1. MARS Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator
Institute for Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering
Vienna University of Technology

2. CONTENTS 1. Decision making process in land use and transport planning
2. Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator - MARS
VBA vs. Vensim®
MARS – MARS FS – Decision Makers Tool
5. Conclusions

3. DECISION MAKING PROCESS in land use and transportation planning
Identification of objectives / setting targets
Indicators
Model output
Assessment and Appraisal
Policy instruments
Identification of possible instruments (strategies)
Assessment and Appraisal
Can the objectives/targets be met?
Model environment no
yes
Implementation of strategy

4. MARS – LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION MODEL
MARS (Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator) is an integrated strategic and dynamic land-use and transport (LUTI) model.
The basic underlying hypothesis of MARS is that settlements and activities within them are self-organizing systems.
The development of MARS started in the year 2000.

5. VBA vs. VENSIM®
Vensim® is a system dynamics visual modelling tool that allows to
conceptualize,
document,
simulate,
analyze,
optimize and
thoroughly explore the behaviour of the model.

6. MARS – MARS FS MARS Flight simulator Model View
SW developer environment
Data
qualitative model
description
quantitative model
Code 4 3 2 1
TOUR MARS FS CLICK
TOUR MODEL CLICK

7. MARS Output GIS (1)

8. MARS Output GIS (2) – example for future use
AniMap interactive
displays animated spatio-temporal information with open-source software and open standards (Web server, PHP, MySQL, Internet Explorer, XML_SVG).
„Darstellung von Zeitreihen räumlicher Daten mittels WebMapping“, CORP 2004, Hocevar, Lunak, Riedl; TU Vienna, Department of Spatial Development, Infrastructure & Environmental Planning

9. Observations Conclusions
MARS FS as a decision support tool has been used in 2 workshops in Thailand:
It was found easy to navigate
Causes-tree tool was found extremely useful to understand the behaviour of the model
Possibility to work interactively with the model and test each policy instrument individually
Explore synergetic effects of policy combinations
Outputs as graphs or tables, and exporting function
Minor criticism was the list of pre-prepared indicators
Conclusions
MARS is designed to be used by experts to explore the interactions of land use and transport.
MARS FS is a graphical user interface for an easy access to the MARS model.

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