Search Results (120)

This study presents a comprehensive flood-hazard assessment and mapping of the Messapios River catchment in Evia Island, Greece, utilizing a combination of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Geographic Information Systems (GISs). Flood-prone zones were identified based on five critical factors, which were determined to be the most influential in the watercourse when excessive discharge overwhelms the drainage network’s capacity: slope, elevation, proximity to stream channels, geological formations, and land cover. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied to assign weights to these factors, while the final flood-hazard map was generated using the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) method. The analysis revealed that 17.8% of the catchment, approximately 39 km², falls within a very high flood-hazard zone, while 18.02% (38.91 km²) is classified as highly susceptible to flooding. The flood-prone areas are concentrated in the central, southern, and western parts of the study area, particularly at the lower reaches of the catchment, on both sides of the main streams’ channels, and within the gently sloping, low-lying fan delta of the river. The study area has high exposure to flood hazards due to the significant population of approximately 9000 residents living within the flood-prone zones, a fact that contributes to the area’s potential vulnerability. Additionally, critical infrastructure, including five industrial facilities, the Psachna General High School, the local Public Power Corporation substation, about 21 km of the road network, and 21 bridges are located within the zones classified as having high and very high flood-hazard levels. Furthermore, about 35 km² of economically vital agricultural areas (such as parts of the Psachna and Triada plains) are situated in highly and very highly prone to floods zones. MCDA proved to be an effective and reliable approach for assessing and mapping flood-hazard distribution in the Messapios River catchment. The results provide valuable insights to assist decision-makers in prioritizing intervention areas and efficiently allocate resources. Full article

Comprehensive datasets are crucial for developing advanced AI solutions in road infrastructure, yet most existing resources focus narrowly on vehicles or a limited set of object categories. To address this gap, we introduce the Korean Road Infrastructure Dataset (KRID), a large-scale dataset designed for real-world road maintenance and safety applications. Our dataset covers highways, national roads, and local roads in both city and non-city areas, comprising 34 distinct types of road infrastructure—from common elements (e.g., traffic signals, gaze-directed poles) to specialized structures (e.g., tunnels, guardrails). Each instance is annotated with either bounding boxes or polygon segmentation masks under stringent quality control and privacy protocols. To demonstrate the utility of this resource, we conducted object detection and segmentation experiments using YOLO-based models, focusing on guardrail damage detection and traffic sign recognition. Preliminary results confirm its suitability for complex, safety-critical scenarios in intelligent transportation systems. Our main contributions include: (1) a broader range of infrastructure classes than conventional “driving perception” datasets, (2) high-resolution, privacy-compliant annotations across diverse road conditions, and (3) open-access availability through AI Hub and GitHub. By highlighting critical yet often overlooked infrastructure elements, this dataset paves the way for AI-driven maintenance workflows, hazard detection, and further innovations in road safety. Full article

Land consolidation is a comprehensive and challenging process in which block boundaries integrate parcels within natural and infrastructural boundaries such as roads, irrigation systems, and drainage networks, acting as a core framework. Effective block design is of critical importance, as it affects the long-term usability and productivity of agricultural parcels. In this study, the criteria effective in block planning were determined using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), and an attempt was made to determine the priority order of the criteria. The criteria affecting block planning in the study were determined as land slope and topography, soil properties and fertility, climatic conditions, water resources and irrigation facilities, current ownership structure (shareholding), road planning and transportation, environmental and ecological factors, social and economic factors, plant species and agricultural activities, infrastructure and technological facilities, fixed facilities, parcel structure, and existence of projects made or to be made by the investor institutions or organizations. It was determined that the most important of these was the “existence of fixed facilities” criterion. Determining the priority order of the criteria used in block planning also provides the opportunity to use the obtained results in GIS. Full article

Heavy goods transportation is responsible for around 27% of CO₂ emissions from road transport in the EU and for 5% of total CO₂ emissions in the EU. The decarbonization of long-distance transport in particular remains a major challenge. The combination of battery electric trucks (BETs) with on-route high-power charging (HPC) offers a promising solution. Planning and setting up the required infrastructure is a critical success factor here. We propose a methodology to evaluate the charging infrastructure needed to support the large-scale introduction of heavy-duty BETs in Germany, considering different levels of electrification, taking the European driving and rest time regulations into account. Our analysis employs MATSim, an activity-based multi-agent transport simulation, to assess potential bottlenecks in the charging infrastructure and to simulate the demand-based distribution of charging stations. The MATSim simulation is combined with an extensive pre-processing of transport-related data and a suitable post-processing. This approach allows for a detailed examination of the required charging infrastructure, considering the impacts of depot charging solutions and the dynamic nature of truck movements and charging needs. The results indicate a significant need to augment HPC with substantial low power overnight charging facilities and highlight the importance of strategic infrastructure development to accommodate the growing demand for chargers for BETs. By simulating various scenarios of electrification, we demonstrate the critical role of demand-oriented infrastructure planning in reducing emissions from the road freight sector until 2030. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable transportation, offering insights into the infrastructure requirements and planning challenges associated with the transition to battery electric heavy-duty vehicles. Full article

With the rapid aging of the population and increasing demand for elderly care services, ensuring equitable access to emergency medical service (EMS) for nursing homes has become a critical public health challenge. As the first Chinese city to experience an aging society, Shanghai faces compounding pressures from rapid urbanization and recurrent urban flooding, both of which exacerbate disparities in healthcare accessibility. This study investigates the spatial equity of EMS access among nursing homes in Shanghai, with a particular focus on the impacts of urban flooding. Using ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression models, the study reveals that EMS accessibility is relatively equitable under normal conditions but deteriorates significantly during flood events, particularly in suburban and low-lying areas. The findings show that flood-induced disruptions to road networks disproportionately impact nursing homes in peripheral districts, widening accessibility gaps. Additionally, the study identifies that factors such as road density, emergency center distribution, and flood inundation depth play critical roles in shaping spatial equity. The results underscore the need for strategic interventions to enhance healthcare resilience, including optimized facility allocation and flood-resistant infrastructure. Policymakers should adopt integrated planning approaches to ensure equitable EMS access for vulnerable elderly populations during emergencies. Full article

Urban air mobility (UAM) and drones can significantly improve traffic movement in saturated cities because the skies above them are not frequently used; furthermore, they do not require large-scale infrastructure, like roads and subways do. Thus, UAM vehicles and drones present themselves as new means of transportation in cities. They can be rapidly deployed if their operational safety is secured. However, to date, no precise numerical study has been conducted on the safety of UAM vehicles and drones. In this study, the accident rates of UAM vehicles and drones are predicted based on the accident rates of conventional aircraft. Additionally, control measures for UAM vehicles and drones are presented at a basic level. The results can be summarized as follows: First, in terms of accident rates, for a projected total UAM vehicle flight distance of 650 km and 177,147 h of flight in Seoul in 2035, 0.000221 crashes, 0.45 takeoff/landing accidents, and 0.0011446 deaths are expected. Second, if drones handle 0.5% of the logistics in Seoul in 2035, 38.35 crashes and 7.51 takeoff/landing accidents are projected per year. However, these numbers are plausible only if the infrastructure required for UAM vehicle and drone flights, such as taxiways and flight paths, is built similarly to that for large aircraft. Additionally, UAM vehicles and drones, as with large aircraft, can cause serious damage to facilities and human lives on the ground in the event of a crash. Therefore, thorough response mechanisms for crashes are required even if the crash probability is extremely low. Finally, integration with smart city systems is suggested to monitor UAM vehicle and drone flights and the safety of urban residents. The transportation services of smart cities include emergency dispatch and disaster notification services, which help in immediately notifying the degree of risk to potentially affected urban residents and facilities in the event of a UAM vehicle/drone crash or an emergency. The transportation services of smart cities are also typically equipped with accident handling processes. Therefore, integrating UAM and drone systems into smart city systems is highly recommended. Full article

Increasing attention is being directed toward understanding the impact of urban built environments on children’s health. The concept of the 15-minute city, or “15-minute life circle”, in China is significant; however, the needs of the pediatric population are often overlooked. Walkability and accessibility to urban service facilities are crucial for promoting children’s well-being. This paper focuses on the old city of Guilin in western China as a case study. It investigates the service facilities within a 15-minute life circle that affect children’s physical health, mental health, and social engagement. Utilizing the Walking Index method, this study assesses the walkability and rationality of these facilities in 621 neighborhoods. Data were gathered from 200 questionnaires and interviews with children, concentrating on their daily use of these facilities, supplemented by a multi-source analysis. The findings reveal that the Walking Index in the study area is generally low, with an uneven distribution, primarily influenced by road network density, block size, and urban landscape patterns. This study proposes the development of a “Children’s Healthy 15-minute Life Circle”, which would increase child-friendly service facilities, pedestrian infrastructure, and urban road network density. It also advocates for constructing service facilities that enhance children’s health and the optimization of the spatial arrangement of these facilities. Furthermore, it suggests the effective utilization of urban landscapes to create a diverse system of leisure spaces for children. This study offers valuable insights for enhancing the walkability of urban life circle service facilities and establishing a child-friendly city. Full article

Resilient design, as a strategy to address various disruptions and pressures, remains poorly understood among the public, which hinders its effectiveness. This study aims to explore how physical elements in urban form, environmental stimuli, and individual attributes influence public perception of resilient design characteristics. A video questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate these perceptions. Results indicate that physical elements—such as road signs, social service facilities, road infrastructure, accessibility to the center, accessible green spaces, diversified activity areas, and disability facilities—negatively impact public perception of resilient design. Conversely, environmental stimuli, including fast/slow, qualitative/quantitative, and short-term changes, positively influence these perceptions. Additionally, the findings reveal that older individuals, those with lower levels of education, and individuals who have had contact with the area for less than three years exhibit weaker perceptions of resilient design characteristics. The study proposes strategies for optimizing resilient design from the perspectives of physical elements and environmental stimuli, while also recommending that future research focus on groups with limited perceptions of resilient design characteristics. Full article

The expansion of agricultural frontiers in the Amazon region poses a significant threat to forest conservation and biodiversity persistence. This study focuses on Pará state, Brazil, aiming to identify and characterize the predominant production systems by combining remote sensing data and landscape structure metrics. A rule-based classification tree algorithm is applied to classify hexagonal cells based on land cover, deforestation patterns, and distance from dairy facilities. The results reveal three dominant production systems: Natural Region, Non-Intensive Beef, and Initial Front, with livestock production being prominent. The analysis indicates that there is a correlation between the productive area and deforestation, emphasizing the role of agriculture as a driver of forest loss. Moreover, road networks significantly influence production system spatial distribution, highlighting the importance of infrastructure in land use dynamics. The Shannon diversity index reveals that areas with production systems exhibit greater diversity in land use and land cover classes, reflecting a wider range of modifications. In contrast, natural vegetation areas show lower Shannon values, suggesting that these areas are more intact and are less affected by human activities. These findings underscore the urgent need for sustainable development policies that will mitigate threats to forest resilience and biodiversity in Pará state. Full article

The convenience of commuting for individuals using mobility aids (IMAs) depends on various features of urban road infrastructure. The present research selected different pathways based on the relevance and convenience of IMAs in three regions of Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh, Qassim, and Hail. A survey questionnaire was developed to evaluate the satisfaction of IMAs with four critical criteria of road infrastructure, including travel distance, slope, availability of footpaths, and number of junctions, using a 5-point Likert scale from very low to very high. A sufficient sample size of this exceptional proportion of the population from different genders, age groups, education levels, employment status, number of disability years, and types of mobility aid participated in the survey. The main reasons for dissatisfaction of more than 50% of the participants were inadequate infrastructure design of entrances to public facilities, pedestrian crossings, and junctions. Social stigma and inadequate assistive technology were also highlighted by around 20% of the participants. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation identified length, slope, and footpaths along the pathway as the most critical features based on the subjective opinion of the participants, of which around 65% have been using artificial limbs or manual wheelchairs. PROMETHEE II aggregated the importance of weights estimated by the participants’ opinion and performance scores of infrastructure features to effectively rank ten pathways in three major cities of the selected regions, using partial and complete outranking. The framework developed in the present study helps concerned organizations to comply with the Vision 2030 goal of a vibrant society in Saudi Arabia by identifying critical pathways and improving infrastructure design to ensure safety, convenience, and satisfaction for IMAs. Full article

The rising demand for water and energy is driving the overuse of natural resources and contributing to environmental degradation. To address these challenges, the focus has shifted to low- and zero-emission technologies that utilize alternative sources of water and energy. Although such systems are commonly applied in residential, commercial, and industrial buildings, facilities along transportation routes generally depend on grid connections. This study aimed to enhance operational independence and reduce environmental impacts by modernizing the Rest Area Stobierna (RAS) along Poland’s S19 expressway, part of the Via Carpatia road. A comprehensive technical, economic, and environmental analysis was conducted using HOMER Pro software (3.18.3 PRO Edition) and a simulation model based on YAS operating principles. The proposed Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) incorporates photovoltaic panels, battery storage, and a rainwater harvesting system (RWHS). Two configurations of the HRES were evaluated, a prosumer-based setup and a hybrid-island mode. Optimization results showed that the hybrid-island configuration was most effective, achieving a 61.6% share of renewable energy in the annual balance, a 7.1-year return on investment, a EUR 0.77 million reduction in Net Present Cost (NPC), and a 75,002 kg decrease in CO₂ emissions over the system’s 25-year lifecycle. This study highlights the potential of integrating renewable energy and water systems to improve sustainability, reduce operational costs, and enhance service quality in road infrastructure facilities, offering a replicable model for similar contexts. Full article

Given that spatial accessibility to tourist resources is crucial for tourism development, this study analyzes the role of the distance between tourists and archaeological sites in the Dobrogea region of Romania. This study highlights the impact of road distance in the valorization of the main archaeological sites in the chosen area, the results obtained providing information on the main parameters of archaeological resources in achieving tourism success. These data will be important clues in the future design of plans for the valorization of those archaeological sites not yet valorized from the tourist point of view. Spatial data modeling was performed using specific Geographic Information Systems tools, which allowed us to extract the necessary information. By corroborating the results of the geospatial analysis with the statistical ones, we were able to draw conclusions regarding the tourist behavior in the region and the decision factors of tourists in visiting the ancient or medieval ruins in Dobrogea. Our analysis shows a significant correlation between the road accessibility of archaeological sites and their tourist attractiveness, with a particular influence of their location in relation to the main tourist areas of interest in the region. The study area has a rich history that has left behind a high density of ancient fortresses, citadels, and cities, which are relatively underutilized for tourism. Heritage tourism has thus lagged behind coastal tourism, which attracts the highest number of tourists in the country. A better knowledge of the factors that favor the development of heritage tourism is needed in order to expand the region’s tourist offer. Our recommendations aim to improve the accessibility and attractiveness of these archaeological sites by investing in essential infrastructure, developing sustainable transportation policies and specific tourism facilities, and implementing a regional strategy to enhance and protect them, which will ultimately increase their contribution to local economies. Full article

Street delivery faces significant challenges due to outdated road infrastructure, which was not designed to handle current vehicle volumes, leading to congestion and inefficiencies, especially in last-mile delivery. Integrating drones into the delivery system offers a promising solution by bypassing congested roads, thereby enhancing delivery speed and reducing infrastructure strain. However, optimizing this multimodal delivery system is complex and data-driven, with real-world data often being costly and restricted. To address this, we propose a synthetic dataset generator that creates diverse and realistic delivery scenarios, incorporating environmental variables, customer profiles, and vehicle characteristics. The key contribution of our work is the development of a dynamic generator for multiple optimization problems with diverse complexities or even combinations of optimization problems. This generator allows for the incorporation of real-world factors such as traffic congestion and synthetically generated factors such as wind conditions and communication constraints, as well as others. The primary objective is to establish a foundation for creating benchmark scenarios that enable the comparison of existing and new approaches. We evaluate the generated dataset by applying it to three optimization problems, including facility location, vehicle routing, and path planning, using different techniques to demonstrate the dataset’s effectiveness and operational viability. Full article

The utilization of dockless shared bikes for shopping purposes has become increasingly prevalent. This research seeks to optimize the configuration of facilities and transportation policies for shared bike travel by analyzing the spatiotemporal patterns of shopping trips from the perspectives of destination (D), origin (O), and O-D correlation in Nanjing’s main city area. As the second-largest commercial center in East China, Nanjing offers a significant context for this research. First, we introduce the “cycling intensity” indicator to analyze the patterns of shared bicycle trips with shopping facilities as destinations at both the subdistrict and road section scales. Second, we utilize spatial autocorrelation analysis and k-means clustering to explore the outflow patterns of shared bicycle trips originating from shopping facilities. Finally, we employ grey correlation analysis to investigate the dynamic flow correlations of shared bicycle O-D trips around various grades of shopping facilities at both subdistrict and road section levels. Concurrently, we endeavored to delineate the practical transformation and application of the research findings. Our results indicate the following: (1) There is a high concentration of cycling intensity around shopping facilities on east–west and north–south roads, with community shopping facilities primarily associated with north–south roads. (2) The outflow of shared bikes from shopping areas can be categorized into four distinct modes. (3) The inflow and outflow of shopping trips exhibit significant synchronicity, particularly on the branch routes. These findings can provide valuable insights for zoning planning, construction of bicycle infrastructure, and formulation of sustainable urban transportation policies. Full article

Developing road infrastructure facilities is important because it directly affects national competitiveness and has significant socio-economic ripple effects throughout the country. However, road construction projects are vulnerable to various risks and prone to cost overruns because they are funded by large-scale national budgets and conducted over long time periods. Therefore, tracking the changes in construction costs from planning to completion and providing insights for similar future projects is essential for successful project planning and management. Considering the bidding conditions and project characteristics of road construction projects, this study comparatively analyzed the construction cost growth of 170 road construction projects based on the bid award rate and facility-specific project characteristics, such as construction type, contract method, facility capacity, and construction cost components. This study analyzed the differences in cost performance between various sample groups using non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis test), considering the non-normality of the collected sample. In addition, this study conducted multiple regression analysis to examine the causal relationship between all variables used in the analysis and cost performance and to identify critical factors. The results indicated that the construction cost growth of the group with a bid award rate of less than 70% was higher compared to that of other groups. Furthermore, the differences in construction cost growth based on project characteristics were more pronounced in the following groups: construction types (expansion/renovation and complex), contract method (long-term continuous), road length (≥7.5 km), % of bridge/tunnel length (<10%), construction cost (≤USD 100 mil.), % of direct construction cost (≥70%), and % of bridge/tunnel cost (both less and more than 50%). Furthermore, the regression model showed that % of direct construction cost, bid award rate, total road length, and contract method were shown to be critical factors in construction cost growth, which implies the importance of indirect cost management, PDS selection decisions that affect bid award rates, and risk management for complex projects from the perspective of construction cost growth management. These results empirically demonstrate that bidding conditions and project characteristics are key to understanding the pattern of construction cost growth in road construction projects. Hence, this study provides significant references that can be used by policy makers and clients to estimate cost buffers for future road projects. Full article