A high-resolution cellular automata traffic simulation model with application in a freeway traffic information system

In this article, we describe a novel traffic information system for the freeway traffic in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the most populous German state. It consists of more than 4,000 loop detectors, a simulator, and a microscopic and macroscopic graphical interface. These should be considered as "data input," "data processing," and "data output," respectively. First, we discuss the loop detectors: Their mode of operation, how and where they are located, and the quality of their measurements. Next, we describe the simulator, especially its high-resolution cellular automaton model of traffic flows, the abstraction of the road network into tracks and nodes, how the data from the loop detectors is integrated, and we give some details on an efficient implementation of the dynamics. Finally, we discuss the graphical interfaces, which display the simulated traffic states, and we give some concluding remarks. In particular, we present the traffic information web page www.autobahn.nrw.de, where the simulated actual traffic state on the freeway network in NRW can be sighted.