TITLE:
Assessment of the Direct Sun-Light on Rural Road Network through Solar Radiation Analysis Using GIS
AUTHORS:
Christos Chalkias, Antigoni Faka, Kleomenis Kalogeropoulos
KEYWORDS:
GIS; Direct Sunlight Exposure; Solar Radiation; Spatiotemporal Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
20,
2013
ABSTRACT: The movement of vehicles on
the roads, during summer, can sometimes hide risks involved in direct sunlight.
In places where the relief is complicated, road network usually consists of a
road complexity. This complexity in conjunction with the motion of a vehicle on
a road and the position of the sun at the same time may result in the loss of
vision in some sections of the road. This paper describes a GIS-based
methodology of the spatiotemporal analysis of this phenomenon. Thus, for a
given study area, in this case ofMilos
Island,Greece,
the geometry of the road network, the terrain morphology and the solar
radiation (in specific time intervals during summer) have been analyzed. The result of this procedure is a map
illustrating the sections of the road where direct sunlight includes a serious
amount of risk for the drivers. Applying this methodology for long periods of
time may lead to prevention policies adoption related to accidents of direct
exposure to sunlight. Moreover, this methodology could be an additional module
in car navigation systems.