No. 787: Using big data to redevelop Tokyo for the Olympics in 2020 (October 6, 2013)

Technology:

Various projects to redevelop Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics using big data have started. Nippon IBM added the newly developed traffic prediction function to its big-data-based meteorological disaster prevention system that IBM of the U.S. delivered to Rio de Janeiro of Brazil, and it will put the integrated system into practical use in 2014. The new system will reproduce the real traffic conditions in the city on the computer using such data as the location of traffic signal, speed limit, and road width, and display huge amount of data including distance of traffic jam expected to occur when as many as 50 million vehicles trave inside the city. It will analyze instantly how to arrange roads, tunnels, and bridges to void traffic jams. It will also analyze the number of trains and buses to increase by combining the system with the analysis of twitters on the Internet. 

Fujitsu developed a system to figure out dangerous spots where an accident is liable to occur with the help of data on speed and location collected from travelling vehicles. NTT Data is developing a system to eliminate a traffic jam by controlling the switching time of the signal and planning to put it into practical use in three years. The company collected travel data of 3,220 taxies for one month in Tokyo and estimated the time to wait for the signal to change using the collected data. The system successfully reduced the time by half.

According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the total length of traffic jam in weekdays was about 1,400 km per day in Tokyo in 2011 and will supposedly grow longer in 2020. The Ministry of International Affairs and Communications reckons that applying big data to the alleviation of traffic jams will reduce the fuel consumption of vehicles by 1,160 billion yen per year.  

 Tokyo will host the Olympics in 2020.