Deep learning algorithms for predicting routes of snowplows in European cities

Abstract

Most cities are faced with annual snowfall but are finding it difficult to deal with their snow plowing activities. Even though winter road maintenance has been studied for many decades, most of the papers do not present models that can be scaled up to allow for incorporation of side constraints that are often met in practical applications. Subject of the paper: Comparison of deep learning algorithms for forecasting snowplow routes in European cities in terms of spatial analysis, routing and traffic flow. The study focuses on extending neural networks including Recurrent Neural Network (RNN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Graph Neural Network (GNN) to overcome the problematics of snowplow in urban setting. Temporal and spatial data are incorporated using sophisticated models such as Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Networks (STGCNs) using examples that capture the capacity to control the changes in the snowplow routes in reaction to the real-time traffic flow and weather information. The report also looks at how transformer models among other emerging technologies could be harnessed to improve predictive accuracy as well as efficiency. Comparisons made to these other methods evaluating deep learning methods’ benefits and drawbacks and their application to urban infrastructure and traffic flow. The results, therefore, point out that integrating these complicated formulas can go a long way in enhancing the efficiency and safety of snowplowing in the European cities to create better lit and safer transport networks