Australian Transport Research Cloud (ATRC)

Informing smarter transport planning and policy making.

By providing transport researchers with streamlined access to the key datasets and open source analysis and modelling tools necessary to address complex transport issues facing our cities, the new Australian Transport Research Cloud (ATRC) will deliver the requisite knowledge base to inform smarter transport management, planning and policy making.

A collaboration between Australian transport researchers, planners and policy makers (from government, industry and private sector), the iMOVE Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). This project will provide a common platform comprising data, tools, storage, compute to support the needs of the Australian transport research community, by extending the existing AURIN platform.

Start date 10 March 2020

Expected completion date 30 March 2023

Investment by ARDC $1,482,000

Co-investment partners

AURIN

The University of Melbourne

The University of Queensland

University of Western Australia

HERE Technologies

ETH-Zurich

Lead node

1 High-quality FAIR datasets

Integrated access to curated reference datasets including: ABS Census and Journey to Work datasets; state/territory household travel surveys; national road network datasets, together with high value real time traffic and public transport data; public transport timetable data; de-identified smart travel card datasets and people flow data.

2 Transport network analysis tools

Federated access to open source, sustainable transport network analysis tools that have been developed by the transport research community (Open Trip Planner (OTP) and gtfspy), transport accessibility tools (Automatic Dynamic Accessibility Planning Tool (ADAPT)), urban mobility simulation (SUMO) and transport network modelling tools (MATSim).

3 Mapping and visualisation interface

Enabling researchers to analyse and explore spatio-temporal patterns in traffic and people flows, for different modes of transport.

4 Scenario modelling tools

To enable more informed decision making by allowing researchers to analyse and model the impact of potential policy changes and planning decisions on transport and travel behaviour.

Core features

Research transformation

Accelerate transport research in Australia by delivering the data, integration and management frameworks, models and tools to support Australia’s understanding, development and adoption of increasingly sophisticated transport networks and services.

Research translation

Assist all levels of government to enhance their planning of, and investment in transport infrastructure and services to: make public transport more effective and efficient; reduce road congestion, commute times, and vehicle emissions; improve national productivity and international competitiveness; reduce air pollution, noise pollution and heat islands; and improve population health and well-being.

Who is this project for?

Researchers
Planners
Policy makers

What does this project enable?

The ATRC will provide a new capability for Australian transport researchers to collaborate and apply an array of analysis and modelling tools to an unprecedented curated collection of FAIR high-value datasets, informing planning of and investment in transport infrastructure and services.