Re: Household Synthesis Utility: Modifying and Adding Urbansim Variables

Joe

There is good news and bad news. The bad news first. The household
synthesizer you are trying to use has not been ported to the new Opus
platform for UrbanSim, and we have not decided whether to port this
application or try to build on another existing application, like the
one SEMCOG has created, or the one developed for the Atlanta Regional
Commission. As a result, we really can't support this application right
now. The good news is that there are now several synthesizers out there,
so hopefully we can provide a robust synthesizer before too long. If
anyone wants to volunteer effort towards this, they would be welcome.

Paul

Joseph Nunez wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I am currently working on Household Synthesis Utility (HSU),
> synthesizing households for Melbourne Australia.
>
> I have a couple questions regarding urbansim variable definitions and
> whether it is possible to modify them i.e. (add new ones, edit
> existing ones).
>
> First, I would like to know where to find the source code for the HSU.
> As currently, the HSU is a blackbox to me.
>
> Second, there are only 5 Urbansim variables possible (Children, Race,
> Workers, Income, Age). Where do I find the categories for the urbansim
> variables in HSU and be able to modify them? (Is it in the code or in
> a particular table)
>
> I’m guessing that these categories should be similar to the
> household_characteristics_for_ht table and the categories are the BIN
> definitions.
>
> I am interested in modifying these variables in order to better suit
> Australian data. For example:
>
> 1. Instead of Number of Children, the Australian microdata and CENSUS
> lists it by family type (i.e. Single parent with children <15, Couple
> with dependent Student). Although it is possible to map this using the
> HOUSEHOLD_VARIABLE_MAPPING_INDIRECT table, giving the minimum number
> of children. I would like to use the FamilyType variable as it will
> give more accurate results.
>
> 2. Adding a new variable: More Specifically, adding a Method to Work
> variable (by car, bike, public transport). Currently this cannot be
> done as it cannot be Indirectly mapped to any existing urbanism variable.
>
> Any comments and suggestions is greatly appreciated.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Joe
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Received on Thu Aug 03 2006 - 00:09:18 PDT