Szymon Wiśniewski

This article contains results of studies on the applicability of data from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) for the purposes of geographical studies regarding the spatial mobility of inhabitants within a big city. The article focuses on the option of applying two types of sub-systems – induction loops and automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) – and includes examples of analyses based on the resulting data, which can serve as a basis for mobility studies. The area on the example of which the capabilities of application of ITS data have been presented is Lodz – a large city in central Poland. The conducted research shows that ITS systems offer an enormous potential in providing data for spatial mobility studies. In order to fully exploit its worth, however, it is imperative to expand the research procedure by including, for instance, the results of qualitative research. Also, the interpretation of results obtained on the basis of ITS data ought to be performed with an awareness of numerous significant preliminary and simplifying assumptions.

This article focuses on the verification of two selected strategic objectives Model of sustainable transport in Lodz 2020+. The study has been subjected to the legitimacy of the proposed document gradation interchanges and restriction of competition bus - tram on certain sections of the transport network within Lodz. For the analysis was used potential method, expanded to spatial statistics. The article was accompanied by an original review model in terms of the provisions relating to the point of network elements of the local public transport. The survey closes some of the conclusions and further comprising recommendations for the demands in model.

The paper presents a topological characteristics of the network passenger train connections in the province of Łódź. The effectiveness of all connections between 24 cities in the region included in the network of scheduled connections was assessed based on their frequency and duration time expressed in physical, time and economic units. In addition, the communication was defined by its potential, strength and direction of its influence for each of the examined cities in the rail system. It was found that the accessibility of the towns, on the assumption of train journey, is determined first of all by the direction of the railway. The railway pattern in the Łódź province provides access to 24 out of 44 towns. The level of transport connections between the towns in region resulting from the operation of collective transport by rail is clearly conditioned by the number of potential users. This relationship is not as clear as in the public road transport. On the other hand, the location of a city in the urban network and within the region is a secondary factor.

The paper deals with the topic of transport accessibility of Łódź using data from Intelligent Transportation Systems, in this case from cameras allowing automatical identification of number plates (ANPR), locatedon the city’s 23 intersections. The paper has two aims. The first one is of methodological nature and focuses on  assessing the usefulness of the data from ITS for geographical research. Not only does the paper present some ways of using data and conducting analyses with the use of these data but it also compares their results with research concerning similar phenomena measured by different sets of data (theoretical accessibility and data obtained from the Distance Matrix Responses provided by Google Maps APIs). The latter, in turn, is cognitive and it comes down to a slightly more local dimension, namely showing the internal transport accessibility of Łódź. In the light of the ANPR data it was determined that the internal transport accessibility of Łódź is  much worse than the theoretical accessibility or the accessibility measured with the use of data obtained from the Distance Matrix service. The greatest differences in average travel times between the data from ANPR and the two remaining methods concern primarily the north-western part of the city, whereas the smallest – the central and southern areas, where a substantial part of intersections is covered by a system of cameras.

This article focuses on the evaluation of accessibility to the local public transport in Lodz. For the analysis was used, among others, graph approach and the availability of cumulative, extended to the analysis of the network. The research was based on the main part of the two databases up to date on the first quarter of 2016. This is the base received from the Board of Roads and Transport in Lodz, in the form of a list of all the stops, bus and tram lines, transit times between stops, frequency, and type of vehicles that support individual lines communication. Second base is information on the number, distribution and structure of the age and sex of the inhabitants of the city, according to the registration of the population of the City of Lodz. The article was accompanied by an original review model in terms of the provisions relating to its strategic objectives. The survey closes some of the conclusions and further comprising recommendations for the demands of the model.

The aim of the conducted research was to assess how the elderly viewed the functioning of public transport, with Łódź, a large city in Poland, as the example. The data presented in the article originates from research of 400 inhabitants aged 60+ was conducted in the district of Bałuty in Łódź at the turn of November and December 2018. On the basis of the questionnaire survey (which contained questions concerning the use of local public transport by the over 60s for daily journeys and was accomplished by CAPI and MOBI methods) it was found that the over 60s have quite a high opinion of the offer of the municipal transport company MPK (they hardly ever use services of other carriers). As for the means of public transport, the tram is rated slightly higher compared to the bus. The results of the research enable the proposal of general recommendations for the transport policy in Łódź. This policy should be focused to a larger degree on: shortening the waiting time and, consequently, increasing the frequency of connections and punctuality, while continuing to provide high travel comfort, increasing the level of accessibility to stops and enhancing the clarity of information with regard to fare prices and exemptions.

This paper presents an analysis of spatial differentiation of access to the road network in the Lodz region in Poland. The basic research unit here is the municipality. The population of each of the municipalities studied was established based on Poland’s Local Data Bank, run by the Central Statistical Office of Poland, for the end of 2014. The second part of the research consisted of road junctions and street intersections located in the study area. The study was conducted in two variants. Assuming the current layout of nodal transport network elements and future layout that will be produced via new investment, which is currently under GDDKiA development or at the planning stage. The entire research procedure was divided into three main stages. The first two consisted of the use of a two-step method of analysis of market areas. The first part of the two-step method is based on the definition of the impact of each node/intersection, assuming certain boundary values of automobile travel time. Each studied node/intersection was also assigned a weight corresponding to its importance in the regional road network. The second part of the study focused on municipalities and indicated the level of road access for each of them to the regional road network. The third and last stage of the study served to indicate, based on earlier results obtained, areas of the Lodz region that are moving distinctively upward or downward in terms of road accessibility. The significance of the spatial relationships within a certain radius was calculated using local spatial data on autocorrelation as proposed by Getis and Ord (1995).

Research has shown significant differences in the level of accessibility of citizens in individual municipalities to point elements of the road transport network. Despite ongoing and planned investments in this area, they highlight specific areas lagging behind in terms of user accessibility to the road network. At the same time, it is important to pay close attention to the potential of the four different areas of the province. An above-average level of availability of the municipalities constituting these geographic areas can serve as a competitive advantage in the area of potential locations for investment activity.

This article focuses on presenting traffic in Łódź in the context of functional and spatial structure of the city. The reseach was based on the data from the Local Traffic Control System (OSSR) and Topographic Objects Database (BDOT). For the analysis ArcMap software and basic statistical methods were used. The article  contains an overview of the local determinants of mobility, such as road network, car ownership and local functional and spatial structure. Against this background the authors have presented the traffic near selected elements of the spatial structure in Łódź. The study, along with the presentation part of daily mobility, suggests that OSSR data can be used in geographic research, but in the context of extensive research on complex urban structures they could cause some errors.