VISTA provides a general framework for supporting a variety of traffic applications. Some of the more common applications include:

Flood Analysis

VISTA may be used to study the impact of time-varying flooding scenarios on a traffic network. As flood waters rise and recede, network capacity decreases and increases, forcing traffic to find alternate routes. Using VISTA’s DTA and simulation modules, a number of scenarios for each potential flooding event may be evaluated. The impact of the flood can be quantified in terms of extra travel time, extra mileage, extra emissions, or any other output of the system. VISTA is capable of running multi-day scenarios for studying prolonged floods.

Incident Management

VISTA offers a framework for conducting incident management using the models already included within the system. DTA and traffic simulation are used to perform pred. VISTA’s dynamic routing capabilities are used to model and plan emergency service operations, such as ambulance, fire, towing, police, etc. All stakeholders and participants are capable of accessing VISTA from their offices, homes, or from wireless devices in the field. VISTA can be used for off-line analysis, real-time operations, or training purposes.

A powerful feature of VISTA is the incorporation of real-time traffic data into model runs for refinement and forecasting purposes. For each model, a calibration procedure can be designed that will be based on data collected automatically by roadway detectors, cell-phone tracking, and other vehicle devices. This data makes real-time incident management possible. DTA will be able to run faster than real time, such that any changes due to the effect that specific set of dynamic events have on the roadway capacity and operation can be emulated and a set of alternatives could be evaluated in real-time.

Evacuation Planning

In addition to the routing, simulation, and assignment models already discussed, VISTA supports lane-reversal for major evacuation scenarios. Roadways may be entirely reversed to allow full use to evacuating traffic, or partially closed to retain capacity for emergency vehicles. As before, DTA and simulation may be used to evaluate different closure and reversal scenarios both before and during an emergency.

Traffic Studies

VISTA is capable of performing basic traffic studies. The impact of new development within the study area can be evaluated by performing scenarios for each variation of the planned development and the traffic the development will produce and attract. VISTA includes planning models for doing trip generation and distribution, allowing the entire planning process to be done within VISTA using our database and models.