VMSDetails: Add Variable Message Signs (VMS) Details with Traffic Count...

In RACFoundation/oneminutetrafficdata: Extracting and Using One Minute Traffic Count Data

Description

Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling (MIDAS) is a sensor based network along UK motorways, and is designed to collect data regarding traffic flows, average speeds and road occupancy, amongst other features, on the road network. This data can be accessed via the MIDAS website https://www.midas-data.org.uk/ (login required) in the form of .tcd.bz2 files.

The function VMS allows the user to view VMS details for every minute that the kit is turned on, as found in the corresponding alert logs, including the messages displayed on electronic traffic signs over each lane and on the display signs on the side of roads.

Usage

VMSDetails(data, directory)

Arguments

data

The data that the user wishes to investigate.

directory

A string (without a "/" or "\" character on the start or end of the string) which points to the directory (from the current working directory) that the user's alert log files are stored. These files must be stored within this directory only and cannot be in any subfolders of this directory. Their names must also follow the "XXDDMMYY.mal" or "XXDDMMYY.mal.bz2" format as downloaded from the MIDAS website, where "XX" denotes the control office, "DD" denotes the day, "MM" denotes the month, and "YY" denotes the year. It is not necessary to have all of these files, as the function will only scrape data out of what is provided.

Value

A version of the format of data, with n+1 additional columns (where n is the number of lanes). These additional columns correspond to the traffic signs above each lane, with the n+1 column denoting the verbal messages displayed to the road users. In instances where there are no traffic signs, "N/A" is used instead.

Author(s)

RAC Foundation, Luke Hudlass-Galley

Examples

M25DataRushHour <- VMSDetails(M25Data, "logs/alertLogs")

RACFoundation/oneminutetrafficdata documentation built on May 28, 2019, 2:26 p.m.