PTV xTerritory 1.20.1 Blog Series

xTerritory-Server-Icon_Puzzleteil-grau_64pThe PTV xTerritory Server allows you to plan and change territories and territory centers based on locations such as, for example, customer addresses, or based on smaller administrative area units such as postcode areas. Common use cases are in the management of sales representatives, the planning of warehouse locations and their delivery areas and in delivery planning.

Moreover the PTV xTerritory Server is one of the newbies in our PTV xServer family and was presented in the PTV Server 1.20 Release but nevertheless the 1.20.1 Release already includes three new features of the PTV xTerritory Server which you will discover in the following Blog Series.

#1 Tour Estimator

On our first post we will present you the tour estimator that provides a quick way to estimate the route travel times within a territory without using PTV xTour Server.

#2 Activity limits for territory planning

There we will explain how it is possible to set activity limits for territories to limit the total numer of activities within a single territory.

#3 Consider incompatibilities of locations and territories

Last but not least you will get to know how incompatibilites of locations and territories can be considered in the PTV xTerritory.

1.20.1

If you want to see how these features are included in the PTV xTerritory Server you can join the Webinar on 15th of September additionally to this blog series. There we will present all new features of the PTV xServer 1.20.1 Release including these three.

 

How to use Feature Layer PTV Traffic Incidents

PTV_TrafficIncidentsTogether with our PTV xServer Release 1.20, the new Feature Layer “PTV Traffic Incidents” was released. Didn’t try it yet? Here is all you need to know to get started.

What is it?

TI_scale_150Feature Layer add additional routing network and rendering attributes to a map. The Feature Layer PTV Traffic Incidents provides actual traffic information to consider incidents like traffic jams in the route planning. The information is provided as dynamic Feature Layer and can be automatically downloaded from the PTV Layer Delivery Server with the PTV Content Update Service plugin.

What do I need to use it?

  • PTV xServer 1.20
  • Installed and configured PTV Content Update Service
  • License: Each Feature Layer theme must be licensed separately and for each PTV xServer

Where can I get it?

The PTV Content Update Service can be downloaded from the customer area of the PTV Developer Zone (login is required). If you have installed and configured the service properly the traffic information data is automatically downloaded in your defined folder. Please contact your sales representative in order to get the corresponding license keys.

Where can I find information?

In the online manual of PTV xServer you can find documentation How to use Feature Layer PTV Traffic Incidents 

TI_scale_1000Just want to have a look?

Visit our Feature Layer Lab: http://ptv-logistics.github.io/fl-labs/

If you need further information or support please contact the Support Team.

Blog Series Emissions #summary

Emissionsberechnung_80x80Our Emission Wednesdays have come to an end. How did you like our blog series? Got an idea of emissions and their calculation with PTV xServer?

If you are interested in further information, we collected all important links for you:

Webinar

On the 15th of September, there will be a Webinar about the new PTV xServer Release 1.20.1. There, we will also present the new emission calculation with COPERT Australia and UK DEFRA. Interested? Register now.

Any other information needed? Don’t hesitate to contact our Support Team.

Blog Series Emissions #3b Carbon Reporting

Emissionsberechnung_80x80In our last post you learned about carbon reporting with PTV xRoute and comprehensive approaches. Today, we focus on factor-based approaches and their calculation with PTV xRoute.

Factor-based approaches contain emission factors but no consumption values. Consumption values are chosen by the user and can be based on own average fuel consumption or different recommended consumption default values. See our post about emission standards for details. CEN and UK DEFRA are examples for this type of calculation approach.

What you need to have

  • PTV xRoute Server
  • PTV Map including the area where emissions are calculated
  • In case of calculation according to factor-based data approaches there is no specific data or license needed.

What you need to do

You need to send a PTV xRoute request for either the method calculateExtendedRoute or calculateAdvancedTour. The route must at least contain two waypoints and you have to specify the data standard type you want to use e.g. CEN_2012. Additionally, you set the consumption of your fleet or the expected consumption for the route as average or the current measured value. This is described in the proceeding sample request. As a result you receive the values for the available greenhouse gases supported by the standard.

Sample Request

In the PTV xRoute request you specify at least two waypoints and your vehicle routing profile. Set the cenVersion attribute in the ResultListOptions element according to the emission standard you want to use. Don’t be confused about the naming. Here, you can also choose other emission standards than CEN although it is called ‘cenVersion’. All comprehensive approaches will be set via this cenVersion even if they are not CEN. If you want to use CEN 2012, as done in this sample, set the cenVersion to CEN_2012.

...  
"details": {
    "cenEmissionConfiguration": {
      "$type": "CENEmissionConfiguration",
      "fleetSpecificAverageFuelConsumption": "8.7",
      "cenVersion": "CEN_2012"
    },
    "emissions": {
    "$type": "EmissionType",
    "emissionLevel": "BASIC"
    }
  }
}

The fuel consumption is also specified in the request within the “cenEmissionConfiguration”. There are three types of consumptions available which can be set in the request:CENEmissionConfig

In this example the fleet specific average fuel consumption of 8.7 l/100km is used.

The granularity of the emission information returned is handled the same like for comprehensive approaches. There are three emission levels available:

  • BASIC, if you only need the total emissions of the route
  • STATIONS, if you want to obtain the emission per part of the route
  • SEGMENTS, if you additionally want to obtain the emissions per Segment

In the sample request, the level BASIC is used. Therefore, the response contains the total emissions summed up for the entire route.

Sample Response

The listed values in the response depend on the emission standard. Have a look at the documentation for CENEmissions2011, CENEmission2012, CO2DecreeFrance2011, AustraliaNGA2011 or UKDEFRA2014 for detailed information.

The response of the sample request contains several sections:

  • The first general section “Emissions” with the values of the greenhouse gases
  • The second section “vehicleSpecific”: The emissions based on the vehicle specific fuel consumption. The fuel consumption of the vehicle is set by request or in the vehicle Profile.
  • The third section “fleetSpecific”: The emissions based on a fleet specific fuel consumption.
  • The fourth section “basedOnHBEFA”: The emissions based on the fuel consumption as it was calculated by HBEFA 3.1 or higher. The values based on HBEFA 2.1 will not be correct. If you do not want to calculate emissions based on HBEFA, use HBEFAVersion NO_HBEFA.

If you would have provided other consumption values for the route or the actual fuel consumption in the request, there would also be sections for their values in the response:

...
"emissions": {
      "$type": "Emissions",
      "hydrocarbons": 0.26766972687899987,f
      "methane": 0.02248425285899999,
      "hydrocarbonsExMethane": 0.24518547402000002,
      "carbonMonoxide": 15.616740881359998,
      "carbonDioxide": 4.230746730810099,
      "sulphurDioxide": 0.186552613168,
      "nitrogenOxides": 0.8886238383990003,
      "nitrousOxide": 0.053431981629999965,
      "ammonia": 0.5341401447849998,
      "benzene": 0.03460969095000001,
      "toluene": 0.02489327998599999,
      "xylene": 0.020610580044,
      "lead": 0,
      "particles": 0,
      "fuel": 1.3325186338024397
    },
    "cenEmissions": {
      "vehicleSpecific": {
        "$type": "CENEmissions2012",
        "energyUseTank2Wheel": 66.26502399999997,
        "energyUseWell2Wheel": 77.58358399999999,
        "energyUseWell2Tank": 11.31856000000002,
        "co2eTank2Wheel": 4.9801664,
        "co2eWell2Wheel": 5.926809600000004,
        "co2eWell2Tank": 0.9466432000000041,
        "fuelConsumption": 1.5331504000000014
      },
      "fleetSpecific": {
        "$type": "CENEmissions2012",
        "energyUseTank2Wheel": 72.06321359999998,
        "energyUseWell2Wheel": 84.37214759999998,
        "energyUseWell2Tank": 12.308933999999994,
        "co2eTank2Wheel": 5.415930960000001,
        "co2eWell2Wheel": 6.445405439999999,
        "co2eWell2Tank": 1.029474479999998,
        "fuelConsumption": 1.6673010599999993
      },
      "basedOnHBEFA": {
        "$type": "CENEmissions2012",
        "energyUseTank2Wheel": 42.89876173256145,
        "energyUseWell2Wheel": 50.226189978806374,
        "energyUseWell2Tank": 7.327428246244928,
        "co2eTank2Wheel": 3.224068428347786,
        "co2eWell2Wheel": 3.836907881670089,
        "co2eWell2Tank": 0.6128394533223032,
        "fuelConsumption": 0.9925334624459093
      },
      ...

In our PTV xServer Codesample Browser you can find some examples for emission calculation according to Factor-based ApproachesThere, the result is visualized like this:

EmissionCalcCodeSampleBrowser_CENinput

EmissionCalcCodeSampleBrowser_CENoutput

Conclusion

  • PTV xRoute Server allows calculating emissions for the methods calculateExtendedRoute or calculateAdvancedTour
  • For factor-based approaches no additional data and licensing is required
  • In the request you specify route, vehicle type and emission standard type and for factor-based approaches the fuel consumption
  • As a response you receive the values for the available greenhouse gases supported by the standard as provided in the request for the given consumption value type: fleet, route or actual consumption specific.

An use case documentation can be found here. Please remember that UK DEFRA is only available with the new PTV xServer 1.20.1 release, which has just been released yesterday. With this, the use case description will be updated containing the UK DEFRA information and other improvements. Just take another look on the use case docu right now.

Further links:

BlogSeriesThis was the last post of our “Emission Wednesday Series”. We hope you did get an impression of emission calculation with PTV xRoute. A short summary of all topics will follow next week.

Blog Series Emissions #3a Carbon Reporting

Emissionsberechnung_80x80After presenting the different Carbon Calculation standards and approaches in our last post, we will now see how to generate specific Carbon Reports with the PTV xRoute Server. This topic is divided into two parts. In this post the carbon reporting is shown for the comprehensive approach. Next Wednesday in our next post (#3b), we show the calculation with factor-based approaches.

Just as reminder, comprehensive emission calculation approaches include both, consumption default values and emission factors. PTV xRoute Server supports two comprehensive approaches: HBEFA and COPERT Australia.

What you need to have

  • PTV xRoute Server
  • PTV Map including the area where emissions are calculated
  • PTV xServer License for emission calculation (can be obtained via sales representatives)
  • Additional data content (can be obtained via sales representatives)
  • Height data (should be included in map)

What you need to do

You need to send a PTV xRoute request for either the method calculateExtendedRoute or calculateAdvancedTour. The route must at least contain two waypoints and you have to specify the data standard type you want to use e.g. HBEFA_3_2. As a result you receive the values for the available greenhouse gases supported by the standard.

Sample Request

In the PTV xRoute request you specify at least two waypoints and your vehicle routing profile. In this sample request the method calculateExtendedRoute is used to illustrate the workflow.

Set the hbefaType attribute in the ResultListOptions element according to the emission standard you want to use. Don’t be confused about the naming. Here, you can also choose COPERT although it is called ‘HBEFAType’. All comprehensive approaches will be set via this HBEFAType even if they are not HBEFA. Just use the following HBEFAType for COPERT Australia: COPERT_AUS_1_2. If you want to use HBEFA Version 3.2, as done in this sample, set the HBEFAType to HBEFA_3_2.

...
  "details": {
    "hbefaType": {
      "$type": "HBEFAType",
      "version": "HBEFA_3_2"
    },
...

Then, set the granularity of the emission information returned in the response with the emissions element in the ResultListOptions . Possible levels are:

  • BASIC, if you only need the total emissions of the route
  • STATIONS, if you want to obtain the emission per part of the route
  • SEGMENTS, if you additionally want to obtain the emissions per segment.
...
    "emissions": {
      "$type": "EmissionType",
      "emissionLevel": "STATIONS"
    }
  }
}

Sample Response

Depending on the configuration of the emissionType defined in in the request, the total emissions can be found in the emissions element at the route, stations, or segments. As emissionType ‘stations’ was chosen in the sample request, the result can be found in the ‘stations’ part of the response. As shown in the following code snippet on the first station, which is the starting point, there was no emission caused. At the second station, which is the destination, there are the total emission values available like for example a carbon monoxide value of 2.11.

"stations": [
 {
 "$type": "WayPoint",
...
 }
 },
 "matchCoord": {
...
 }
 },
 "wayPointType": "START",
 "countryCode": "",
 "emissions": {
 "$type": "EmissionsHBEFA32",
 "hydrocarbons": 0,
 "methane": 0,
 "hydrocarbonsExMethane": 0,
 "carbonMonoxide": 0,
 "carbonDioxide": 0,
 "sulphurDioxide": 0,
 "nitrogenOxides": 0,
 "nitrousOxide": 0,
 "ammonia": 0,
 "benzene": 0,
 "toluene": 0,
 "xylene": 0,
 "lead": 0,
 "particles": 0,
 "fuel": 0,
 "nitrogenDioxide": 0,
 "fossilCarbonDioxide": 0,
 "particleNumber": 0
 },
 "cenEmissions": {}
 },
 {
 "$type": "WayPoint",
...
 }
 },
 "matchCoord": {
...
 }
 },
 "wayPointType": "DEST",
 "countryCode": "",
 "emissions": {
 "$type": "EmissionsHBEFA32",
 "hydrocarbons": 0.0603818366050992,
 "methane": 0.005072089236725982,
 "hydrocarbonsExMethane": 0.05530971621159914,
 "carbonMonoxide": 2.1107392738620776,
 "carbonDioxide": 0.8928940383413909,
 "sulphurDioxide": 0.004286388382447229,
 "nitrogenOxides": 0.2833865763444304,
 "nitrousOxide": 0.0025272859038527355,
 "ammonia": 0.07925412943867832,
 "benzene": 0.00780739623326566,
 "toluene": 0,
 "xylene": 0,
 "lead": 0,
 "particles": 0.006720581536712771,
 "fuel": 0.2848059641170425,
 "nitrogenDioxide": 0.014169325941225244,
 "fossilCarbonDioxide": 0.8398899786980175,
 "particleNumber": 2941965707152.8
 },
...

In our PTV xServer Codesample Browser you can find some examples for emission calculation according to Comprehensive ApproachesThere, the result is visualized like this:EmissionCalcCodeSampleBrowser_HBEFA

Conclusion

  • PTV xRoute Server allows calculating emissions for the methods calculateExtendedRoute or calculateAdvancedTour
  • For comprehensive approaches additional data and license keys are required
  • In the request you specify route, vehicle type and emission standard type
  • As a response you receive the values for the available greenhouse gases supported by the standard. HBEFA offers a wide range of gases.

An use case documentation can be found here. Please remember that COPERT Australia is only available with the new PTV xServer 1.20.1 release, which will be available next week. Then, the use case description will be updated containing the COPERT Australia information and other improvements. Just take another look on the use case docu next week.

BlogSeriesAfter getting to know how comprehensive approaches can be used with PTV xRoute, you will learn about the usage of factor-based standards in our next ‘Emission Wednesday’ post.

Blog Series Emissions #2 Carbon Calculation

Emissionsberechnung_80x80In our last post we emphasized the importance of carbon reduction. Now, we dive into carbon calculation and go further into details of emission data standards and approaches. The described possibilities of emission calculation are available with PTV xServer.

Emission calculation

For calculating emissions two main influencing factors are important:

  • Vehicle-specific factors as for example vehicle type, fuel type, fuel consumption
  • Route- specific factors like heights, distance, speed, network level etc.

These factors can be different from area to area; country to country or continent to continent. Therefore, area-specific data standards have been developed by various institutes and governments to provide the most suitable factor set.

Emission data standards

Emission data standards include a set of influencing factors and parameters: reference data, default values for consumption, emission factors, vehicle types etc. National characteristics and standards play an important role. Different road and vehicle types as well as regional landscape differences lead to continental/country specific emission factors and consumption values. The data standards vary a lot, support different vehicle types, contain more or less factors and offer different result sets. If you want to meet national requirements you have to chose a suitable data standard. PTV xServer provides the following data sets:

Europe:

  • HBEFA 3.2 (Europe): The Handbook of Emission Factors for Road Transport (HBEFA) was originally developed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agencies of Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the meantime, further countries (Sweden, Norway, France) as well as the JRC (European Research Center of the European Commission) are supporting HBEFA.
  • CEN 2011/2012 (Europe): The CEN standard EN 16258 is a European standard specifying general principles, definition, calculation methods and data recommendations, with the objective to promote standardized, accurate, credible and verifiable declarations, regarding energy consumption and emissions related to any transport service.
  • CO2 Decree France 2011 (France):  Since 2013, all commercial transports (trucks, taxis, ships, trains, etc.) starting or ending in France have to report their CO2 emissions. In other words: a company carrying out a transport from or to France has to report their emissions.
  • UK DEFRA 2014 (UK): Government conversion factors for greenhouse gas reporting. These factors are suitable for use by UK based organisations of all sizes, and for international organisations reporting on UK operations.

Australia:

  • Australia NGA 2011: Emission calculation for transports in Australia have to be in accordance with the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) factors published by the Australian government.
  • COPERT Australia 1.2: COPERT Australia is designed to be used for road transport emission inventories across Australia. It is the result of a joint effort of EMISIA and the Queensland Department of Science.
Emission calculation with UK DEFRA 2014 and COPERT Australia 1.2 will be available with the new PTV xServer 1.20.1 release in August this year. Further information will follow in our webinar about the release on 15th of September, 2:00 pm. Details about the webinar will follow in this blog.

Emission calculation approaches

As described above, vehicle- and route-specifics are needed for emission calculation. One important vehicle factor is the fuel consumption. It is treated different in different data standards. This is shown later. All other specifics are reflected in factors provided by the data standard.

In simple terms, emissions are calculated by multiplying fuel consumption values with emission factors. Depending on the chosen emission data standard for determining the emissions, consumption and factors are both included in the data or are provided separately. Two basic approaches are distinguished according to this difference: Comprehensive Approach and Factor-based Approach

BlogSeries_n

The Comprehensive Approach includes both, consumption default values and emission factors. Therefore, no own average fuel consumption values have to be determined for calculation. Additional, it also takes height data into account. HBEFA and COPERT Australia are standards of the comprehensive approach.

The Factor-based Approach provides emission factors. Consumption values are chosen by the user and can be based on own average fuel consumption or different recommended consumption default values provided for example in the PTV xServer manual. Australia NGA 2011, CEN 2011/2012, CO2 Decree France 2011 and UK DEFRA 2014 are standards of the factor-based approach.

Conclusion

  • There are different emission data standards available providing the data basis for calculating emissions for specific areas and countries. Depending on your activities, your fleet and legal requirements you have to choose a suitable data standard.
  • PTV xServer supports various data standards for Europe and Australia.
  • The data standards can be factor-based or comprehensive. In the case of factor-based approaches you have to determine your own consumption values (or use default values proposed by different institutes) whereas comprehensive approaches already include default consumption values.
  • PTV xServer allow the calculation of both approaches.

BlogSeriesGot an overview of the calculation approaches and want to get started calculating? Don’t miss our third emissions post next Wednesday about generating reports.Get to know the possibilities of Carbon Reporting with PTV xServer.