A comparative analysis of currently used microscopic and macroscopic trafficsimulation software

الملخص EN

The significant advancements of information technology have contributed to increased development of traffic simulation models.

These include microscopic models and broadening the areas of applications ranging from the modeling of specific components of the transportation system to a whole network having different kinds of intersections and links, even in a few cases combining travel demand models.

This paper mainly reviews the features of traditionally used macroscopic and microscopic traffic simulation models along with a comparative analysis focusing on freeway operations, urban congested networks, project-level emission modeling, and variations in delay and capacity estimates.

The models AIMSUN, CORSIM, and VISSIM are found to be suitable for congested arterials and freeways, and integrated networks of freeways and surface streets.

The features of AIMSUN are favorable for creating large urban and regional networks.

The models AIMSUN, PARAMICS, INTEGRATION, and CORSIM are potentially useful for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).

There are a few simulation models which are developed focusing on ITS such as MITSIMLab.

The TRAF-family and HUTSIM models attempt a system-level simulation approach and develop open environments where several analysis models can be used interactively to solve traffic simulation problems.

In Saudi Arabia, use of simulation software with the capability of analyzing an integrated system of freeways and surface streets has not been reported.

Calibration and validation of simulation software either for freeways or surface streets has been reported.

This paper suggests that researchers evaluate the state-of-the-art simulation tools and find out the suitable tools or approaches for the local conditions of Saudi Arabia.