= STMS: Simulated Traffic Management System =
Currently a central component of the TMC Simulator is the ATMS, Advanced Traffic Management System, which consists of a server and client.  The ATMS allows the trainee to view the traffic flow throughout the highway network that is the focus of the simulation session.  Different colored dots on a highway schematic diagram indicate areas of traffic congestion.

The ATMS server is an aging piece of hardware and one that we have little documentation about.  We have a goal to replace the ATMS with an alternative.  Though the ATMS is the same as actually used in numerous Cal Trans districts, for the purpose of the simulation a high accuracy reproduction could substitute.

STMS is our substitute for the ATMS.

(List components of STMS here)

The key data used by the STMS is the postmile file. It is found in the config folder. Of significance is that it lists postmile locations of VDS in the network and gives the latlong for each so its location can be plotted on a Google Map.

Directions for creating a postmile file.

Browse to pems.dot.ca.gov.  In the left margin under "Tools" select "Data Clearinghouse".

In the selection boxes at the top specify "Type: Station Metadata" and desired district number, then click Submit.

The report page which appears shows two columns, Field Specification and Available Files.  The former describes what is in each field of the data file. In the Available Files column select the most recently dated file. Download and save to your local computer, changing the extension from ".txt" to ".csv".

Open the file in Libre Office Calc (or other spreadsheet).  Delete unneeded columns, retaining: Fwy, Dir, State_PM,Latitude, Longitude, and Name.  Save as .csv.  Open in a text editor and remove the first line containing column headers.

Some postmiles files have duplicate entries, same postmile but slightly different street names.  It is desirable to remove duplicate entries.

Run the python script that lets you manually select which one to keep.

python showDupPostmiles.py filename

The results are saved in "uniqFile" which you should rename, to something like:  d12_postmile_uniq.csv

Then preprocess the csv file:

Open "prep_postmiles.py" in a text editor and modify the name of the postmileFile string to be the name of your file.

Run it:   python prep_postmiles.py

Observe output, correct any bad data in the file that causes the program to crash.

When done, run it and redirect output to a new file:  python prep_postmiles.py > d12_postmile_prepped.csv

Run the csv to json converter: ./convertCSVtoJSON.bash d12_postmile_prepped.csv > d12_postmile.json

Edit the file to remove the comma after the last feature.

Copy the STMS html file, modify the input filename and the center location.

Load the STMS html file into a browser, and observe the results.

Use unix "cut" to remove the last column and copy to tmc config folder.