ECOGIS Geomatics - Traffic

Concerning the topic of inner-city traffic there are as many opinions as disputants. To solve problems in this field, it is inevitable to find an independent consultant and surveyor. Often, like in the case of the Old Town of Dinkelsbühl, you find out that a precise analysis of the situation can uncover misinterpretations of the real situation by citizens and politicians. Concerning the traffic in the Old Town of Dinkelsbühl the public discussion made the following assumptions for quite a long time:

1. "The main artery roads are less densely inhabitated than the peripheral regions of the Old Town"
2. "There are too few parking lots in the Old Town"

Both assumptions proved to be wrong. It was discovered that the main artery roads are the most desely inhabitated streets, whereas the peripheral regions are rarely drivenand inhabitated. Further it appears that 73% of the whole duration of stay is called on by cars that stay over 75 min in the Old Town (though there is a maximum parking time of 1 h!).

The example of Dinkelsbühl shows, how important it is to have a good analysis of the situation, in order to find the right options for actions. Just imagine, the picturesque Old Town of Dinkelsbühl would be permanently reduced to a mere shortcut...

You can find the wohle work "Altstadtambiente und Individualverkehr" (German language) here.


Img. 1: Inhabitants per 10m road length (source: Dinkelsbühl registration office, own illustration)

Img. 2: Cars between 8 am and 6 pm at selected positions in the Old Town of Dinkelsbühl (own survey and illustration).


Img. 3: The parking time multiplied with the number of cars results in a sum of hours for each "typical" duration of stay. The illustration shows the relative parts of these sums of hours and thereby shows, which durations of stay are dominating (own survey and illustration).