Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Lesson 3:
Traffic Simulation Output

Lesson Goals and Objectives

The objective of this lesson is to understand the types of data processing tools available for
summarizing traffic simulation output.
Lesson 3 includes the following activities:
• Activity 3.1: Traffic Simulation Measures of Effectiveness
• Activity 3.2: Collecting Output Data from VISSIM
• Activity 3.3: Summarizing Traffic Simulation Output

Page 1
Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Activity 3-1: Traffic Simulation Measures of Effectiveness

Concepts and Theory:
Measures of Effectiveness:
Traffic microsimulation models have the ability to produce many types of measures of effectiveness
(MOEs). Some common traffic simulation MOEs include:

• Corridor Travel Time

• Transit Travel Time
• Vehicle Delay
• Density
• Average, Maximum, and Minimum Speeds
• Queuing Impacts
• Volume Throughput

Since traffic microsimulation models track individual vehicles, they are able to produce large sets of
output data related to a variety of measures of effectiveness. As a result, traffic microsimulation
models are able to synthesize a variety of advanced measures of effectiveness such as:

• Travel Time Reliability

• Person Throughput
• Speed-Temporal Graphs

Page 2
 Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Hands-on Activity 3-1:

View Travel Time Settings in VISSIM:
1. Open Activity3-1.inpx by choosing File>Open from the menu bar.
2. From the File>Open Layout menu item, select the ‘view3-1a.layx’ file.
3. From the network elements toolbar, choose the Travel Time button.

4. Select the highlighted travel time pink bar on the east approach of 73rd Avenue and double
left-click on it. The red bar represents the starting point for the travel time section.

View Data Collection Points in VISSIM:

1. With Activity3-1.inpx still open, choose the Data Collection button from the network
elements toolbar.

2. From the File>Open Layout menu item, select the ‘view3-1b.layx’ file.
3. On the south approach of the eastern intersection (SC#73), select the light blue bar. The bar
represents the point on the network where data will be collected. Notice that data collection
points are created on a lane by lane basis.
4. Click the OK button and choose Evaluation>Measurement Definition>Data Collection
Measurements from the menu bar.

Page 3
Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Data Collection
Measurements

5. View the ‘Data Collection’ listing box in the right-hand window. Verify that the Measurement
#’s correspond to the proper data collection points. For example, data collection points 1 and
2 are consolidated into data measurement 1 because they are on the same approach.

View Nodes in VISSIM:

1. With Activity3-1.inpx still open, choose the Node button from the network elements toolbar.

2. Right-Click on the Nodes button and choose “Show List”. Notice the listing of the nodes next
to the network window. Select a row of the node listing, right-click and choose edit to view the
node characteristics.
3. Click the OK button and choose Evaluation>Configuration from the menu bar. Check the
box next to the ‘Nodes’ label. Click on the ‘More’ button to the right of the label. View the
output characteristics associated with the nodes.

Page 4
 Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

VISSIM Node View and Listing

Page 5
Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Activity 3-2: Collecting Output Data from VISSIM

Concepts and Theory:
Traffic Simulation Output Files:
VISSIM has many types of output files that can be collected. Some of the common output files that
can be obtained from VISSIM include:

• Travel Time Sections

• Delays
• Queue Lengths
• Data Collection
• Node Evaluation
• Network Performance

To view the list of output files that can be collected from VISSIM, select Evaluation>Configuration
from the VISSIM menu bar.

Page 6
 Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Hands-on Activity 3-2:

Collecting and Viewing Arterial Output Data from VISSIM:
1. Open Activity3-2_arterial.inpx by choosing File>Open from the menu bar. Also open the
‘Output_Layout.layx’ using the File>Open Layout menu item.
2. From the VISSIM menu bar, select Evaluations>Configuration.
3. Check the ‘Data Collection’, ‘Vehicle Travel Times’, and ‘Nodes’ evaluation items.
4. For each evaluation, verify that the Time parameters are set at From time: 300, To Time:
3900, and Interval: 3600. This will ensure that data is collected only for the peak period and
that the data will be aggregated in 60 minute (3600 second) intervals.
5. To start collecting data, go to the menu Simulation>Parameters to ensure the parameters
are set up properly. For this example, output from 3 simulation runs will be collected. A
random seed start of 110 and a random seed increment of 10 will be used for this example.
6. Once the parameters are set up, either press the run button or choose
Simulation>Continuous. To ensure the simulation is running at maximum speed, select the
‘Simple Network Display’ and ‘Quick Mode’ buttons from the toolbar (see below).

7. After the simulation runs are completed, view the 4 listing tabs to view the results. The tabs
include the simulation run data, data collection data, vehicle travel times, and node data.

Output Data from

Simulation Runs

Page 7
Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Collecting and Viewing Freeway Output Data from VISSIM:

1. Open Activity3-2_freeway.inpx by choosing File>Open from the menu bar. Also open the
‘Output_Layout.layx’ file using the File>Open Layout menu item.
2. From the VISSIM menu bar, select Evaluations>Configuration.
3. Check the ‘Data Collection’ item.
4. To start collecting data, go to the menu Simulation>Parameters to ensure the parameters
are set up properly. For this example, output from 3 simulation runs will be collected. A
random seed start of 110 and a random seed increment of 10 will be used for this example.
Ensure that ‘Quick Mode’ and the ‘Simple Network Display’ buttons are checked to ensure
the simulation run at maximum speed.
5. View the congestion patterns of the freeway network.

6. After the simulation is completed, process and review the data collection output files

Page 8
 Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Activity 3-3: Summarizing Traffic Simulation Output

Concepts and Theory:
The figure below shows the locations on the 85th Street freeway network where data collection points
are set up to collect volume and speed data. Using the data collected, speed graphs and speed-
temporal diagrams can be created.
In addition, freeway density can be collected from the VISSIM network through the link evaluation
functionality. Volume-density graphs can be created from the link evaluation data.

1011

1021

1031
12:
85th SB Off-Ramp
1041

10, 11:
85th SB On-Ramp 1051

1061

1071

85th Street Freeway Interchange Network

Page 9
Introduction to Traffic Simulation Modeling

Hands-on Activity 3-3:

Adding Data Points to a Simulation Network:

1. Open Activity3-3(base).inpx by choosing File>Open from the menu bar. Also open the
‘Output_Activity3-3.layx’ file using the File>Open Layout menu item.
2. Open the spreadsheet FreewayOutput_3-3a.xlsm to view the main summary spreadsheet.
View the freeway volume on the ‘Summary’ tab of the spreadsheet.
3. On the west approach of the 85th Street interchange, add data collection points 101 and 102
to the eastbound movement before the SB I-5 on-ramp. Add both data points 101 and 102 to
data collection measurement number 101.
4. Add the data collection points by selecting the button from the network elements toolbar.
Select the link by left-clicking on it once, and then CTRL + Right-Click on each lane to add
the data collection points.

5. From the menu bar, choose Evaluation>Configuration. Check the ‘Data Collection’ box.
6. Run the simulation 3 times to collect new data from the new data collection points. (Use
random seed 110 and an increment of 10 for the simulation runs)
7. Once the simulation has completed, copy the aggregated 3-run ‘Average’ from the data
collection tab into the FreewayOutput_3-3a.xlsm spreadsheet (‘DataCollection' tab) and
update the data in the Pivot Table.
8. Select the ‘Summary’ tab and view the new data.

Creating a Speed-Temporal Map from Data Collection Points:

1. Open the spreadsheet FreewayOutput_3-3b.xlsm.
2. Copy the aggregated 3-run ‘Average’ from the data
collection tab into the FreewayOutput_3-3b.xlsm
spreadsheet (‘DataCollection' tab) and update the data in
the Pivot Table. Select the ‘Graph’ tab to view the speed-
temporal graph.
3. View the graph, the x-axis represents the north to south
data collections and the y-axis represents the time profile.
The different colors on the graph represent different
speeds at unique times that were collected during the
simulation.

Page 10