Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories

Emerging on-line reservation services and special car services have greatly affected the development of the taxi industry. Surprisingly, taking a taxi is still a significant problem in many large cities. In this paper, we present an effective solution based on the Hidden Markov Model to predict the...

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Main Authors: Chunchun Hu, Jean-Claude Thill
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
Series:ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/7/295
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author Chunchun Hu
Jean-Claude Thill
author_facet Chunchun Hu
Jean-Claude Thill
author_sort Chunchun Hu
collection DOAJ
description Emerging on-line reservation services and special car services have greatly affected the development of the taxi industry. Surprisingly, taking a taxi is still a significant problem in many large cities. In this paper, we present an effective solution based on the Hidden Markov Model to predict the upcoming services of vacant taxis that appear at some fixed locations and at specific times. The model introduces a weighted confusion matrix and a modified Viterbi algorithm, combining the factors of time of day and traffic conditions. In our framework, the hotspot or hidden states extraction is implemented through kernel density estimation (KDE) and fuzzy partitioning of traffic zones is done via a Fuzzy C Means (FCM) algorithm. We implement the proposed model on a large-scale dataset of taxi trajectories in Beijing. In this use case, tests demonstrate the high accuracy of the modeling framework in predicting the upcoming services of vacant taxis. We further analyze the factors affecting the predictive accuracy via a prediction accuracy analysis and prediction location evaluation. The findings of this paper can provide intelligence for the improvement of taxi services, to increase the passenger capacity of taxis and also to improve the probability of passengers finding taxis.
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spelling doaj.art-5fe125e8bad744698dea14c53b1d86342022-12-22T02:24:11ZengMDPI AGISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information2220-99642019-06-018729510.3390/ijgi8070295ijgi8070295Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi TrajectoriesChunchun Hu0Jean-Claude Thill1School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, ChinaDepartment of Geography & Earth Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USAEmerging on-line reservation services and special car services have greatly affected the development of the taxi industry. Surprisingly, taking a taxi is still a significant problem in many large cities. In this paper, we present an effective solution based on the Hidden Markov Model to predict the upcoming services of vacant taxis that appear at some fixed locations and at specific times. The model introduces a weighted confusion matrix and a modified Viterbi algorithm, combining the factors of time of day and traffic conditions. In our framework, the hotspot or hidden states extraction is implemented through kernel density estimation (KDE) and fuzzy partitioning of traffic zones is done via a Fuzzy C Means (FCM) algorithm. We implement the proposed model on a large-scale dataset of taxi trajectories in Beijing. In this use case, tests demonstrate the high accuracy of the modeling framework in predicting the upcoming services of vacant taxis. We further analyze the factors affecting the predictive accuracy via a prediction accuracy analysis and prediction location evaluation. The findings of this paper can provide intelligence for the improvement of taxi services, to increase the passenger capacity of taxis and also to improve the probability of passengers finding taxis.https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/7/295hidden Markov modeltaxi trajectorykernel density analysisweighted confusion matrix
spellingShingle Chunchun Hu
Jean-Claude Thill
Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information
hidden Markov model
taxi trajectory
kernel density analysis
weighted confusion matrix
title Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
title_full Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
title_fullStr Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
title_full_unstemmed Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
title_short Predicting the Upcoming Services of Vacant Taxis near Fixed Locations Using Taxi Trajectories
title_sort predicting the upcoming services of vacant taxis near fixed locations using taxi trajectories
topic hidden Markov model
taxi trajectory
kernel density analysis
weighted confusion matrix
url https://www.mdpi.com/2220-9964/8/7/295
work_keys_str_mv AT chunchunhu predictingtheupcomingservicesofvacanttaxisnearfixedlocationsusingtaxitrajectories
AT jeanclaudethill predictingtheupcomingservicesofvacanttaxisnearfixedlocationsusingtaxitrajectories