Open Street Map for Multi-Modal Freight Transport Planning

Abstract

Route planning for transportation of goods is an essential task. Determining a route for e.g. a truck is simple if the road network including the legal and technical limitations like truck ban or weight restriction are known. Planning of multi-modal routes is a bit more complex. The change of mode of transportation is only possible at specific locations. This change takes time and is often subjet to additional technical or legal restrictions. Thus the different networks, e.g., road and rail, need to be connected. An obvious approach for multi-modal transport planning would be the use of Open Street Map (OSM) data since it does not only contain information about roads but also about trains and rivers. In this paper we first present some existing solutions for multi-modal transport planning and then discuss the use of OSM data in such a process. We identify missing elements in OSM and show opportunities for further development and interventions