Assessment / survey and analysis
This tool provides some examples and references of analysis and survey methods to assist design teams in understanding and identifying any relevant issues that will influence design direction. This will at the outset assist in developing the scope of a project to enable the development of a high quality interchange proposal. Failure to understand what is not working well at an interchange could create problems in achieving an optimum solution.
NODES Benchmarking Assessment Tool developed as part of the NODES project to analyse the current/existing status of an interchange and to help understand the areas of the interchange as to what course of action will improve it. Could also be used to test interchange following completion of any interventions.
SWOT Analysis is a method of assessing strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats when evaluating design direction and scope of a project. It is a technique commonly used by a variety of professionals and experts. It can provide a good understanding of a project to help promoters to define a clearer brief going forwards and identify and engage with stakeholders, enabling promoters to commission further more detailed survey and evaluation.
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a process involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. Building Information Models (BIMs) are files (often, but not always, in proprietary formats and containing proprietary data), which can be exchanged or networked to support decision-making about a place. Current BIM software is used by individuals, businesses and government agencies who plan, design, construct, operate and maintain diverse physical infrastructures, from water, wastewater, electricity, gas, refuse and communication utilities to roads, bridges and ports, from houses, apartments, schools and shops to offices, factories, warehouses and prisons, etc.
| NODES strategic objective | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Enhance accessibility and integration | ++ |
| Enhance intermodality | ++ |
| Enhance liveability | ++ |
| Increase safety and security conditions | + |
| Increase economic viability and costs efficiency | + |
| Stimulate local economy | + |
| Increase environmental efficiency | + |
| Increase energy efficiency | + |
Good practice
Building Information Modelling (BIM) http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/lessons-learned/
European Research has provided some good examples of reference material, which can assist design teams including:
Sustainable Workable Intermodal Transport Choices (SWITCH) Provides reference to evaluation methods to assess traveller behaviour at interchanges. The overall goal of SWITCH is to study the underlying principles of a seamless intermodal transport network through demonstrating innovative and co-ordinated project applications, allied to an integrated market research and validation scenario. Technical measures and studies will be applied in 5 European cities aimed at promoting and developing both urban and inter-urban intermodal transport networks. The technical measures include passenger information, developing integrated networks and ticketing. The effectiveness of these measures in developing sustainable transport choices within a social, economic, environmental and political context will be evaluated. Methodology for Describing the Accessibility of Transport in Europe (MEDIATE) Provides a self-assessment tool to evaluate accessibility of an interchange. To enable Europe’s cities to assess the extent to which their public transport system is fully inclusive, the MEDIATE project aimed to establish a common European methodology for measuring accessibility. This will lead to the development of a self-assessment tool that can be used by policy-makers to identify areas where upgrading will improve the accessibility of public transport in their city. Mobility, Intermodality and Interchanges (MIMIC) MIMIC has developed and tested a series of surveying and modelling tools that can help planners, designers and managers to systematically analyse interchanges, taking into account the various kinds of barriers to their use by passengers. The tools will have their main application in the design stage of interchanges. The guidelines were to cover four main areas: the relative importance of the various factors that determine travellers’ choice of modes, including both the interchange characteristics and aspects of the overall trip; the impact of the interchange catchment area and feeder services on the success of the interchange site; the types of barriers for the different actors involved, and their relative importance; the development, implementation and assessment of site-specific solutions
Potential interchange performance improvement
- Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a relatively new technology in an industry typically slow to adopt change. Yet many early adopters are confident that BIM will grow to play an even more crucial role in building documentation.
Proponents claim that BIM offers:
- Improved visualisation
- Improved productivity due to easy retrieval of information
- Increased coordination of construction documents
- Embedding and linking of vital information such as vendors for specific materials, location of details and quantities required for estimation and tendering
- Increased speed of delivery
- Reduced costs
BIM also contains most of the data needed for building energy performance analysis. The building properties in BIM can be used to automatically create the input file for building energy simulation and save a significant amount of time and effort. Moreover, automation of this process reduces errors and mismatches in the building energy simulation process.
Resources
- Requires appropriate professionals / experts involvement
- Investment and training with software in particular with BIM
- Refer to Planning and coordination design tool to ensure assessments / surveys and analysis is carried out at the right stages and enough time is allowed in a project programme
References
Building Information Modelling (BIM)
- http://www.bimtaskgroup.org/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_information_modeling
- http://www.thenbs.com/bim/what-is-bim.asp
Sustainable Workable Intermodal Transport Choices (SWITCH)
- http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?id=743
Methodology for Describing the Accessibility of Transport in Europe (MEDIATE)
- http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?id=37258
Mobility, Intermodality and Interchanges (MIMIC)
- http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?id=523