A New Tool Based on GIS Technology for Massive Public Transport Data.

In this work, we present the design of a novel geographic information tool for the analysis of public transportation data. The widespread integration of user traveler cards have enabled public transport operators to generate and store large amounts of data related to user movements within the transport network. However, these authorities are seldom equipped to efficiently exploit these data in order to produce a comprehensible analysis of the transport network usage. This is not only due to the sheer amount of data in need of processing, but also because most public transport operators only validate the travel card on boarding, whereas data referring to transfers and alightings are generally unavailable. Thus, the system we propose not only addresses efficient storage and exploitation of big datasets, but also the reconstruction of complete journeys by using a prediction algorithm to deduce the alighting stop for each boarding. Furthermore, we also provide the transport operators with easy-to-use means of visualizing and analyzing the data through a graphical interface.