SmartDecision: A Route Choice App Based on Eco-Friendly Criteria

The main goal of this paper is to validate the SmartDecision app, a route-choice application which provides the best route between two points based not only in the conventional criteria parameters (as distance or time) but also taking into account the pollutant emissions and fuel consumption considering some vehicle characteristics and the route choice preferences of the user. To perform this evaluation, emissions and travel time were analyzed in four different Origin-Destination (O/D) pairs. For this purpose, two global positioning system (GPS)-equipped vehicles, which left the departure point at the same time and followed different trajectories, were used. The first vehicle followed the recommended route by Google Maps, and the second followed the indication of an eco-friendly route provided by the SmartDecision app. To estimate the emissions the EMEP/EEA methodology was used. In addition, the information collected in the Applications for the Environment Real-time Information Synthesis (AERIS) research program was used to monetize the emissions in one cost variable. Using experimental data, it was found that the route defined by SmartDecision app can provide a 15%-32% reduction in health and social costs when compared with the recommended Google route. Despite this reduction, in only one case study, the route defined by the application presents a higher travel time when compared with the defined route by Google Maps (6%). Thus, this tool can be used not only as a solution to improve the fuel efficiency of road vehicles but also may contribute to reduce the pollutant emissions with relevant health and social impacts.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC20 Transportation and Air Quality.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Pereira, Sérgio Ramos
  • Fontes, Tânia
  • Bandeira, Jorge M
  • Fernandes, Paulo
  • Coelho, Margarida C
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Externalities; Fuel consumption; Global Positioning System; Origin and destination; Pollutants; Real time information; Route choice; Smartphones; Travel time
• Identifier Terms: Google Maps
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Energy; Environment; Highways; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01554274
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2209
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 26 2015 9:49AM