Multimodal Daily Itinerary Planner: Interactive Programming Approach

Abstract

With limited information and computational capability, travelers (especially tourists) often fail to develop an itinerary that best suits their needs. A computer software program called Itinerary Planner was developed to help travelers find a suitable itinerary by generating alternative travel itineraries. Compared to existing trip planners, the Itinerary Planner is unique in three aspects: ( a) it considers multimodal itineraries; ( b) it is capable of handling multiple constraints, including time windows for arrival and departure times, or mode constraints; and ( c) the Itinerary Planner adopts an interactive programming approach to identify the best itineraries for the user. Through iterative interaction with the user, the planner attempts to gauge the preferences the user has with respect to selected travel attributes (e. g., travel time and travel cost) and apply the resultant preference estimates to evaluate all feasible itineraries. A prototype planner is developed for downtown San Francisco. It is demonstrated that the planner is capable of effectively generating alternative itineraries for a tour that involves multiple trips and multiple modes, with complex constraints. Although the current prototype contains some limitations, the planner prototype promises that it can be further developed as a practical tool for itinerary planning. The planner presents a new way to save travel time, to relieve traffic congestion, and to encourage transit use by helping travelers organize their trips in an efficient manner.