Concepts

This page defines the core concepts used throughout ANYWAYS. These definitions are authoritative and are referenced by guides and other reference pages.

Network

A network represents a single state of the road network.

It consists of:

• Road segments
• Intersections
• Properties such as direction, access restrictions, and speed limits

A network may be:

• Unedited (the base network), or
• Edited to reflect things like road closures or circulation changes

A network does not contain:

• Traffic demand
• Routes
• Simulation results

Networks are used as the basis for routing and traffic assignment.

→ See Road network

Vehicle profile

A vehicle profile defines how a vehicle behaves when routing through a network.

A vehicle profile defines:

• The transport mode
• The routing behaviour (cost function)
• How road properties such as speed limits, access restrictions, and direction are interpreted

Vehicle profiles are used by the route planner to calculate routes.

Vehicle profiles are always identified using the format:

{vehicle}.{behaviour}

Where:

• {vehicle} specifies the transport mode (e.g. car, bicycle, truck)
• {behaviour} specifies the routing behaviour (e.g. fast, short)

Examples of vehicle profiles include:

• car.fast: fastest route by car
• car.short: shortest route by car
• bicycle.fast: fastest route by bicycle

→ See Vehicle profiles

Origin-destination (OD) data

Origin-destination (OD) data describes traffic demand.

OD data defines:

• Where trips start (origins)
• Where trips end (destinations)
• How many trips occur

OD data does not define:

• Which routes trips take
• How trips interact with the road network

OD data is an input used when creating datasets.

→ See Datasets

Dataset

A dataset represents a set of trips with defined routing behaviour.

A dataset consists of:

• One or more origin-destination (OD) datasets
• An associated vehicle profile for each OD dataset

Each OD dataset defines:

• Where trips start and end
• How many trips occur

The associated vehicle profile defines:

• How those trips behave when routing through a network

A dataset does not contain:

• A network
• Fixed routes
• Traffic assignment results

Datasets are evaluated on a network within a scenario to calculate routes and traffic flows.

→ See Datasets

→ See Vehicle profiles

Delays

Delays are a routing-time overlay that slows down traffic on specific stretches of road.

Delays consist of:

• A parent network they are originally created on
• One or more lines drawn on the map
• A slowdown assigned to each line — either a maximum speed (km/h) or an extra delay in seconds

Delays do not:

• Alter the network’s tags, geometry, or exports
• Close roads or change access

Delays are attached per scenario or route planner network. When routing on the attached network, matched road edges pick up the slowdown from each line.

→ See Delays

Scenario

A scenario combines:

• One network,
• One or more datasets, and
• Optionally one or more delays

When datasets are evaluated on the network:

• Routes are calculated for each dataset
• Traffic flows are derived per road segment and per vehicle type

When multiple datasets are present, their resulting traffic flows are combined by aggregation:

• Per road segment
• Per vehicle type (car, bicycle, truck, pedestrian)

The aggregated result represents the total traffic simulated for the scenario.

→ See Simulation behaviour

Route planner

The route planner calculates routes through a network.

The route planner is used in two contexts:

• Manually, to explore and compare routes in a network
• Automatically, to assign routes when creating datasets

The route planner operates on a network and does not require a scenario or datasets when used manually.

Relationship between concepts

• A network defines the road infrastructure and its properties.

• Origin-destination (OD) data defines traffic demand, specifying where trips start and end, how many trips occur, and for which vehicle types.

• A vehicle profile defines how a specific vehicle type and behaviour routes through the network.

• A dataset assigns one or more OD datasets to a network using their associated vehicle profiles, resulting in routed traffic.

• Delays are a routing-time overlay of lines with slowdowns, attached to a scenario or route planner network. They affect the routes calculated on the attached network but do not modify the network itself.

• A scenario combines a network with one or more datasets, and optionally one or more delays.

  When multiple datasets are present in a scenario, their traffic is combined by aggregation:

  • Counts are aggregated per road segment
  • Counts are aggregated per vehicle type (e.g. car, bicycle, truck, pedestrian)

The aggregated result represents the total traffic simulated for the scenario.