Multi-scale and multi-modal GIS-T data model

The role of urban transportation becomes increasingly important with the change of demographic and economic patterns. The trend to expect better urban living standards for inhabitants has significantly increased the demand for efficient and sustainable multi-modal transportation systems in large urban areas. This should favour emergence of balanced transportation system that uses each mode for what it does best. But still, the development of urban transportation policies partly relies on the availability of appropriate data and information. The research presented in this paper proposes a multi-modal and multi-scale GIS-T data model. The model introduced takes into account different transportation modes and integrates them within an integrated data model designed using an object-oriented approach. The model allows the development of specialised services designed after a survey and study of users' and planners' requirements. The approach is applied in a district of the city of Guangzhou and validated by a prototype development. This experimental system enables transportation planners and decision-makers to take better decisions effectively, and provides high-quality geospatial information-based services to final end-users. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.