Weather Information for Surface Transportation: Research at WTI

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Weather Information for Surface Transportation
Research at WTI

• Contact
• Xianming Shi, Ph.D.
• Program Manager, Winter Maintenance Effects
• Western Transportation Institute
• Phone [phone]
• Email Xianming_s_at_coe.montana.edu

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WIST Projects at WTI

1. WeatherShare Caltrans
2. Evaluation of the UDOT Weather Operations/RWIS
   Program UDOT
3. Greater Yellowstone Regional Traveler and Weather
   Information System MDT
4. SAFE Evaluation - UND
5. Safe Passage MDT/UTC
6. Development of a Surface Transportation Weather
   Decision Support Tool and Strategic Plan for
   Improved Highway Operations in Montana - UTC
7. Winter Surface Condition Forecasting - UTC
8. Impacts of Weather on Rural Highway Operations
   UTC/Showcase
9. Development of a Roadway Weather Severity Index
   UTC/Showcase
10. Assess Caltrans RWIS Devices and Related Sensors
    Caltrans
11. Validating the Wet Percent Time for California -
    Caltrans

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WeatherShare Vision (2003)

• A surface transportation weather application
• Allow users to view a compilation of all
  available road weather data from various sources
  in Northern California
• Greatly increasing the efficiency of situation
  assessments for various purposes

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WeatherShare Characteristics

• Leveraging resources
• Road weather data sharing and integration
• Weather data standardization and quality control
• An easy-to-maintain, cost-effective product
  powered by an open-source web platform
  (Linux/Apache Perl MySQL PHP)
• Scalable, interactive map displays powered by the
  SVG technology
• Customizable, individualized user interfaces
  powered by the PHP Smarty template system
• Database-driven web pages powered by the MySQL
  technology

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Conclusions

• WeatherShare has served as a regional showcase
  and proof-of-concept for the national priority
  better weather info. for surface transportation.
• Due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders
  and the complexity of institutional and technical
  issues, it is important to develop partnerships
  among organizations in order to promote the
  successful integration of road and weather data
  from various sources.
• In building a successful ITS system that can meet
  the users needs, it is crucial to involve the
  users and stakeholders from its very early stages
  of design and development and throughout its
  lifecycle.

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Evaluation of Utahs Weather Operations/RWIS
Program
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Overview of Utahs Program

• State-of-the-art TOC deployed in preparation for
  the 2002 Winter Olympics
• Staffed Meteorologists
• Real-time inputs
• Both urban and rural
• Salt Lake City found that they saved 16.70 for
  every 1.00 spent on ATMS

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Utahs Weather Program and Winter Maintenance

• Constantly evolving
• More accurate forecasts
• Localized knowledge
• Benefits for winter maintenance crews
• More prepared
• More efficient
• Proactive response
• Increase LOS

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State-of-the-PracticeSnow and Ice List Serve
Survey

• Focus
• Weather forecasts aiding winter maintenance in
  North America
• Use of localized, area specific forecasts
  (benefits and experience)
• Contacts included
• Maintenance Managers, Directors, Superintendents,
  Engineers, Area Supervisors and Technologists
• Total of 31 contacts from 19 states and 4
  provinces
• 68 U.S. State DOT
• 13 U.S. City Agency
• 9 Canadian Provincial or Regional Agency
• 10 Canadian City Agency

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States and Provinces Contacted
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Research Findings

• All participants use forecasting for winter
  maintenance operations
• Including localized, area-specific forecasts
• Some respondents felt RWIS services counted as
  localized, area-specific forecasts
• Most common service providers
• Northwest Weathernet (27)
• Meridian (20)
• Meteorologix (13)
• World Weatherwatch (10)
• Accuweather (10)

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Research Findings

• Most agencies (52) have been receiving
  customized forecasts for less than 5 years

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Summary

• Benefits of localized, area specific weather
  forecasts implemented in TMCs
• More accurate forecasts (microclimate knowledge)
• Advanced warning of storm conditions
• Better response time, planning, and scheduling of
  staff
• Knowledge of pavement temperatures
• Knowledge of precipitation type and amount
  expected
• Better use of chemical product (deciding when to
  use)
• Timely forecast and access to forecaster
• Cost effective

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Lewistown Cold Regions Rural Transportation
Test-bed
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Questions?
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Goals of the Clarus Initiative WeatherShare Features Supporting Documents
Road Wx data standardization, sharing integration (national) Road Wx data QC Systems Engineering Multiple stakeholder coordination Prototype for requirements analysis Road Wx data sharing integration (regional) Wx data QC Systems Engineering Multiple stakeholder coordination Prototype for requirements analysis Open-source Project Plan Concept of Operations User Requirements Configuration Management Plan Facilities Study Report Survey for Evaluation
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Temperatures from Stations Reporting within the
Past Hour
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Wind Readings from Stations Reporting within the
Past Hour
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Data Can be Viewed in Context
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Alerts/Thresholds Defined by Authorized Users
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Other System Features

1. Automatically push road weather information to
   the user every 5 minutes
2. Use a map display that permits the user to zoom
   into, zoom out of, or pan into the area of
   interest
3. Allow the user to turn on/off various data layers
   on the interactive map display

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Other System Features (Contd)

1. Apply quality control procedures for all the
   real-time reporting stations
2. Allow the user to track historical data for a
   period of up to one year from present
3. Backup the road weather data on a daily basis and
   implement a backup mechanism for the server as
   well