PLANiTS: A Functional Description

This paper presents a functional description of PLANiTS (Planning and Analysis Integration for Intelligent Transportation Systems). Based on our experience with a simple prototype, we describe the functions that are included in PLANiTS. Specifically, transportation improvement projects are represented as planning vectors. The vector allows users to examine the impacts of transportation actions in terms of performance measures in a certain environment. Users must specify the actions, performance measures and the environment each in terms of spatial, temporal and user dimensions. Then, they can analyze the planning vector with models, case-based reasoning and expert systems. During the process of planning vector specification and analysis, users at different locations can communicate by sending and receiving messages and sharing the planning vector. Users can examine the results in a way that allows clearer tradeoffs among alternative actions. Overall, PLANiTS facilitates a planning process that iteratively combines analysis and deliberation. In the paper, we suggest functions that can be included in future versions of PLANiTS.