Guest Post by Bryant Ficek, PE, PTOE, Vice President at Spack Consulting.
In 2015, Mike Spack presented at the PTV America User Group Meeting. This year, it was my turn to speak about our experiment completing projects
using Vistro and using Synchro to determine which was more efficient for our studies. Since this was at an event for Vistro and other PTV software, you can guess what the general results were. We are working on a white paper with our findings that we can share with our readers in the near future.
For now, here’s some interesting nuggets and new software upgrades coming soon:
- Vistro 5 is expected in December/January and will include a couple key items:
- Analysis formulas will change based on the new Highway Capacity Manual (also expected to be released soon)
- New intersections will be allowed to be added between two connected intersections in your model without breaking the link (or any vehicle routes)
- Vissim 9 is out right now and has the following new features:
- Better scenario management
- Level of Service results for nodes
- Visualization highlights
- PTV continues to partner with other companies for the benefit of all users, including:
- StreetLight Data; to bring real-world travel patterns to light
- Bentley Systems; use the new OpenRoads ConceptStation to create conceptual road and bridge models
- tass international; using Vissim in simulations of autonomous public transport vehicles
It was a great meeting in terms of location (Washington, DC) and content. PTV discussed their upcoming software enhancements as well as the different ways people are using the software today. It was also great to network with a group of very smart people.
One last tidbit for existing PTV software users, email them often about new features you want to see in the next versions. The more requests they receive about a particular function, the higher on the priority list it goes.
Finally, we are not only users of PTV’s software, but we are also partners. If you are thinking about purchasing Vistro for your office, you can receive $250 discount off of your Vistro purchase when you mention the promo code “SPACK16” when ordering from PTV North America.
Did you attend the 2016 PTV User Group Meeting? If so, we would love to hear what you learned at the meeting. Share your comments below.
