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  • Xianglun Mo *,
  • Xiaohong Jin * and
  • Gangqing Han
  • et al.

Reviewer 1: Anonymous Reviewer 2: Edouard Ivanjko Reviewer 3: Noureddine Lakouari Reviewer 4: Yongsheng Qian

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Resubmitted version of the work, but still has scope to improve

Author Response

We have made improvements.

Reviewer 2 Report

The paper is improved. Some details are still open. Thus, it would be good to describe the paper structure/organization per sections/chapters, and not generally. Eqs. 1 and 2 (and many others) are the sentence end and should have a dot and not a comma. A comma should be added only when eqs. are in the sentence middle.

You claim in the abstract that your method improves network balance by 5%. Your paper is about creating signal control subregions, and there is no result presentation regarding network load balance. This can be achieved by dynamic traffic assignment, which is not the case regarding your work. You are just finding city areas where similar control can be applied. Please elaborate on this!

There are more comments in the attached PDF.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We have re-described the paper structure per chapters. Eqs issues have been resolved.

The purpose of dividing the signal control sub-area based on the macro-basic map is to obtain a more balanced traffic flow load area of road network , which is convenient to implement the signal control based on the macro-basic map. A network partition with more balanced traffic flow load can be obtained by our method.

Reviewer 3 Report

The authors proposed a macroscopic fundamental diagram partition method for the urban road traffic network based on graph theory, the paper is well writing and scientifically sound, however from the title, one can expect that you will discuss the fundamental diagrams and show the traffic phases and shows the difference observed, the introduction should also deal with the traffic phases and the characteristics of every phase in details. hence, it is better to show the fundamental diagram of your system in the results and discussion. 

 

Author Response

Added description of macroscopic fundamental diagram phases on line 59. Our research content is regional division, and it is not necessary to show the macroscopic fundamental diagram of our system.

Reviewer 4 Report

 

In this paper, the authors studies division method of signal control sub-region based on macroscopic fundamental diagram.The manuscript is well organized, and the results enrich the existing theoretical research models and have certain theoretical value. Therefore, I think the paper can be accepted. In addition, the following are the few comments, which may be included while revision.

 

 

1. The abstract should briefly introduce the purpose, method, main results and conclusions of this research, and give the main innovations of the paper. The current abstract is too long, and some content is suggested to be deleted.

2. The language of the paper should be further improved, such as, line 226 of page 5, “it is expressed by fm, n. It is expressed by fm,n. it is represented as fn,m, and the set is F.”

3. There are many equations used in the paper and the physical or realistic meaning of all the variables in these equations should be given.

4. What is the most significant difference between slope area and flat area? From their definitions on page 6, it seems that flat area can be included in slope area, the authors should elaborate on the difference between the two.

5. What is the basis for Equation 8? Which reference does it come from? Why is  linear in Equation 8 and not some other functional form? Such as  .

6. Lines 302-307 on page 7 of the paper, the author cites the data in reference 33, but the data in reference 33 is based on highways, while the research object of this paper is urban roads, the two are completely different. Hence, it is suggested the authors to use other data.

7. The authors should show what the limitations of the model.

8. The list of references should be extended to include some recent papers as follow.

1)                     Macroscopic fundamental diagram for Brisbane, Australia: empirical findings on network partitioning and incident detection. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board 2421(2014):12-21.

2)                      A multi‑value cellular automata model for multi‑lane traffic flow under lagrange coordinate.Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10588-021-09345-w

3)                     Identification and characterizing of the prevailing paths on a urban network for MFD-based applications. Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies 127.2(2021):102953.

4)                     Road Landscape Morphology of Valley City Blocks under the Concept of "Open Block"——Taking Lanzhou City as an Example. Sustainability 2019, 11(22), 6258; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11226258.

 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Reviewer comments 1:  The abstract should briefly introduce the purpose, method, main results and conclusions of this research, and give the main innovations of the paper. The current abstract is too long, and some content is suggested to be deleted.

Author response:  We have edited the abstract appropriately.

Reviewer comments 2:  The language of the paper should be further improved, such as, line 226 of page 5, “it is expressed by fm, n. It is expressed by fm,n. it is represented as fn,m, and the set is F.”

Author response:  We have improved the language.

Reviewer comments3:  There are many equations used in the paper and the physical or realistic meaning of all the variables in these equations should be given.

Author response:  After checking, physical meaning of all the variables in these equations have be given.

Reviewer comments4:  What is the most significant difference between slope area and flat area? From their definitions on page 6, it seems that flat area can be included in slope area, the authors should elaborate on the difference between the two.

Author response:  The traffic density of the road sections in the flat area tends to be the same, and the traffic density of the road sections in the sloped area gradually changes along the same direction. Explanation was added on line 279.

Reviewer comments5:  What is the basis for Equation 8? Which reference does it come from? Why is  linear in Equation 8 and not some other functional form? Such as  .

Author response:  The function of this equation is to control the size of the final divided sub-region. With the continuous increase of sub-regions in the process of division, the possibility of continuous expansion of the region continues to decrease, so as to achieve the purpose of controlling the size of the region.

Reviewer comments6:  Lines 302-307 on page 7 of the paper, the author cites the data in reference 33, but the data in reference 33 is based on highways, while the research object of this paper is urban roads, the two are completely different. Hence, it is suggested the authors to use other data.

Author response:  We replace it with the division of urban road traffic phase.

Reviewer comments7: The authors should show what the limitations of the model.

Author response:  The limitations of the method have been explained in Future development.

Reviewer comments8:  The list of references should be extended to include some recent papers as follow.

Author response:  We supplement the first three literatures, and the fourth literature is less relevant to this paper.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

You have improved the paper, but there are still some issues to be resolved. Clearly state your idea and result. You have a new method for partitioning intersections in an urban area. How can you control the size of the area? Is your contribution in control or in dividing intersections into areas for better control? Added sentences to the abstract are unclear and hard to understand. Use ";" when listing contributions or other things (2nd page of introduction). Present a figure of the macroscopic fundamental diagram with denoted traffic congestion level areas, and divide with a "." the listed congestion levels on the 2nd page in the introduction. What is a macroscopic fundamental graph for which you developed a new partition method? Rather mention sections when describing article organization. Do not add blanks after closing a bracket. No indent after an equation if the sentence is continued. Add punctuation after equations being part of a sentence. Add a legend in Fig. 3. 

Author Response

We have improved the summary, punctuation and organizational description of the article. At the same time, we added the Figure of  macroscopic fundamental diagram state division. The macroscopic fundamental diagram has been explained in line 49 of the introduction.

Reviewer 3 Report

I recommend the publication of the paper in its present form 

Author Response

Reviewer agrees to accept.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.


Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Authors need to provide more clarity on background study.

Variance computation described is ambiguous and need more specificity

What does author wants to conclude from the work? 

Reviewer 2 Report

  • Abstract, line 22: Why the evaluation index of regional clustering results are represented? The rationale behind any analysis and visualization should be explained.
  • Abstract; “ the 23 proper experimental areas were selected, and the empirical value range of the regional control value was obtained by comparing the values of multiple groups of measurement data k and evaluation indexes.”: why the experimental area is proper? Some statistical information is needed to be mentioned in this section. What is data K !?
  • I could not find any explanation related to the research contribution and data collection in the abstract.
  • There is no clear data explanation in the abstract section as well.
  • The introduction is so lengthy.
  • Introduction: It is unclear the advantage of MFD and Graph-based segmentation compared to the previous methods.
  • Introduction lines 164-168: it should be clarified that the authors proposed a model or used the previous methods with a different function.
  • “Compared with the existing division method, the method based on graph theory took the intersection as the division object,..”: What is the advantage of taking the intersection as the division object and eliminating the situation of dividing the same road section into different directions?
  • The methodology section is so lengthy. It is like a tutorial, not a professional paper methodology section.
  • In general, I could not find the contribution of the paper. Authors claimed they proposed a model, but they applied two methods used and applied by previous studies. The used methods like graph analysis and MFD also are not counted as cutting edge or new models.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

This paper tackles the problem of traffic signal control in urban areas. Emphasis is on regional-based traffic signal control using the macroscopic fundamental diagram. A new method for clustering intersections in urban areas is proposed. Realistic traffic data were used to validate the proposed method, proofing its effectiveness. The drawback of the paper is poor writing making it hard to follow.

Consider in your improvement the following:

  • A thorough proof-reading would be highly welcome (wrongly written sentences in the abstract);
  • Cite relevant literature for all crucial statements in your paper;
  • Blanks should be added before opening brackets;
  • Use short, more concise, and precise sentences;
  • Pay attention not to repeat your thoughts in different parts of the paper;
  • Emphasize your scientific contribution in comparison to existing approaches;
  • Finish the description of the article structure at the Introduction end or add a section number in the last Introduction paragraph;
  • Emphasize your scientific contribution compared to existing approaches in the Introduction;
  • Explain all variables used in the paper like fm, fm,n, etc.;
  • Add punctuation to equations being part of a sentence;
  • Number all equations and be precise when referencing equations, figures, or tables (always mention the referenced item);
  • Denote respective subfigure with a, b, c, … and use these marks in the respective figure caption (for example, i Fig. 5).

There are more comments in the attached PDF.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf