Fuzzy modeling for route characteristic

Bicycling is gaining popularity as a form of urban transportation for environmental and health reasons. Despite the numerous research on the parameters influencing route choice, the characteristics of different segments/parts of a route is rarely studied. The route in a city is not a stable entity; the attributes being related to the bicycle facilities, road surface, traffic and topography are expected to change along the route line from origin to destination. In this paper a computational model is proposed to calculate and visualize the route in segments. Fuzzy logic is used as the methodology; where the inputs are chosen as (1) the type of bicycle facility, (2) slope and (3) vehicle flow. The output is the ride quality value that will fluctuate between 0 and 1. Fuzzy subsets enable granulation and provide a more real-like evaluation of the route. The result is a string of points on a city map, visually representing the bicycle ride quality in detail.