Other Example Models#

There are several example models available in ActivitySim’s GitHub repository. These example models are categorized into three types:

  • “production” examples are calibrated and validated by the relevant agency, and are intended to be replicas of an “official” travel model used by that agency, although generally we expect agencies to maintain independent repositories and not rely on the Consortium maintained version as a single source for the model. At this time there are no production examples in the consortium’s collection, but we expect that to change soon.

  • “prototype” examples are not representative of any “official” travel model used by the relevant agency, but they are viewed as “ok” models by the consortium: they are usually at least loosely calibrated and/or validated, and typically contain at least some components or parameters specialized for the relevant region. They may be in-development models that are not quite finished, or consortium maintained models that are derived from but now different from the official model of some region. They should not be used in place of “official” models for policy analysis in any given region, but could serve as a donor model for new users who want to implement ActivitySim somewhere new (subject to all the caveats that go along with transferring models).

  • “placeholder” examples are computational testbeds that technically run but have not been calibrated nor validated in any meaningful way. These examples are early stage development models used for testing purposes, and users are strongly cautioned not to use them for any policy or planning purpose.

Some available examples include those listed in the table below.

Note

Additional details on models provided below may not be complete or up-to-date.

Example

Purpose

Zone Systems

Status

prototype_mtc

Original ActivitySim Example, derived from MTC TM1

1

Mature

prototype_mtc_extended

Prototype MTC example with additional optional models

1

In development

example_estimation

Estimation example with prototype_mtc

1

Mature

placeholder_multiple_zone

2 or 3 zone system example using MTC data

2 or 3

Simple test example

prototype_marin

3 zone system example using Marin tour mode choice model

3

Mature

prototype_arc

ARC agency example

1

In development

prototype_semcog

SEMCOG agency example

1

In production

placeholder_psrc

PSRC agency example

2

Future development

placeholder_sandag

SANDAG agency example

3

Future development

prototype_sandag_xborder

SANDAG agency example

3

In development

prototype_mwcog

MWCOG agency example

2

In development

Note

The example_manifest.yaml contains example commands to create and run several versions of the examples. See also Adding Agency Examples for more information on agency example models.

prototype_mtc_extended

prototype_mtc_extended contains additional models that were developed to enhance ActivitySim’s modeling capabilities. This example inherets the data and configuration files from prototype_mtc. The current list of additional models included in this example are:

  • Vehicle Type Choice: Selects a vehicle type for each household vehicle. Runs after auto_ownership.

  • Vehicle Allocation: Allocates a vehicle for each tour and each occupancy level. Tour and trip mode choice auto operating costs are modified to reflect the allocated vehicle option.

  • School Escorting: Explicitly models school drop-off / pick-up of students to and from school.

The prototype_mtc_extended example also contains changes to test the flexible number of tour and trip ids. (Information in why this is important can be found here.) The following changes were made to demonstrate this:

  • An additional alternative was added to the non-mandatory tour frequency alternatives file containing 2 other discretionary tours.

  • An additional alternative was added to the stop_frequency_alts.csv for 4 outbound stops and 3 inbound stops. This alternative was then included as part of the stop_frequency_othdiscr.csv specification with an added calibration constant to control that alternative. Because an additional trip may now happen in the outbound direction, the trip scheduling probabilities table was extended for the other discretionary tour purpose where the fourth outbound trip rows were copied for the now availabile fifth trip.

prototype_marin

To finalize development and verification of the multiple zone system and transit virtual path building components, the Transportation Authority of Marin County version of MTC travel model two (TM2) work tour mode choice model was implemented. This example was also developed to test multiprocessed runtime performance. The complete runnable setup is available from the ActivitySim command line interface as prototype_3_marin_full. This example has essentially the same configuration as the simpler three zone example above.

Example

To run prototype_marin, do the following:

  • Activate the correct conda environment if needed

  • Create a local copy of the example

# Marin TM2 work tour mode choice for the MTC region
activitysim create -e prototype_3_marin_full -d test_prototype_3_marin_full

  • Change to the example directory

  • Run the example

# Marin TM2 work tour mode choice for the MTC region
activitysim run -c configs -d data -o output -s settings_mp.yaml

  • For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.

Settings

Additional settings for running the Marin TM2 tour mode choice example are in the network_los.yaml file. The only additional notable setting is the tap_lines setting, which identifies a table of transit line names served for each TAP. This file is used to trimmed the set of nearby TAP for each MAZ so only TAPs that are further away and serve new service are included in the TAP set for consideration. It is a very important file to include as it can considerably reduce runtimes.

tap_lines: tap_lines.csv

prototype_arc

Note

This example is in development

The prototype_arc added a Trip Scheduling Choice (Logit Choice), Trip Departure Choice (Logit Choice), and Parking Location Choice submodel. These submodel specification files are below, and are in addition to the prototype_mtc submodel Sub-Model Specification Files.

Example ARC Sub-Model Specification Files

Model

Specification Files

Trip Scheduling Choice (Logit Choice)

  • trip_scheduling_choice.yaml

  • trip_scheduling_choice_preprocessor.csv

  • trip_scheduling_choice.csv

Trip Departure Choice (Logit Choice)

  • trip_departure_choice.yaml

  • trip_departure_choice_preprocessor.csv

  • trip_departure_choice.csv

Parking Location Choice

  • parking_location_choice.yaml

  • parking_location_choice_annotate_trips_preprocessor.csv

  • parking_location_choice_coeffs.csv

  • parking_location_choice.csv

Example

See example commands in example_manifest.yaml for running prototype_arc. For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.

placeholder_psrc

Note

This example is a placeholder model used only for code development and debugging, and is not suitable for policy analysis

The placeholder_psrc is a two zone system (MAZs and TAZs) implementation of the prototype_mtc model design. It uses PSRC zones, land use, synthetic population, and network LOS (skims).

Example

See example commands in example_manifest.yaml for running placeholder_psrc. For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.

placeholder_sandag

Note

This example is in development

The placeholder_sandag is a multi-part model, containing one-, two-, and three- zone system (MAZs, TAZs, and TAPs) implementation of the prototype_mtc model design. It uses SANDAG zones, land use, synthetic population, and network LOS (skims).

Example

See example commands in example_manifest.yaml for running placeholder_sandag. For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.

prototype_sandag_xborder

Note

This example is in development

The prototype_sandag_xborder is a three zone system (MAZs, TAZs, and TAPs) that generates cross-border activities for a tour-based population of Mexican residents. In addition to the normal SANDAG zones, there are external MAZs and TAZs defined for each border crossing station (Port of Entry). Because the model is tour-based, there are no household or person-level attributes in the synthetic population. The principal difference between this and the standard 3-zone implementation is that since household do not have a default tour origin (home zones), a tour OD choice model is required to assign tour origins and destinations simultaneously.

Example

See example commands in example_manifest.yaml for running prototype_sandag_xborder. For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.

prototype_mwcog

The prototype_mwcog is a one zone system (TAZs only).

Example

See example commands in example_manifest.yaml for running prototype_mwcog. For optimal performance, configure multiprocessing and chunk_size based on machine hardware.