Mapping cycling pathways and route selection using GIS and GPS

Abstract

[Abstract]: In today's society there have been many issues to do with the increase in fuel prices. This is all due to the world's increasing demand for crude oil. This makes it more expensive to operate a motor vehicle and it also has its affect on public transport prices. With the cost of fuel rising and the daunting fact that there is not an everlasting supply of oil, alternatives must be found. Alternative measures of transport in future could prove to be costly so the use of bicycles is going to become more common for local travel. When riding a bicycle from A to B the shortest route is not always the easiest one. The terrain has more of an influence on how tired a person gets rather than the distance travelled. For a commuter travelling to work on a weekday they may know the shortest route to their location of employment. What they may not realise is that this route they are using actually requires more energy than another route that maybe longer. So how do we work out what is the easiest route from A to B? This study works out the easiest route from the University (USQ) to the CBD in Toowoomba in terms of energy using GPS and other spatial data. This was done by collecting GPS data of cycling lanes and pedestrian paths for six different routes from USQ to the CBD. This data was then stored on GIS software and was then processed and analysed to ensure the data was suitable for computing energy usage. An energy equation was then formed to calculate the energy expenditure for a cyclist riding up and down terrain. Using this equation the energy for the six different routes could be calculated to find the route that used the least amount of energy and to also find the route that was the most energy efficient for USQ to the CBD.