The use of smart technologies is often cited as one of the key aspect in resolving traffic management problems in cities, roads and highways.Various Spanish companies are behind some of the leading solutions used in this sector around the world.

Variable message panels, traffic light violation detectors, optical license plate readers, free-flow tolls and toll simulators are just some of the tools that are used to manage traffic on roads and highways and in cities.

The technology applied in this field adds crucial value according to Joan Masferrer, technical manager for traffic sales at Imago Group-Odeco Electrónica who says that it improves road user safety as well as seeking to improve traffic flow” – an essential objective for an environment in which the central problem stems from the exponential rise in the number of vehicles on the roads and in our cities today.

Alexandre Torday, consultancy manager at Aimsun, is fully aware of the congestion on a large part of urban and intercity highway networks. A situation that he acknowledges is difficult to resolve, since “not even good traffic management can help much”.

However, Torday believes there is a glimmer of hope, saying that "the capacity of highway networks could be used more efficiently if traffic flows were managed in a more dynamic and anticipatory way”.

This is precisely the area in which Aimsun has specialized for some time, providing solutions based on dynamic traffic simulation. These are tools that use virtual reality to analyze the evolution of vehicle flows over the course of a normal or an exceptional day, and then compare various types of traffic management strategies that could be applied. “It is therefore possible to quantitatively determine which will be the most appropriate for any given time”, says Torday.

Simulations have a certain magical and predictive symbolism and when they are used in a control centre “they predict what will happen to the network over the next 30 to 60 minutes, within a couple of minutes”, explains Aimsum’s consultancy manager.

This prediction makes it possible to weigh up the consequences of closing a specific highway, changing the traffic light phasing in a specific area or regarding recommendations given to drivers to use an alternative route.“And to develop a traffic management system that anticipates rather than reacts, as usually still happens”, adds Torday.

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The use of smart technologies is often cited as one of the key aspect in resolving traffic management problems in cities, roads and highways.Various Spanish companies are behind some of the leading solutions used in this sector around the world.

Variable message panels, traffic light violation detectors, optical license plate readers, free-flow tolls and toll simulators are just some of the tools that are used to manage traffic on roads and highways and in cities.

The technology applied in this field adds crucial value according to Joan Masferrer, technical manager for traffic sales at Imago Group-Odeco Electrónica who says that it improves road user safety as well as seeking to improve traffic flow” – an essential objective for an environment in which the central problem stems from the exponential rise in the number of vehicles on the roads and in our cities today.

Alexandre Torday, consultancy manager at Aimsun, is fully aware of the congestion on a large part of urban and intercity highway networks. A situation that he acknowledges is difficult to resolve, since “not even good traffic management can help much”.

However, Torday believes there is a glimmer of hope, saying that "the capacity of highway networks could be used more efficiently if traffic flows were managed in a more dynamic and anticipatory way”.

This is precisely the area in which Aimsun has specialized for some time, providing solutions based on dynamic traffic simulation. These are tools that use virtual reality to analyze the evolution of vehicle flows over the course of a normal or an exceptional day, and then compare various types of traffic management strategies that could be applied. “It is therefore possible to quantitatively determine which will be the most appropriate for any given time”, says Torday.

Simulations have a certain magical and predictive symbolism and when they are used in a control centre “they predict what will happen to the network over the next 30 to 60 minutes, within a couple of minutes”, explains Aimsum’s consultancy manager.

This prediction makes it possible to weigh up the consequences of closing a specific highway, changing the traffic light phasing in a specific area or regarding recommendations given to drivers to use an alternative route.“And to develop a traffic management system that anticipates rather than reacts, as usually still happens”, adds Torday.

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