CAF.mat

CAF.mat contains functionality for reading, writing and performing calculations with transport modelling matrices. The aim is to provide a consistent method for interacting with all types of transport matrices from Python, with some additional front-end features for more common matrix operations.

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• Overview
  • What does it do?
  • Main Features
    • Work-in-Progress
  • Who is it for?
• Where to get it
  • Installation from GitHub
• Usage
  • Command Line
• Documentation
• What is CAF?
• Contribution
• Contact Us

Overview

What does it do?

CAF.mat is primarily a Python package for interacting with transport modelling matrices in various file formats. The package provides a set of classes for interacting with matrices and ties into some other CAF packages, namely caf.base.

The package also provides a standalone CLI tool for some more common matrix operations.

Main Features

• Matrices Classes - custom Python classes to handle groups of matrices, builds on top of caf.base's Segmentation and ZoningSystem functionality and provides access to individual matrices as pandas DataFrames.
• Various File Formats - read, write and convert between various matrix file formats from different transport modelling software.
  • OpenMatrix (OMX)
  • SATURN's UFM
  • CUBE's (MAT)
• Any Matrix Data - can handle any type of matrix data e.g. travel demand and transport costs.
• Tour Modelling Conversions - functions to convert between OD and PA based matrices, as used in tour based transport demand modelling.

Work-in-Progress

• UFM Comparisons - functionality to compare different UFM files (see #17).
• Matrix Adjustments - adjust a matrix to a target matrix at a specified sector level (see #18).

Who is it for?

• Target audience: Transport Modellers
• CAF Analytical Stage: Modelling, Appraisal

For more details on CAF Analytical Stages see the description within TfN's GitHub homepage

Where to get it

The latest released version are available at the Python Package Index (PyPI) and on Conda.

conda install -c conda-forge caf.mat

pip install caf.mat

Installation from GitHub

The latest, unreleased, version can be installed directly from GitHub using:

pip install "git+https://github.com/transport-for-the-north/caf.mat"

Usage

caf.mat provides and Command-line (CLI) and graphical interface (GUI) to use many of it's features without the need to write any Python code, see the Tool Usage section of the user guide for more details.

Command Line

The tool can be run from command line, with the command:

caf.mat

See Command-Line Interface (User Guide) for full explanations of the parameters.

Documentation

The code documentation is hosted at https://cafmat.readthedocs.io/en/stable/.

What is CAF?

This tool is part of TfN's Common Analytical Framework (CAF). CAF is Transport for the North's structured suite of analytical tools designed to support transport modelling, appraisal, and strategic decision-making.

More information on CAF and details on other CAF tools can be found on TfN's GitHub Homepage.

Contribution

We encourage use of, and contributions to, the repositories within this organisation, licenses are provided within the repositories and the organisation contribution guide provides details for contributions.

Contact Us

For further information about using this tool or CAF tools in your projects and work contact Transport for the North - TfNOffer@transportforthenorth.com

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