Quality Control in Urban Traffic Control

The prediction and modelling of traffic flow is one of the future challenges. Although larger cities own traffic control centres with several traffic computers and hundreds of intersection controllers the potential to optimise the flow is rarely used. In a co-operation between the municipal authority and the university of Duisburg we developed a simulation tool to generate an actual traffic flow map based on the data measured at the detection loops all over inner city of Duisburg. The underlying traffic flow model allows us to determine traffic loads and link travel times even at those points not measured directly by detection units. With such a tool tasks of planning and the prediction of traffic can be performed.