Towards a Dynamic Isochrone Map: Adding Spatiotemporal Traffic and Population Data

Abstract

Isochrone maps, being maps that display points, lines or areas which can be reached from a given point within a given time, are often represented as static images. These static isochrone maps ignore spatiotemporal variations in accessibility. Due to new available data, new visualization techniques and an increased interest in dynamics through time, research increasingly focusses on variations through time. Spatiotemporal traffic data containing average driving speeds for different times allowed to calculate routes or isochrones throughout the day, and mobile data – being GPS tracking, mobile phones and locative media worldwide – lead to new opportunities in accessibility studies. Mobile data can give a more accurate way in the spatiotemporal distribution of the population and can be used to dynamically estimate the number of people within certain areas throughout the day.

This research explores and exploits possibilities of these new spatiotemporal traffic and population distribution data for use in isochrones maps. The spatiotemporal traffic and population distribution data is pre-processed, combined and visualized to create an interactive isochrones web map using a specific case-study.