ARGOS: Dynamic Composition of Web Services for Goods Movement Analysis and Planning

本研究将开发一个基于Web服务范式的灵活的数据查询和分析系统。作为一个应用领域，将研究几个货物运输规划问题及其对城市空间结构的影响。这项研究有三个目标：1)通过开发可表达的Web服务描述语言和技术来推动计算机科学研究，以动态组合Web服务；2)与政府合作伙伴合作，开发和测试使用Web服务的大都市内货物流动模型的应用；3)使用该模型进行关于大都市内经济联系和空间结构的社会科学研究。虽然重点放在城市货物流动的特定主题上，但Web服务组合的方法是通用的，可以应用于其他科学数据收集和分析任务。第一个目标是开发Argos，一个动态组合Web服务的通用框架。许多科学问题可以被建模为包括信息收集和处理操作的工作流。Argos将为Web服务的手动规范和组合提供图形化工具，以及基于给定应用领域(如交通规划)的富有表现力的Web服务描述的自动组合。第二个目标是在实际的大都市规划应用中使用ARGOS。与洛杉矶县大都会运输局、圣贝纳迪诺联合政府、南加州政府协会和长滩港的政府代表顾问小组协商。将以洛杉矶地区为个案进行情景分析。情景分析将对Argos作为一种交通规划工具的效用以及从业人员的易用性进行评估。第三个目标是扩展交通规划领域，以解决迄今为止社会科学研究人员由于缺乏整合和分析现有数据的工具而无法实际研究的城市空间结构问题。有大量关于就业地点的理论文献；货物投入和产出的运输是这些模型的关键要素。由于缺乏可用的货流数据，对就业区位的实证研究有限。研究小组将以洛杉矶地区为案例，分析行业组合、流动和城市空间结构之间的关系。

This research will develop a flexible data query and analysis system based on the web services paradigm. As an application domain several goods movement planning problems will be examined along with their effects on spatial urban structure. The research has three objectives: 1) to advance computer science research by developing an expressive web services description language and techniques for dynamicallycomposing web services, 2) to develop and conduct test applications of an intra-metropolitan goods movement flow model using web services in cooperation with government partners, and 3) to use the model to conduct social science research on intra-metropolitan economic linkages and spatial structure. Although the focus is on the specific topic of urban goods movement, the approach to web service composition is general and can be applied to other scientific data gathering and analysis tasks. The first objective is to develop Argos, a general framework for dynamically composing web services. Many scientific problems can be modeled as a workflow that includes information gathering and processing operations. Argos will provide graphical tools for manual specification and composition of web services, as well as automatic composition based on expressive web service descriptions for given application domains (such as transportation planning). The second objective is to use Argos in an actual metropolitan planning application. In consultation with an advisory team of government representatives, from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the San Bernardino Associated Governments, the Southern California Association of Governments and the Port of Long Beach. a scenario analysis using the Los Angeles region as a case study will be conducted. The scenario analysis will allow evaluation of Argos both in terms of its utility as a transportation planning tool as well as its ease of use by practitioners. The third objective is to extend the transportation planning domain to address problems of urban spatial structure that heretofore have not been practical for social science researchers to study due to the lack of tools for integrating and analyzing available data. There is an extensive theoretical literature on employment location; transport of freight inputs and outputs are critical elements of these models. Empirical research on employment location is limited, because of the lack of availability of freight flow data. The research team will analyze the relationships between industry mix, flows, and urban spatial structure, using the Los Angeles region as a case study.