Situational-aware multi-graph convolutional recurrent network (SA-MGCRN) for travel demand forecasting during wildfires

Xiaojian Zhang, Xilei Zhao, Yiming Xu, Daniel Nilsson and Ruggiero Lovreglio

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2024, vol. 190, issue C

Abstract: Natural hazards, such as wildfires, pose a significant threat to communities worldwide. Real-time forecasting of travel demand during wildfire evacuations is crucial for emergency managers and transportation planners to make timely and better-informed decisions. However, few studies focus on accurate travel demand forecasting in large-scale emergency evacuations. To tackle this research gap, the study develops a new methodological framework for modeling highly granular spatiotemporal trip generation in wildfire evacuations by using (a) large-scale GPS data generated by mobile devices and (b) state-of-the-art AI technologies. Based on the travel demand inferred from the GPS data, we develop a new deep learning model, i.e., Situational-Aware Multi-Graph Convolutional Recurrent Network (SA-MGCRN), along with a model updating scheme to achieve real-time forecasting of travel demand during wildfire evacuations. The proposed methodological framework is tested using a real-world case study: the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, CA. The results show that SA-MGCRN significantly outperforms all the selected state-of-the-art benchmarks in terms of prediction performance. Our finding suggests that the most important model components of SA-MGCRN are weekend indicator, population change, evacuation order/warning information, and proximity to fire, which are consistent with behavioral theories and empirical findings. SA-MGCRN can be directly used in future wildfire events to assist real-time decision-making and emergency management.

Keywords: AI; Wildfire evacuation; GPS data; Travel demand forecasting; Real-time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856424002908
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:190:y:2024:i:c:s0965856424002908

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2024.104242

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().