AequilibraE — The Complete Guide: Transport Modelling in Python With Traffic Assignment and a QGIS Plugin
AequilibraE is a Python package for building transport models. It covers the core of a classic transport model — network, demand and assignment — and is used by transport engineers and researchers looking for a flexible alternative to commercial packages.
AequilibraE
AequilibraE
A Python package for transport modelling — equilibrium traffic assignment, demand matrices and GTFS, with a QGIS plugin.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Traffic assignment — multi-class user equilibrium.
- Demand matrices — in OMX format.
- Public transport — import lines from GTFS feeds.
- Network database — the network is stored in SpatiaLite.
- QGIS plugin — QAequilibraE adds a graphical interface, flow maps and desire lines.
Licence and who it suits
Use is free for any purpose, including commercial work. The code is distributed under an MIT-style licence with one extra clause: documentation of work developed with the software must reference it. Because of that clause it is not a standard OSI licence. To use all its capabilities you need to work in Python; the QGIS plugin is convenient for viewing and basic tasks.
Related tools
To download a street network from OpenStreetMap — OSMnx. For agent-based simulation — MATSim. For microscopic traffic simulation — SUMO.
OSMnx
Geoff Boeing
Download and analyse street networks from OpenStreetMap in Python — routing, connectivity, accessibility and network metrics.
Get it from the vendor
MATSim
ETH Zurich / TU Berlin
Agent-based transport simulation at city scale — activities, routes and mode choice.
Get it from the vendor
SUMO
German Aerospace Center (DLR) / Eclipse
Microscopic traffic simulation — every vehicle modelled individually on a real road network.
Get it from the vendor
QGIS
QGIS.org
Open-source GIS for spatial analysis, layer work and map production.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
For anyone who writes Python, AequilibraE offers a complete, transparent transport model with no licence cost — with a duty to cite it in your documentation.