Historical road networks in Europe: Shapefiles including the correct geometry and speed of the European road networks from 1960.
Methodological description and application in:
- Condeço-Melhorado, A. M., Christidis, P., Dijkstra, L. (2015). Travel speed changes along the European core road network for the period 1960–2030: An application of octilinear cartograms. Journal of Maps, (November), 1–4. doi:10.1080/17445647.2015.1088482
Three classes of roads (1,2,3), class 1 being highways. Six time periods: 2012, 2000, 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1955
Field NCLASS_xxx is the class of the road in each year (last xxx digits)
Travel time is the time (in minutes) to travel the distance (shape_length, in meters) at the speed of the class the road has in 2012.
Condeço Melhorado, Ana Margarida; Christidis, Panayotis; Dijkstra, Lewis (2026): Replication Data for: Travel speed changes along the European core road network for the period 1960–2030: an application of octilinear cartograms. European Commission, Joint Research Centre [Dataset] doi: 10.2905/JRC.RXDEMQ8 PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/jrc-tem-10005
Three classes of roads (1,2,3), class 1 being highways. Six time periods: 2012, 2000, 1990, 1980, 1970 and 1955
Field NCLASS_xxx is the class of the road in each year (last xxx digits)
Travel time is the time (in minutes) to travel the distance (shape_length, in meters) at the speed of the class the road has in 2012.
This study presents the evolution of travel speeds in the European Core road network, between 1960 and 2030. Speeds are represented in octilinear cartograms which constitutes one of the novelties of this study. Octilinear cartograms have the advantage of simplifying the geographical representation of transport networks, while emphasizing the connections (nodes) and the links between those nodes. The geographical accurateness is no longer important in this type of map; thus, the actual length of links does not correspond to the link's real value, directions are roughly preserved and scale factor is not constant for the entire map. Results show a general improvement of speeds in the Core Network. During the first years of the analysed period, speeds increased in Western European countries, while in the latest years, this improvement was extended to peripheral countries. By 2012, travel speeds presented a more homogeneous pattern all over Europe, generally ranging between 100 and 110 km/h. This evolution goes all along with a strong EU investment in the trans-European transport road network. In 2030, travel speeds are expected to continue increasing due to the foreseen investments planned by the European Commission.
| From date | To date |
|---|---|
| 1955-12-31 | 2012-12-31 |
