Core Models

The AbstractCoreModel provides a basic interface structure for interacting with models used in exploratory analysis. All specific model types included with TMIP-EMAT and all new model connections should inherit from this base class.

The AbstractCoreModel is an abstract base class, which means that it defines what the Python programming interface of a core model implemenetation should be (i.e., you must define a certain set of methods that take particular inputs and return particular outputs). Users of TMIP-EMAT will not want to use this class directly, but instead they will use (or sub-class from) one of the provided implementations.

Python Models

The simplest instantiation of an exploratory model for use with TMIP-EMAT is a Python function. Such a function can be wrapped with a PythonCoreModel.

Excel Models

TMIP-EMAT can also be used with Excel-based models, using the ExcelCoreModel interface.

Bespoke Models

Most advanced travel models can be set up to run programmatically, generating a variety of performance measures to one or more arbitrarily defined files on disk. TMIP-EMAT provides a FilesCoreModel to serve as the starting point for developing model-specific implementations for custom models than can be operated in this manner. If you are planning to use TMIP-EMAT with a core model that is not easily executable as a Python function nor an Excel spreadsheet, this is the place to start.

For example, the model for the Greater Buffalo-Niagara Regional Transportation Council is a TransCAD based model. The GBNRTCModel is included in TMIP-EMAT as an example of how a more complex external travel demand model can be integrated into the TMIP-EMAT framework.