Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2004, Geography and Planning

Growing freight has been a major concern for the transportation planning community. Increasing freight movements by all modes of transportation across the nations has lead to congestion and inadequate infrastructure. There is a rising need for Internet based freight management spatial decision support systems (SDSS) exploiting the latest Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technologies that can assist the transportation planning community in making informed decisions about freight related issues consisting of congestion, demand and capacity. The system being an online or web based system has the advantage of being accessed from anywhere thus making it an easy tool for sharing information across different regions. This can also be utilized for asset management, data dissemination and to model alternative freight management plans and “what if?” scenarios. There is no established framework to date for the development of such systems. A pragmatic approach is taken in this study to design and develop a conceptual framework for an Internet or web based freight management spatial decision support system (SDSS). Different components, features and technology that are required to create such systems were discussed in detail along with a variety of development and implementation strategies. The developed framework was utilized in creating a freight management SDSS for the Upper Midwest Freight Corridor Study currently underway at The University of Toledo encompassing the states in the Midwest. This has given an opportunity to look at the feasibility of implementing such systems and the difficulties faced. The freight management SDSS is currently online and is anticipated to be used by Department of Transportation officials, urban and transportation planners and homeland security officials in making informed decisions. Thus, the conceptual framework developed in this study can be used as the rudimentary framework for creating a robust freight manageme (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Peter Lindquist (Advisor) Subjects: