RailSmart Planning Wanneroo (RailSmart) researchers, future users of the RailSmart tool including City of Wanneroo, and Department of Transport, along with consultants to the RailSmart Project, Arup – convened at the University of Western Australia on Friday, 28 September, to preview the initial design of the RailSmart dashboard and system architecture.
This first RailSmart platform demo-presentation recapped the Project’s objectives, initiatives and parameters and concluded with a demo of the first release of the dashboard, which will be the primary interface to most users of the system.
PROJECT CONTEXT
PATREC representative, and PATREC Research Fellow and RailSmart Project Manager, Dr Linda Robson commenced the presentation by restating the Project’s background and objectives.
As the fifth fastest growing council nationally, the City of Wanneroo’s increasing population has resulted in a strong housing and resident spread between Butler and Yanchep. This northern corridor expansion is why METRONET is extending the Joondalup Line, with planned stations at Alkimos, Eglinton and Yanchep.
RailSmart will be able to provide planners and developers in the City of Wanneroo with an evidence based modelling system to help inform developments surrounding new train station precincts and the surrounding areas. Optimal land-use, along with keen public transit uptake are factors which will give impetus to enhanced economic development, job creation and investment certainty in these areas.
The RailSmart proof of concept will demonstrate how smart city big data can be harnessed to empower local governments and communities in respect of better land-use and transport planning. The proof of concept, to be completed by May 2019, includes the application of multiple PATREC models in an integrated technology platform applied to the three new train station precincts.
The Accessibility Tool
Mr Tristan Reed (Research Associate, PATREC) described the first PATREC model to be integrated into the RailSmart platform, namely the Accessibility Tool developed by PATREC Research Fellow, Yuchau Sun.
The Accessibility Tool works by first calculating the time taken to travel between input areas (ABS Statistical Area 2 zones for the proof of concept), using public transport. A possible extension being investigated includes private vehicle travel times.
Following this, analysis is undertaken, scoring and ranking each input zone in terms of accessibility to population, dwellings and employment relative to all other zones in metropolitan Perth.
The ability to measure accessibility between locations is useful in that it will allow users to identify which areas are at an advantage – or disadvantage – in terms of access to jobs and other amenities.
By integrating additional layers of data to complement the existing Accessibility Tool indicators, researchers and decision makers will be able to use the RailSmart platform to determine the number of jobs, dwellings and residents accessible from each area within a given time period (i.e. in a 30 or 60 minute window) by means of public transit.
RailSmart initial Dashboard and System Architecture
Mr Ben Cooper-Woolley (Arup’s Digital Advisory Leader, Australasia) presented the RailSmart platform system architecture and gave a demonstration of the initial dashboard.
Even at this early development stage, the dashboard performed an impressive data analysis speed – integrating initial datasets from existing PATREC research with that of freely available ABS census statistics, TransPerth schedules, and other public data – processing a result for the Accessibility Model that previously took 3 hours to run, in only 3 seconds!
Mr Cooper-Woolley explained how the RailSmart platform would evolve over time, incorporating additional new data sets for modelling analysis, and offering a range of advanced visualisation options.
The platform’s ability to stream, integrate and process multiple data sets on demand -and illustrate analysis outputs in a range of rich visual-display formats – will strongly support informed and smart future urban and transport planning decisions.
RailSmart Demo 2 is planned for November, where further development integrations on the platform will be showcased to stakeholders.
The RailSmart Transport Sharing Survey is seeking participation of Wanneroo residents
The RailSmart Project research team are asking Wanneroo residents to partner with the project and complete the RailSmart Transport Sharing Survey that’s just been released. Participants will be entered in a draw to win a $100 shopping voucher when the survey closes in December. To access the online Survey and be entered into the draw, please visit: RailSmart Transport Sharing Survey
A note to CITY OF Wanneroo residents about the survey:
The survey will not collect your personal details, and all responses will form a grouped data set that is fed into the RailSmart Platform, helping researchers understand community trends towards transport sharing and how other modes of transport can be best used to help you as a local resident more easily access the places that matter most to you.
Complete the survey at: RailSmart Transport Sharing Survey – and enter in the draw to win a $100 shopping voucher in the lead up to Christmas!