Application of piecewise linear approximation method for the estimation of origin-destination matrix

This paper presents a Mixed-Integer Programming Model for the urban freight transport planning problem through the estimation of the Origin-Destination Matrix. The Origin-Destination Matrix is used to know the pattern of travel or vehicle flow between different zones of a city and is estimated from the counting of vehicles on the routes of a road network. For the estimation of the Origin-Destination Matrix, the Entropy Maximization approach is applied. This approach is based on a non-linear optimization model. In order to overcome this difficulty, an optimization model based on the Piecewise Linear Approximation Method is proposed. To test the proposed model, an instance was built based on a road network of a real case. The proposed model obtained good results in a reduced computational time, demonstrating its usefulness for the urban freight transport planning.