Automatic mode detection in transportation using GPS data from mobile devices and neuro –fuzzy system

Cognition of travel mode and travel demand is of prime importance to transportation communities and agencies in every country. If the precise transportation modes of individual users are recognized, a more realistic travel demand can be considered. Also, in location-based service, the knowledge of a traveler’s transportation mode is applied to send targeted and customized informative advertisements. This study examines the feasibility of using a neuro-fuzzy inference system to automatically detect the mode of transportation from GPS data collected by GPS-enabled mobile phones. To achieve this, the knowledge was extracted in the form of fuzzy rules from the data and, then, the rules are being used for determination of transportation’s mode. For this purpose, the model was examined in two cases. In the first case, all GPS data from mobile devices were used, while in the second case the critical point algorithm was exercised. In addition to reducing the size of required GPS datasets, the critical point algorithm decreases data collection cost and saving mobile phone resources such as its battery life. The results showed that the suggested model have the capability of detecting a transportation mode with 94/1 percent accuracy in case of using all GPS data and 95.5 percent accuracy in case of using critical points.