Sustainable City Evaluation Using the Database for Estimation of Road Network Performance

This article introduces the Database for Estimation of Road Network Performance (DERNP) to enable wide-scale estimation of relevant Road Network Performance (RNP) factors for major German cities. The methodology behind DERNP is based on a randomized route sampling procedure that utilizes the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) in combination with the tile-based HERE Maps Traffic API v7 and a digital elevation model provided by the European Union’s Earth Observation Programme Copernicus to generate a large set of independent and realistic routes throughout OpenStreetMap road networks. By evaluating these routes using the PHEMLight5 framework, a comprehensive list of RNP parameters is estimated and translated into polynomial regression models for general usage. The applicability of these estimations is demonstrated based on a case study of four major German cities. This case study considers network characteristics in terms of detours, infrastructure, traffic congestion, fuel consumption, and CO2 emissions. Our results show that DERNP and its underlying randomized route sampling methodology overcomes major limitations of previous wide-scale RNP approaches, enabling efficient, easy-to-use, and region-specific RNP comparisons.