Skip to main content

New software aids traffic studies

New software from the PTV Group enables users to carry out traffic studies necessitated by planned housing schemes or shopping centre construction, which could have a substantial influence on traffic management. According to PTV, its PTV Vistro software simplifies traffic studies and allows users to quickly create networks, while at the same time enabling them to optimise traffic signals. The user can specify the geometry of the network, add data from traffic counts and specify traffic control rules for in
January 7, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
New software from the 3264 PTV Group enables users to carry out traffic studies necessitated by planned housing schemes or shopping centre construction, which could have a substantial influence on traffic management.

According to PTV, its PTV Vistro software simplifies traffic studies and allows users to quickly create networks, while at the same time enabling them to optimise traffic signals.  The user can specify the geometry of the network, add data from traffic counts and specify traffic control rules for individual nodes, such as traffic signals.  Bing maps and aerial views, drag and drop, node templates and ‘snap to’ controls make modelling easier.

A built-in scenario manager enables users to analyse different traffic demand scenarios and planning variants, both with respect to individual nodes as well as to the entire network. PTV Vistro offers automated reporting for the final version of the traffic impact analyses and traffic signal optimisation, which PTV says can be done at the push of a button for individual intersections, selected corridors or whole networks.

"PTV Vistro is an integral component of our Vision traffic suite and as such offers interfaces to the PTV Vissim traffic simulation software and the PTV Visum transport planning software which allows users to also model large-scale networks and multi-modal transport, says Dr Ing Axel Leonhardt, product management director for PTV Vistro.  "Our PTV Vistro software leads the user through the individual steps of a traffic study and also offers him the opportunity to plan and optimise the traffic signals directly within this workflow.  Something that previously required two different tools now requires just one solution. This increases data consistency and efficiency.”
"Alternatively, existing networks can be imported from our PTV Visum planning software and other planning tools", says Leonhardt.  "PTV Vistro also allows users to create their network model in a highly efficient manner. This makes the software attractive as an additional tool for the Visum or Vissim user," says Leonhardt.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • MIT study combines traffic data for smarter signal timings
    April 1, 2015
    Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have found a method of combining vehicle-level data with less precise, but more comprehensive, city-level data on traffic patterns to produce better information than current systems provide. They claim this reduce delays, improve efficiency, and reduce emissions. The new findings are reported in a pair of papers by assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering Carolina Osorio and alumna Kanchana Nanduri, published in the journals Tra
  • The case for integrating urban traffic control and parking
    February 3, 2012
    Although urban traffic control and parking management are inextricably linked in so many ways, there remain fundamental differences which undermine closer integration. Car parking guidance systems can have a significant, positive impact on congestion in town and city centres, however conflicting business models still stand in the way of the more profound integration of car parking management and Urban Traffic Control (UTC) systems.
  • Econolite and PTV exhibit under Umovity brand for first time
    April 25, 2023
    Exhibiting for the first time under the unified brand Umovity, Econolite and PTV are featuring their comprehensive, innovative smart mobility solutions.
  • Traffic management is increasingly image conscious
    January 27, 2025
    At the Vision show in Stuttgart, Germany, a wide variety of traffic-related solutions were on display. Adam Hill takes the temperature of the industry…