Helsinki Region Travel Time Matrix- an open data set for travel times for the capital region of Finland-

Henrikki Tenkanen,

Vuokko Heikinheimo,

Maria Salonen &

Tuuli Toivonen

Accessibility Research Group

University of Helsinki

• What is Helsinki Region Travel Time Matrix?

• Who can use the Matrix?

• How to cite the data?

• How did we estimate the travel times and

distances?

• Walking

• Public transportation

• Private car

• Why the Matrix was created?

• Related publications

Contents of this presentation:

• Helsinki Region Travel Time Matrix contains travel

time and distance information for routes between

all 250 m x 250 m grid cell centroids (n = 13 231) in

the Capital Region of Helsinki by walking, public

transportation and car.

• The data set has been published so far twice, to

represent the situation

• April 2013

• September 2015

In the Helsinki region.

What is Helsinki Region Travel

Time Matrix (#1)?

• Helsinki Region Travel Time Matrix is a spatial data

set that can be used (for example) to:

• Understand the travel distances and times between

different parts of the city region

• Compare the times and distances with different

modes of transportation

• Understand how the travel times and distances have

changed over time

• There has been an attempt to make measures

comparable across different times and modes of

transportation

What is Helsinki Region Travel

Time Matrix (#2)?

• The matrix can be used by anyone.

• The Matrix and its extracts are licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

License. So, when you use the data, you must

cite it.

• The matrix should be used with thought. We do

not take any responsibility for any mistakes, errors or

other deficiencies in the data.

Who can use the Matrix?

• Data/Tools description:

Toivonen, T., M. Salonen, H. Tenkanen, P. Saarsalmi,

T. Jaakkola & J. Järvi (2014). Joukkoliikenteellä,

autolla ja kävellen: Avoin saavutettavuusaineisto

pääkaupunkiseudulla. Terra 126: 3, 127-136.

• DOI name for the 2015 matrix:

Toivonen, T., H. Tenkanen, V. Heikinheimo, T.

Jaakkola, J. Järvi & M. Salonen (2015). Helsinki

Region-Travel Time Matrix 2015. DOI:

10.13140/RG.2.1.1901.3201

How to cite the data?

• We calculated the door-to-door distances and travel

times by walking, public transporation and private

car

• We used the center points of 250 m statistical grid

squares as origins and destinations

• Each transportation mode was calculated separately,

as explained in the the following slides

How did we estimate the travel

times and distances?

Comparable measures from

door to door -approach

P P Private car

Public transport

Walking / cycling

All measures are estimated from door to door, making them more

comparable.

• Walking

• routes were estimated using the walkable roads in

Open Street Map

• Walking speed was set to 70 m / minute, which is the

standard also in Reittiopas

How did we estimate the times

and distances (walking)?

• Routing and time estimates were derived using the

Reititin tool developed in the Accessibility Research

Group

• Public transportation routes and schedules were

derived from Kalkati data provided by Helsinki

Region Traffic (HSL) for Monday 28.9.2015

• Walking to and between the bus/tram stops was

based on walkable routes in Open Street Map data

• Travel routes and times were calculated for two

times of the day: rush hour and mid day

• The presented distances and times are averages for

10 runs within the selected hour

How did we estimate the times

and distances (Public Transportation)?

• The routing is based on DigiRoad data

• We combined speed limits and deceleration /

impedance values for crossings (based on

empirical floating car data)

• We included parking time based on literature

surveys

• For more (in Finnish), see

• The next slide about parking times

• Our Data Description article in Terra

• The MSC thesis of Timo Jaakkola

How did we estimate the times

and distances (Private car)?

How did we estimate parking

times?

P P

1. Walking (origin to car)- Downtown 180 m

- Elsewhere135 m- (Kurri & Laakso, 2002)

3. Walking (parking to destination)- Downtown180 m

- Elsewhere135 m

- (Kurri & Laakso, 2002)

2. Finding a parking place- Downtown 0.73 min

- Elsewhere 0.22 min- (Kalenoja & Häyrynen, 2003)

• Most travel time –based accessibility measures were

either overly simplistic (travel time by private car

using speed limits) or too complex (travel time

estimates by traffic planning software)

• Accessibility Research Group has developed tools to

calculate robust, transparent and comparable travel

time measures for the Helsinki region

(see http://blogs.helsinki.fi/accessibility/tools/)

• The measures have a direct impact on the

conclusions that can be drawn

(see the next two slides)

Why the Matrix was created #1?

Travel time to central railway station (using speed limits)

20 minutes

Travel time to central railway station (using realistic model)

20 minutes

• Calculating travel distances and travel times between

all statistical grid squares in the Helsinki region

requires at minimum

169 million routing operations

per transport mode at any given time.

In total this means that more than

1.2 billion routings are needed for the Matrix.

• There is no point to duplicate the effort.

Why the Matrix was created #2?

We have published several methodological and applied

journal articles using the matrix.

See the updating list of publications at:

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/accessibility/publications/

Related publications by the

Accessibility Research Group

Thank you!

http://blogs.helsinki.fi/accessibility/