Gridlock buster traffic control game

View more information regarding Intelligent Transportation Systems. Gridlock Buster is an online traffic control game based on tools and methods that actual traffic control engineers use in their everyday work. It's a great opportunity to gain a better understanding of what is involved in traffic management for Saint Paul. As of August 1, , Minnesota cities have the authority to set speed limits on streets they own.

Any speed limit change must be based on a safety, engineering and traffic analysis. County and state roads are not included in this authority. Slower speeds on our streets make travel safer for everyone no matter how they get around.

Lower traffic speeds reduce the likelihood of a crash and make a crash less likely to lead to death or a life-changing injury. In early , Minneapolis and Saint Paul Public Works each completed detailed technical analysis and studies to determine appropriate speed limits for their respective city-owned streets. The site also features a brief animated video titled Careers in Civil Engineering.

In , the Transportation Research Board produced a video, Your future in transportation , to "help excite and attract people to the industry. Skip to main content. In RingRide players swipe the screen to avoid obstacles including other bikes, pedestrians and fixed objects.

They also need to stop at traffic signals and avoid opening car doors. The link takes players to a website with information about local events, activities and projects. Importantly, the opening car door obstacle in Grr-Grr-Bike could help teach car users to look back before opening their door, in addition to reminding bikers to watch for opening doors. Games are a great way to get people moving.

For example, most activity tracking apps use gamification to encourage people to exercise more often. But, what if cities could use games or apps that help improve public health by encouraging walking or cycling?

So far over a half-million people have played. Walk-a-Stop is one of our project ideas for developing an app that public transport agencies can use to help manage demand. For example, if a particular metro station is too crowded, the app would send push notifications to users suggesting that they get off a stop early, and then walk or use a shared bike to finish their trip.

The app would give incentives free coffee at a cafe along the walk route, or points for walking to users who took the walk. Transport agencies would benefit by reducing demand at congested points. More information about the Brand New Subway project.

Mini Metro developed by the Dinosaur Polo Club. Transport expert Jarrett Walker describes how Mini Metro is similar to and differs from real world network planning in his blog Human Transit. Mini Metro is older and has many more simplifications including a schematic city , Brand New Subway is based on New York and uses real data from the city to help describe results. These are great projects and it will be fascinating to see how network planning games continue to evolve. City planning games are games where players design cities including transport systems and see how they perform over time.

The most well known planning game is SimCity. The latest version of SimCity was released in March It provides a very detailed level of simulation and allows players to compete against each other. SimCity, and other planning games, can also be considered to be educational games.

For example when Co. Exist organised a SimCity competition between six teams of urban planners none of the teams were able to create a truly sustainable city. In short, these types of planning games can help educate players about general concepts, but not detailed real world transport planning and operations.

Richard Moss has written an excellent history of city planning building games in Ars Technica. Lots of lessons for taking city games further. Scenario and role play games are games where players assume roles and then react to different scenarios. It is a board game for seven players representing government, businesses, NGOs and a public voice. The game has been tested successfully in World without oil is a scenario game designed to help players understand what would happen during an oil crisis.

The game provided information to players via various Internet media e. The interesting aspect of scenario games is that players can get very involved in their roles and often make changes to their real world behaviour. For example, world without oil players reduced their oil consumption both during the game and afterwards. While this example is only partly related to transportation, it illustrates how scenario games work and indicates how they might be used to help a transportation agency educate people or influence behaviour change.

They present a method for analysing participation and results of alternative reality games ARG , apply the method to World Without Oil, and develop recommendations for improving ARGs. Must reading if you are considering ARGs. Simulator games are games where players control vehicles. There are simulator games for many different modes. There are many bus and train simulators. An example is Bus Simulator Ideas include educating people about the difficulties of driving, e.

Both ideas illustrate how real games often blend several different game types. Play the City — is a great organisation from The Netherlands doing work on how to apply games in the city planning process.

Excellent resources and ideas on their website. Games for Change is a great resource for learning about using and developing serious games.