Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
contains one more type of agent and one more type of object:
parking inspectors
, which
are intro-
duced in order to investigate different forms of parking control, and
parking lots
.
9.4.2 a
gent
and
o
Bject
P
roPertieS
The full version of the PARKAGENT model distinguishes between driver agents of four types,
each characterised by specific parking behaviour: residents, visitors, workers and daily commuters.
Parking inspector agents are of three types, depending on whether they move during inspection by
foot, by bike or by motorbike. Parking lot is a new type of object.
On-street parking permissions and prices are specified in the full version of the PARKAGENT
model by hours of the day and days of the week. Parking lots are characterised by their capacity
and prices, where the latter is also at a resolution of hours of the day and days of the week. Note that
all these data are part of a modern municipality GIS, while their availability varies between cities.
A loose connection between the PARKAGENT model GIS database and the model is especially
useful for seamless substitution of datasets. In this way, the same model of agent behaviour can be
applied to different cities and under different parking policies (Figure 9.9).
9.4.3 t
iMe
and
u
Pdating
in
the
Parkagent M
odel
As discussed in Section 9.2.4, the time step in the PARKAGENT model is 1 s, which is sufficient for
simulating a driver's reaction to an occupied or vacant parking place. The model employs sequential
updating and all moving cars are considered in a random order, established anew at every time step.
9.4.4 B
ehaVioural
r
uleS
of
the
d
riVerS
Parking search behaviour depends on a driver's knowledge of the parking supply, parking limitations
and pricing. In European and North American cities, these three components are always balanced
by the city parking policy. Most of the drivers are local residents and have essential experience of
parking in their city; their behaviour is adapted to the city's parking policy. Four implementations
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 9.9
A PARKAGENT model view of (a) the area in the centre of Tel Aviv and (b) an abstract rect-
angular city. Traffic directions are shown by the small points on the centre line for a one-way street (see lower
zoomed in area in [a]) or by parallel lines of small points on both sides of the centre line for a two-way street
(see zoomed in area in [b]). Two outer rows of larger points represent the parking places; the parking inspector
agent is presented in the upper zoomed in area in (a). (From Levy, N. et al.,
Transportmetrica
, 9(9), 773, 2012.)
