Open source tools for geographic analysis in transport planning

Abstract Geographic analysis has long supported transport plans that are appropriate to local contexts. Many incumbent ‘tools of the trade’ proprietary and were developed support growth in motor traffic, limiting their utility for planners who have been tasked with twenty-first century objectives such as enabling citizen participation, reducing pollution, increasing levels physical activity by getting more people walking cycling. techniques—such route analysis, network editing, localised impact assessment interactive map visualisation—have great potential modern planning priorities. The aim this paper is explore emerging open source tools geographic planning, reference literature a review already being used. A key finding growing number options exist, challenging current landscape tools. These can be classified command-line interface, graphical user interface or web-based framework which they implemented, numerous released R, Python JavaScript packages, QGIS plugins. found diverse rapidly evolving ‘ecosystem’ tools, 25 designed outlined terms popularity functionality based on online documentation. They ranged size from single-purpose plugin AwaP sophisticated stand-alone multi-modal traffic simulation software MATSim, SUMO Veins. Building ability re-use most effective components other projects, developers avoid ‘reinventing wheel’ focus innovation, ‘gamified’ A/B Street https://github.com/dabreegster/abstreet/#abstreet software, OpenStreetMap, case point. paper, code at https://github.com/robinlovelace/open-gat , concludes that, although many reviewed still further research needed understand relative strengths barriers uptake, hold help generate strategic visions change evidence century.