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    Review of 'The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel Behaviour'

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    The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel BehaviourCrossref
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    The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel Behaviour

    David Metz (2021)
    Digital navigation – the combined use of satellite positioning, digital mapping and route guidance – is in wide use for road travel yet its impact is little understood. Evidence is emerging of significant changes in use of the road network, including diversion of local trips to new major road capacity and increased use of minor roads, which have problematic implications for investment decisions and for the management of the network. However, the ability of digital navigation to predict estimated time of arrival under expected traffic conditions is a welcome means of mitigating journey time uncertainty, which is one of the undesirable consequences of road traffic congestion. There is very little available information about the impact of digital navigation on travel behaviour, a situation that needs to be remedied to enhance the efficiency of road network operation.Digital navigation – the combined use of satellite positioning, digital mapping and route guidance – is in wide use for road travel yet its impact is little understood. Evidence is emerging of significant changes in use of the road network, including diversion of local trips to new major road capacity and increased use of minor roads, which have problematic implications for investment decisions and for the management of the network. However, the ability of digital navigation to predict estimated time of arrival under expected traffic conditions is a welcome means of mitigating journey time uncertainty, which is one of the undesirable consequences of road traffic congestion. There is very little available information about the impact of digital navigation on travel behaviour, a situation that needs to be remedied to enhance the efficiency of road network operation.
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      Review information

      10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-SOCSCI.A28CEZ.v1.RNOHBL
      This work has been published open access under Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conditions, terms of use and publishing policy can be found at www.scienceopen.com.

      Social & Behavioral Sciences
      Road traffic congestion,Navigation,road traffic congestion,Journey time,Minor roads,Travel behaviour,Road traffic,Built environment,navigation,travel behaviour,minor roads,road traffic,journey time

      Review text

      Open Peer Review by Dr Eleni Tracada ( ORCID: 0000-0002-0362-4260)

      Article title: The Impact of Digital Navigation on Travel Behaviour

      Authors: David Metz

      DOI: 10.14324/111.444/000106.v1

      The intention of the author(s) to focus on the impact of the digital navigation to the road users’ behaviour is clear throughout this article. It is commendable that the environmental and social impact are also discussed at several points briefly.  The article refers to important points that we have to consider before planning routes for road users, and it is good to consider the impact of individual choices to increased traffic in cities as well as in rural areas. In both cases, behaviours could be highly damaging to both humans and nature.

      Although we can see references to several relevant sources, the authors say that there is lack of literature on the performance of digital navigation. Perhaps this is due to the lack of a meaningful interface to evaluate road users’ choices constantly via specific navigation systems, so that the road authorities should be able to make informed decisions on their strategies, too. In this case, feedback from research centres could have been asked constantly during ongoing national and international meetings, symposia, and conferences; more papers could have been published.

      However, we may have to consider the impact of the pandemic which had an impact on most commuters. So, there will be a gap of knowledge until commuting traffic or other solutions in mobility are back. But climate change has got an impact to lifestyles, too. So, many more disciplines may need to cooperate with digital navigation providers. In the future, road users may use a combination of virtual reality preparation before they experience the real journey. So ‘nudging’ could be an enjoyable gaming experience, if we think that smart traffic is more than estimated arrival time; that means stepping out of the car and experience an active healthy living environment integrating green infrastructure and human mobility in a variety of ways.

      It is good to see that high population density and car ownership in some cities may increase road traffic to both big traffic arteries and minor roads, when digital navigation refers to fastest routes especially. Therefore, it could be useful to show a couple of case study areas where this happens; it could be good to make recommendations at the end on how road users’ changes of behaviours in those areas not only could have a positive impact to them (physical and mental health), but also to their immediate surroundings. The paper flows well and shows clarity. Just few references related to examples of digital navigation in the light of autonomous vehicle (AV), driverless cars, could be useful; drivers and road users’ experiences could be very different soon, because freedom of choice could be almost prescribed to safeguard health and safety, and protect the environment, too.

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