Citation

Lira W, Alves R, Costa J, Pessin G, Galvao L, Cardoso A, de Souza C. IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl. 2014; 34(5): 52-57.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/MCG.2014.79

PMID

25073166

Abstract

The working environment of railways is challenging and complex and often involves high-risk operations which affect both the company staff and inhabitants of the towns and cities alongside the railway lines. Rail companies adopt several strategies to reduce the exposure to risk of their employees and the public, which involve having trained personnel, safety technologies and work practices. However, despite this, railways remain high-risk operations and unfortunate incidents still occur. In this paper a visual analytics system is employed to help in the management of railway safety. This system is based on a data analytics workflow to compile an incident risk index which processes information that has been collated with regard to incidents along the railway tracks. The results of this data analytics workflow (i.e. incident risk index) are then displayed in a visual form in a geographical map together with socioeconomic information about the towns and cities concerned. Feedback on this visual analytics system suggests that it can be used by safety engineers and specialists when making decisions and communicating these decisions.

Language: en