Compared to the railway system, transportation on roads is continuously growing. This trend will lead to excessive strain of the road infrastructure. One fundamental reason for this trend is the lack of transparency of the railway business as a means for transportation and the wrong appraisal of its benefits for shippers. Even though railway transportation is already being discussed as an alternative in practice, there is still no effective instrument supporting the evaluation and communication of benefits. Existing solutions cover only part of the overall problem. A comprehensive approach is still missing.
In the course of the research project CargoScoreCard an integrated software system supporting the identification, calculation and communication of value-adding potentials of a modal shift for cargo traffic towards railway transportation will be implemented. It enables railway service companies as well as shippers to evaluate the benefit of railway transport with respect to financial, technological, social, and ecological aspects. Innovative visualization methods communicate the identified benefits, enabling stakeholders to effectively come to decisions. Through the integrated view of the benefits that railway transportation can offer to all parties involved in the transportation process, a sustainable development shifting goods transportation from road to rail can be achieved.
In close collaboration with shippers and transportation service companies, TU Darmstadt first analyses existing tender processes and, building on this basis, develops the CargoScoreCard concept. The chair of multimedia and internet applications at the FernUniversität in Hagen designs visualization techniques and is responsible for the development and implementation of the CargoScoreCard software. Concluding, using the software in trials at the partner companies evaluates the project results and demonstrates potentials for a modal shift in transportation on both national and European level.
The visual display of such decision support systems is crucial for their acceptance. Visualization enables users to recognize relevant performance indicators at one sight and eases the analysis of the underlying multi-dimensional data and its complex relationships.
In the CargoScoreCard project the FernUniversität in Hagen deploys a novel information visualization system which allows the efficient modeling of interactive, visual application systems. The technology builds on concepts of information visualization: it enables the definition of arbitrary views onto the data and mapping data onto visual objects in order to represent data. A specialized modelling language facilitates the development and implementation of applications.
Project homepage CargoScoreCard at Chair of Multimedia and Internet Applications
Project homepage CargoScoreCard at Fraunhofer IPSI
| Phone: | +49 2331-987-4775 |
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| Fax: | +49 2331-987-4487 |
| Email: | gerald.jaeschke@fernuni-hagen.de |
Teaching