GIS software to analyse and to supportredevelopment of existing road network

Abstract of dissertation“Sustainable transportation in Florence: living streets and GIS model”

Faculty of Architecture, University of Florence, 2012supervisors: C.Natali F.Alberti M.De Silva

In drafting a management plan and redevelopment project for the whole city road network, the main problem is streets’ geometry. Historical roads have a width that cannot be changed, too narrow for contemporary mobility. The survey of the whole network is a long and expensive task. It is possible to get these datas from map, using GIS software, in a much quicker and easy way. These datas allow a more precise planning whose feasibility is certain.

GISmodel

The starting cartographic data is made by a file describing the network as a graph, i.e. a group of lines each one depicting a node-to-node part of the road, and a file describing roads as polygon, whose sides depict the property boundary of real estates. The software places points along the graph, using a pitch of 10 m. to have a precise data but not a huge file. Then the road’s width is calculated at each point and assigned as an attribute to the point. Points in crossroads and in plaza are eliminated, using three different topological conditions.This work on Florence network required one effort-day, while erasing points took two effort-days.

The first, easiest way to use these informations is to draw an informative map.As the range of the roads’ width is so large, datas must be merged, to have a comprehen-sible map: the classes of merging are defined by road section as described by italian road code. (D.M. 5.11.2001).The narrowest street allowed is one-way residential street, width 8,5 mt. including pave-ments. Map shows in black points with a lower than admitted width.

less than 8.5 mt: lower than the regulatory limitbetween 8.5 and 9.5: one-way residential street between 9.5 and 10.0: residential streetbetween 10.0 and 12.5: arterial streetbetween 12.5 and 17.5: residential street with parallel parkingbetween 17.5 and 20.8: arterial street with bus lanebetween 20.8 and 27.3: expresswayabove 27.3: expressway, three lanes

Secondly, datas can be used to draft a preliminary plan of redevelopment of the whole network.Once sketched a suitable road section, it is possible to display on map points matching the required width; afterwards it will be possible to recognize which points create a sui-table group of paths. Vice versa it is possible to see where and how a selected path has a bottleneck.

‘Home zone strategy’ sees a network of through-streets, with a speed limit of 50 km/h (30 mph), mandatory in italian cities; re-maining roads are dedicated to access traffic and social activities, speed limit is reduced to 30 km/h or lower (20 mph) to improve sa-fety and create a better environment in the area. This type of road management is common in France and Germany, this system has been implemented in the whole city of Freiburg and Graz.

Sustainable transportation

Home zone (30 km/h)

Through-streets (50 km/h)

Project area

‘Home zone strategy’ has been applied to the northern part of the city, the more affected by through traffic. Road section has been designed according to arterial streets regula-tions, placing bus lanes and cycle paths to create a complete street.Some through-streets are one-ways, in such case two parallel streets are selected to ac-commodate opposing one-ways, so to provide the required level of service.A home zone has been chosen for the second step of the project.

Software analysis allows a more precise preliminary draft: time sa-ved on survey can be used for site analysis and project. Roads have been classified according to street and to building use. Space nee-ded has been allocated accordingly resulting in a group of possible roads sections. These project hypotheses have been compared to roads width and the solutions have been tuned accordingly. Lastly, each point has been linked to a couple of possible road sections.

Homezone

Chosen area is part of the eastern historical suburb of Florence. It stretches from the railway tracks (north) to the Arno river (south); eastern and western borders are existing boulevards. It is well served by public transport, new tramway line is going to be placed in boulevards. This area is a residential zone, well provided with schools, a community center and a sport center; but the road network gives poor spaces to pedestrians. The street marked in red is the bigger natural shopping center outside the historical city, it is called ‘Street of 100 shops’; it is the most used to move from eastern outskirt to down-town. Nonetheless it is the narrowest street of the grid: the bottleneck measures 8.20 mt.

Commercial street Priority to pedestrian (20 km/h)Pedestrian link Priority to pedestrian (20 km/h)

Residential streets (30 km/h)

Parking streets (30 km/h)

‘Commercial street’ and ‘pedestrian link’ benefit of a more strict join, as each point allows a single design: in general, cars have been given the narrowest possible space, giving the most to pedestrians, greenery has been added to avoid illegal parking. Here are shown, with red background, the sections used for Via Gioberti, the shopping street, in red on the map. The first section (left side in the map) is broad enough to allow contraflow cycling on one-way street. The most peripheral (right side of the map) is one-way for all vehicles, due to the narrow bottleneck in the central portion.

Commercial street Priority to pedestrian (20 km/h)

Wide section (opening)Medium section (ending)Narrow section (central)

Pedestrian link Priority to pedestrian (20 km/h)

Wide sectionMedium sectionNarrow section

Residential streets (30 km/h)Wide sectionMedium sectionNarrow section

Parking streets (30 km/h)Wide sectionMedium sectionNarrow section

Commercial street Priority to pedestrianWide section (opening) Narrow section (central)

On ‘residential streets’ and ‘parking streets’ the join between points and designs is less defined, as each point allows two solutions. A section allows space for parking, the other section gives more space to pedestrian. The first solution is more widely usable, while the other one is better applied in front of gathering points as coffees, offices, community center...In the blue background are shown solutions for the parking streets, in blue in the map.Bike contraflow is still debated in Italy, it might be allowed on carriageway 4.25 mt wide, parking on side traveled only by cyclists is prohibited. (paper n. 6234, Ministero dei tra-sporti, 21.12.2011)

Medium section (ending)

Parking streetsWide section

Narrow section

Medium section

CURRICULUM VITAE

I’m fond of zigzag! First a zig to education, studying in high school.Than a zag to job, first in a small engineering firm, for free, just to learn, than to a bigger one, with much more responsabilities (draughtsman, secretary, helping check on construction’s works, surveyings). Than I ziged back to study, as job had shown me how fun design is. At University I found out how interesting urban de-sign is and a new mean to develope my love for maps, so I decided

Born in Italy, Bologna, 31 January 1976

Living in Bologna, Via Dossetti 6, 40128

cell. (+39)3311.056.872e-mail ariannabaroni@hotmail.com

Postgraduation “Designing the smart city”, Università di Firenze.Postgraduation required an internship; I worked for “LdP - progetti GIS”, Siena, Italy.

Honours degree in architecture, at Università di Firenze, Facoltà di ArchitetturaDissertation: “Sustainable transportation in Florence: living streets and GIS model”supervisor: prof. Carlo Natalico-supervisors: prof. Francesco Alberti, prof. Michele De Silva

An abstract of the research has been presented at XX International conference “Vulnera-ble users’ road safety”, 2013 Brescia, 13-14 June 2013; presented at XVI conference SIET (Italian Association of Transport Economics and Logi-stics) “Strategies for Growth: Innovation, Efficiency, Sustainability in Transport”, Firenze 8-10 October 2014.cited in “Less cars more mobility” by Francesco Alberti, TXT, n. 12/2014 (http://www.txtmagazine.it/issues/2014/numero12/MENO%20AUTO%20PIU%20MOBILITA.pdf)

COMPUTER SKILLS:Autocad, Photoshop, Indesign, ArcGIS, QGIS, SketchUpOpenOffice (Writer e Calc), Word, ExcelOperating system: Windows

LANGUAGE SKILLS:Italian (native speaker)English (intermediate-B2)French (beginner-A1)

EXPERIENCE:Internship: GIS data management (QGIS and ArcGIS)(“LdP - progetti GIS”, Siena, Italy - September 2014)

Draughtsman, secretary, helping check on construction’s works, surveyings(Studio Venturini - engineering firm, Bologna, Italy - from 1998 to 2001)

Draughtsman(engineering firm, Bologna, Italy - from 1996 to 1998)

to have my thesis on GIS and redevelopment of roads. Now I would love to zag back to job.

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ariannabaroni@hotmail.com(+39)3311056872