-of-day demand profile

Running Simulation: Change OD Demand Distribution