A GIS approach towards estimating tourist's off-road use in a mountainous protected area of Northwest Yunnan, China

To address the environmental impacts of tourism in protected areas, park managers need to understand the spatial distribution of tourist use. Standard monitoring measures (tourist surveys and counting and tracking techniques) are not sufficient to accomplish this task, in particular for off-road travel. This article predicts tourists' spatial use patterns through an alternative approach: park accessibility measurement. Naismith's rule and geographical information system's anisotropic cost analysis are integrated into the modeling process, which results in a more realistic measure of off-road accessibility than that provided by other measures. The method is applied to a mountainous United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in northwest Yunnan Province, China, where there is increasing concern about potential impacts of unregulated tourist use. Based on the assumption that accessibility tends to attract more tourists, a spatial pattern of predicted off-road use by tourists is derived. This pattern provides information that can help park managers develop strategies that are effective for both tourism management and species conservation

Modelling and validation of off-road vehicle ride dynamics

Increasing concerns on human driver comfort/health and emerging demands on suspension systems for off-road vehicles call for an effective and efficient off-road vehicle ride dynamics model. This study devotes both analytical and experimental efforts in developing a comprehensive off-road vehicle ride dynamics model. A three-dimensional tire model is formulated to characterize tire–terrain interactions along all the three translational axes. The random roughness properties of the two parallel tracks of terrain profiles are further synthesized considering equivalent undeformable terrain and a coherence function between the two tracks. The terrain roughness model, derived from the field-measured responses of a conventional forestry skidder, was considered for the synthesis. The simulation results of the suspended and unsuspended vehicle models are derived in terms of acceleration PSD, and weighted and unweighted rms acceleration along the different axes at the driver seat location. Comparisons of the model responses with the measured data revealed that the proposed model can yield reasonably good predictions of the ride responses along the translational as well as rotational axes for both the conventional and suspended vehicles. The developed off-road vehicle ride dynamics model could serve as an effective and efficient tool for predicting vehicle ride vibrations, to seek designs of primary and secondary suspensions, and to evaluate the roles of various operating conditions

Agile Autonomous Driving using End-to-End Deep Imitation Learning

We present an end-to-end imitation learning system for agile, off-road autonomous driving using only low-cost sensors. By imitating a model predictive controller equipped with advanced sensors, we train a deep neural network control policy to map raw, high-dimensional observations to continuous steering and throttle commands. Compared with recent approaches to similar tasks, our method requires neither state estimation nor on-the-fly planning to navigate the vehicle. Our approach relies on, and experimentally validates, recent imitation learning theory. Empirically, we show that policies trained with online imitation learning overcome well-known challenges related to covariate shift and generalize better than policies trained with batch imitation learning. Built on these insights, our autonomous driving system demonstrates successful high-speed off-road driving, matching the state-of-the-art performance.Comment: 13 pages, Robotics: Science and Systems (RSS) 201

Evaluation of Rumble Stripes on Low-Volume Rural Roads in Iowa—Phase II Final Report, November 2011

Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes are the most common crash type on rural two-lane Iowa roads. Rumble strips have proven effective in mitigating these crashes, but the strips are commonly installed in paved shoulders on higher-volume roads that are owned by the State of Iowa. Lower-volume paved rural roads owned by local agencies do not commonly feature paved shoulders but frequently experience run-off-road crashes. This project involved installing rumble stripes, which are a combination of conventional rumble strips with a painted edge line placed on the surface of the milled area, along the edge of the travel lanes, but at a narrow width to avoid possible intrusion into the normal vehicle travel paths. The research described in this report was part of a project funded by the Federal Highway Administration, Iowa Highway Research Board, and Iowa Department of Transportation to evaluate the effectiveness of edge-line rumble strips in Iowa. The project evaluated the effectiveness of rumble stripes in reducing run-off-road crashes and in improving the longevity and wet-weather visibility of edge-line markings. This project consisted of two phases. The first phase was to select pilot study locations, select a set of test sites, install rumble stripes, summarize lessons learned during installation, and provide a preliminary assessment of the rumble stripes’ performance. The purpose of this report was to document results from Phase II. A before and after crash analysis was conducted to assess whether use of the treatment had resulted in fewer crashes. However, due to low sample size, results of the analysis were inconclusive. Lateral position was also evaluated before and after installation of the treatment to determine whether vehicles engaged in better lane keeping. Pavement marking wear was also assessed

Agreement Between the Stages Cycling and SRM Powermeter Systems during Field-Based Off-Road Climbing.

The aim of this study was to determine the agreement between two portable cycling powermeters for use doing field based mountain biking. A single participant performed 15 timed ascents of an off-road climbs. The participants bicycle was instrumented with Stages Cycling and SRM powermeters. Mean and peak power output and cadence were recorded at 1 s intervals by both systems. Significant differences were determined using paired t-tests, whilst agreement was determined using 95% ratio limits of agreement (LoA). Significant differences were found between the two systems for mean power output (p<.001), with the Stages powermeter under reporting power by 8 % compared to the SRM. LoA for mean power output were 0.92 ×÷ 1.02 (95% LoA = 0.90 – 0.93). Peak power output was also significantly lower with the Stages powermeter (p=.02) by 5 % when compared to the SRM powermeter. LoA for peak power output were 0.94 ×÷ 1.09 (95% limits of agreement = 0.87 – 1.03). Significant differences were found for mean cadence between the two powermeters (p=.009), with LoA being 0.99 ×÷ 1.01 (95% limits of agreement = 0.99 – 1.00). This study found that though the Stages Cycling powermeter provided a reliable means of recording power output and cadence, the system significantly underestimated mean and peak power output when compared with the SRM system. This may in part be due to differences in strain gauge configuration and the subsequent algorithms used in the calculation of power output and the potential influence of bilateral imbalances within the muscles may have on these calculations

'We're not truckin' around': On and off-road in Samuel Wagan Watson's Smoke Encrypted Whispers

Cars and roads traverse the poetry of Samuel Wagan Watson, a self-identified Aboriginal man of Bundjalung, Birri Gubba, German and Irish ancestry. The narrator/s of the poems in 'Smoke Encrypted' Whispers are repeatedly on the road or beside it, and driving is employed as a metaphor for everything from addiction and memory to the search for love. Road kill litters the poems, while roads come to life, cars become men, and men have 'gas tanks that can't see empty'. Watson's poetry has received significant critical attention and acclaim: his 'haunting, uncanny, layered poetics of history' and depiction of 'colonial degradation' have been explored, and his poems-including those featuring cars and roads-have been analysed in relation to such themes as the sacred, locatedness, and creative processes. Given the extent to which cars and roads dominate Watson's poetry, it is notable, however, that his use of both to explore and resist 'colonial degradation' has not received sustained attention

Off-road sampling reveals a different grassland bird community than roadside sampling: implications for survey design and estimates to guide conservation

Grassland bird species continue to decline steeply across North America. Road-based surveys such as the North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) are often used to estimate trends and population sizes and to build species distribution models for grassland birds, although roadside survey counts may introduce bias in estimates because of differences in habitats along roadsides and in off-road surveys. We tested for differences in land cover composition and in the avian community on 21 roadside-based survey routes and in an equal number of adjacent off-road walking routes in the grasslands of southern Alberta, Canada. Off-road routes (n = 225 point counts) had more native grassland and short shrubs and less fallow land and road area than the roadside routes (n = 225 point counts). Consequently, 17 of the 39 bird species differed between the two route types in frequency of occurrence and relative abundance, measured using an indicator species analysis. Six species, including five obligate grassland species, were more prevalent at off-road sites; they included four species listed under the Canadian federal Species At Risk Act or listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada: Sprague's Pipit (Anthus spragueii), Baird's Sparrow (Ammodramus bairdii), the Chestnut-collared Longspur (Calcarius ornatus), and McCown's Longspur (Rhynchophanes mccownii). The six species were as much as four times more abundant on off-road sites. Species more prevalent along roadside routes included common species and those typical of farmland and other human-modified habitats, e.g., the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia), and the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Differences in avian community composition between roadside and off-road surveys suggest that the use of BBS data when generating population estimates or distribution models may overestimate certain common species and underestimate others of conservation concern. Our results highlight the need to develop appropriate corrections for bias in estimates derived from roadside sampling, and the need to design surveys that sample bird communities across a more representative cross-section of the landscape, both near and far from roads