Circuity Characteristics of Urban Travel Based on GPS Data: A Case Study of Guangzhou

A longer, wider and more complicated change in the travel path is put forward to adapt to the rapidly increasing expansion of metropolises in the field of urban travel. Urban travel requires higher levels of sustainable urban transport. Therefore,this paper explores the circuity characteristics of urban travel and investigates the temporal relationship between time and travel circuity and the spatial relationship between distance and travel circuity to understand the efficiency of urban travel. Based on Guangzhou Taxi-GPS big data, travel circuity is considered in this paper to analyze the circuity spatial distribution and strength characteristics of urban travel in three types of metropolitan regions, including core areas, transition areas and fringe areas. Depending on the different attributes of the three types, the consistency and dissimilar characteristics of travel circuity and influencing factors of travel circuity in metropolises are discussed. The results are shown as follows: (1) by observing the temporal andspatial distribution of travel circuity, it can be found that peaks and troughs change with time, and travel circuity of transition areas is higher than other areas during the peak period. When travelling in these three regions, travel circuity spatial distribution is consistent, which is the core-periphery distribution. When travelling among these three regions, travel circuity spatial distribution is distinct; (2) by analyzing the relationship between time and distance of travel and travel circuity, it can be seen that the shorter the travel time or travel distance, the greater the travel circuity, resulting in a lower travel efficiency; (3) the influence of six factors, including population, road and public transportation, on travel circuity is significant. Whether it is the origin point or destination point, when its location is closer to the city center and the station density of grid is lower, the travel circuity is higher.