This thesis examines three methods of public participation and their potential application to the design of internet-based Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATISs). ATISs have the ability to reduce congestion by providing their users with real-time traffic information that can affect their travel decisions to avoid areas of high traffic. This study first uses a website evaluation method to determine a baseline of ATIS website quality. It then uses three forms of public participation, a survey, a future's workshop, and a feedback website to determine user preferences for Georgia's traveler information website, NaviGAtor. The results of the participation are then analyzed for their strengths and weaknesses and their applicability to ATIS development. The study concludes that the feedback website is the most applicable form of participation for ATIS design, followed by surveys that should be used periodically, and future's workshops that should be used rarely.

Theses (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-92). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Technische Universität München. / "FGV-TUM." Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-135).

This study used focus groups and surveys to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the Regional Traveler Information Center (RTIC) at UMass Amherst. The evaluation was completed by obtaining the awareness, usage, and perceived effectiveness of RTIC’s information by residents in the Pioneer Valley. It was found that awareness of RTIC is limited due to its lack of advertisement. Usage is focused primarily on its webcams and advisory information. Surveys showed that participants perceive RTIC to be useful, even though they may never have seen the information before (the survey provided a chance for them to become familiar with the service). Revealed preference data were collected regarding the travelers' most memorable instances where real-time traffic information was provided. A binary logit model of a traveler's switch decision (route, departure time, mode, destination, trip cancellation, or combinations of them) with real-time traffic information was specified and estimated. It was found that travelers have an increasing tendency to switch away from the original option when the resulting delay caused by congestion increases. Receiving congestion and crash information also provided a tendency to take an alternative travel method. It was found that males tend to switch more often than females, and young individuals switch less often.

<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this essay is to study how the hotel chain Radisson SAS works with prolonged customer relations with their business clients, with other words the clients that have business agreements with them.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study will contain an inductive approach and qualitative methods. The qualitative research method is in the shape of a deep interview with the sales manager of Radisson SAS and qualitative interviews of chosen business clients to the hotel.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results of this investigation show that business clients are controlled by what kind of agreements their company has.</p><p>The companies sign agreements with hotels and hotel chains that are able to satisfy big parts of their needs, if not all of them.</p><p>With the help of flexible solutions, a well known brand, and good relations, Radisson SAS has made sure that their business clients have prolonged their agreements.</p><p>They are a global hotel chain near transports, and business clients feel secure with Radisson SAS.</p>

Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to study how the hotel chain Radisson SAS works with prolonged customer relations with their business clients, with other words the clients that have business agreements with them. Methods: This study will contain an inductive approach and qualitative methods. The qualitative research method is in the shape of a deep interview with the sales manager of Radisson SAS and qualitative interviews of chosen business clients to the hotel. Results: The results of this investigation show that business clients are controlled by what kind of agreements their company has. The companies sign agreements with hotels and hotel chains that are able to satisfy big parts of their needs, if not all of them. With the help of flexible solutions, a well known brand, and good relations, Radisson SAS has made sure that their business clients have prolonged their agreements. They are a global hotel chain near transports, and business clients feel secure with Radisson SAS.

One of the objectives of the U.S. government is to balance the individual’s right to privacy and national security interests. Trusted Traveler programs create a risk-based security model where the traveling public is categorized into low or high risk. There are, however, some privacy concerns related to the acceptance of the use of biometric technology in the adoption of expedited security screening procedures in commercial airports. The theoretical construct of this case study of the TSA Pre-Check Program is based on Ajzen and Fischbein’s theory of reasoned action, specifically through Davis’ technology acceptance model. The purpose of this case study was to explore the perceptions of the traveling public regarding the protection of privacy and the use of biometric technologies. Data for this study included 325 social media postings, 50 privacy complaints reported to the Department of Homeland Security between 2009 and 2014, and publicly available data from the Government Accountability Office about expedited screening for the years 2011 – 2014. Data were coded into a priori themes and then subjected to a content analysis procedure. Findings indicate that the traveling public generally support expedited security screening and consent to waiving certain privacy rights in order to facilitate expedited screening. Complaints from travelers were also primarily related to wait times and secondary screening, and not privacy concerns. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations to the TSA to expand the Trusted Traveler programs such that the primary concern of the traveling public, reduction of wait time is balanced against privacy concerns about the collection of biometric data as part of a measured response to aviation security.

佛斯特(E. M. Forster)在小說《窗外有藍天》(A Room with a View, 1908)裡，將義大利描繪為自由、激情、活力的國度，而英國相較而言卻是嚴謹、傳統且充滿囿限。在空間與文化的刺激與啟發下，主角露西(Lucy)的義大利旅行逐步地改變她的人生觀以及對生活的態度。藉由義大利旅行與城市的互動，以及遇見他者(the other)的經歷，露西慢慢地得以「變成他者」(becoming-other)，突破原有的傳統限制變成遊牧旅行者(nomadic traveler)。本論文擬以空間議題來探究露西在旅行經驗下的「空間變成」(spatial becoming)，以及她逐步成形的遊牧自我(nomadic self)。 本論文第一章為總論性質的介紹。第二章主要藉助德勒茲(Gilles Deleuze)與瓜達希(Félix Guattari)的「遊牧學」(nomadology)和「變成」(becoming)，結合伊斯蘭(Syed Manzurul Islam)從德勒茲理論延伸的旅行理論，來探討義大利與英國的空間如何影響身於其中的主體。本章將英國空間比喻為房間，義大利空間喻為風景，闡述露西如何面對她的文化衝突並發展自我重塑。然而，露西的遊牧轉變不應被視為身分認同議題下的自我追尋，亦非男性與女性之間的二元對立，而是邁向「變成旅行者」(becoming-traveler)的轉變。 第三章運用德瑟鐸(Michel de Certeau)城市行走(walking in the city)的概念，來檢視露西藉由街頭行走(street-walking)的經驗以及她和義大利生活文化的相遇，所逐步產生的自我改變。由於單獨的街頭行走，對維多利亞時代(the Victorian)的女性而言是一項禁忌，從掙扎到漫遊，露西在城市中的行走非但沒有被動地接受城市設計者所塑造出的都市形象，甚至能夠主動地從她的觀察來解讀詮釋城市，於是跨越了維多利亞時代的限制疆界，從依賴轉為獨立，進而遇見他者(encounter the other)。她的行走經驗開拓了自身的視野，而與城市的互動更是重燃她對於自由和自主權的渴望，因而開啟了她的「空間變成」(spatial becoming)。 第四章則著重於分析露西回到英國的生活，如何受到義大利旅行經驗影響而產生具體轉變。筆者援引伊斯蘭(Syed Manzurul Islam)的概念，剖析露西是一個不斷改變的遊牧旅行者(nomadic traveler)，而她的未婚夫賽希爾(Cecil)卻是一個單調不變的靜止旅行者(sedentary traveler)。當露西從旅行經驗中發展出遊牧自我，她與傳統保守的英國空間、賽西爾的衝突也勢將不可避免。義大利顯然觸動她不可逆(irreversible)的變成他者與變成旅行者，露西因此轉而前往義大利繼續其無止盡的旅程。 總括言之，在《窗外有藍天》中，露西與義大利空間的互動驅使她跨越疆界，進行自我轉變。然而，義大利只是帶領她離開嚴謹傳統束縛的旅程序曲。她的遊牧轉變並非一個確切定案的結果，而是不停歇的轉變過程。 / E. M. Forster’s A Room with a View (1908) delineates Italy as liberal, passionate and invigorating, whereas England is portrayed as rigid, conventional and restrictive. Due to spatial and cultural impact, the protagonist, Lucy, changes her view about life by degrees as soon as she travels in Italy. By means of her interactions with the urban space and her encounters with the other in Italy, Lucy gradually enters her becoming-other and breaks through the Victorian confinement into a nomadic traveler. This thesis employs a spatial perspective to investigate spatial becoming embodied on Lucy during her travel, and the formation of her nomadic self. Chapter One is an overall introduction to the whole thesis. As for chapter Two, I focus on Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s nomadology and becoming, and Syed Manzurul Islam’s extension in travel theory to explore how Italian and English spatiality influences the contained subjects. By characterizing England as a room and Italy as a view, this chapter explores how Lucy confronts with her conflicts and develops her reconfigured self. Lucy’s nomadic changes, however, should not be regarded as a self-searching pursuit in terms of identity politics. Instead, her transformation transcends binary opposition between men and women, heading toward her becoming-traveler. Chapter Three utilizes Michel de Certeau’s concept of walking in the city to examine how street-walking and encounters with Italian life and culture lead to the change in Lucy. Since street-walking alone is a forbidden behavior for Victorian women, Lucy’s street-walking goes through certain struggles. Rather than passively receives the built image from urban designers, Lucy is gradually able to read and interpret the city from her observation of the cityscape. From following others’ guidance to gradual independence, Lucy crosses the boundary of Victorian confinement and gets to encounter the other. Her walking experiences significantly open up her view and initiate her spatial becoming. Her interaction with a lived city rekindles her desire for freedom and autonomy. Chapter Four concentrates on the analysis of Lucy’s changes in England as a result of her Italian travel. I apply Syed Manzurul Islam’s idea to claim Lucy as a transformative nomadic traveler in contrast to her fiancé Cecil as a changeless sedentary traveler. I argue that with her formation of nomadic self, the return to English spatiality only leads to ineluctable conflicts between Lucy, her family and Cecil. Lucy accordingly seeks to leave for Italy and continues her endless travel. Italy triggers her irreversible becoming-other and becoming-traveler. Conclusively speaking, in A Room with a View, Lucy’s interaction with the Italian spatiality inspires her to cross the boundary and makes her transformation possible. Yet, Italy is only a prologue to her journey, bringing her out of the rigid convention. Her nomadic change is not a pinpointed result, but a shifting and ceaseless process.

This research develops and evaluates an Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) model using a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication system (referred to as the GATIS-V2V model) with the off-the-shelf microscopic simulation model, VISSIM. The GATIS-V2V model is tested on notional small traffic networks (non-signalized and signalized) and a 6X6 typical urban grid network (signalized traffic network). The GATIS-V2V model consists of three key modules: vehicle communication, on-board travel time database management, and a Dynamic Route Guidance System (DRGS). In addition, the system performance has been enhanced by applying three complementary functions: Autonomous Automatic Incident Detection (AAID), a minimum sample size algorithm, and a simple driver behavior model. To select appropriate parameter ranges for the complementary functions a sensitivity analysis has been conducted. The GATIS-V2V performance has been investigated relative to three underlying system parameters: traffic flow, communication radio range, and penetration ratio of participating vehicles. Lastly, the enhanced GATIS-V2V model is compared with the centralized traffic information system. This research found that the enhanced GATIS-V2V model outperforms the basic model in terms of travel time savings and produces more consistent and robust system output under non-recurrent traffic states (i.e., traffic incident) in the simple traffic network. This research also identified that the traffic incident detection time and driver's route choice rule are the most crucial factors influencing the system performance. As expected, as traffic flow and penetration ratio increase, the system becomes more efficient, with non-participating vehicles also benefiting from the re-routing of participating vehicles. The communication radio ranges considered were found not to significantly influence system operations in the studied traffic network. Finally, it is found that the decentralized GATIS-V2V model has similar performance to the centralized model even under low flow, short radio range, and low penetration ratio cases. This implies that a dynamic infrastructure-based traffic information system could replace a fixed infrastructure-based traffic information system, allowing for considerable savings in fixed costs and ready expansion of the system off of the main network corridors.

Urban transportation networks are inefficient due to sub-optimal use by travelers. One approach to counter the increase in urban transportation demand is to provide better information to travelers, which would allow them to make better use of the network. Existing traveler information systems do this to a certain extent, but are limited by the data available and the scope of their implementation. These systems are vertically integrated and closed so that using any external elements for analysis, user interfacing etc. is difficult. The effects of such traveler information systems are reviewed via a comparative analysis of case studies available in the literature. It is found that information availability has a definite positive effect, but the social and environmental benefits are difficult to quantify. It is also seen that combining data by integrating systems can lead to additional uses for the same data and result on better quality of service and information. In this thesis, a regional platform for multi-modal traveler information is proposed that would support the development of traveler information systems. The architecture incorporates a central processing and storage module, which acts as an information clearinghouse and supports receiving, managing and sending data to and from multiple sources and interfaces. This setup allows sharing of data for analysis or application development, but with access control. The components are loosely coupled to minimize inter-dependencies. Due to this, the source, analysis, user interface and storage components can be developed independently of each other. To better develop the requirements and understand the challenges of the proposed concept, a limited implementation of the system is designed for the midtown Atlanta region, incorporating multiple data sources and user interfaces. The individual elements of the system are described in detail as is the testing and evaluation of the system.