Hi there, I’m Billy Charlton

I am a researcher at Technische Universität Berlin focusing on data visualization for the MATSim transport simulation framework. MATSim is currently getting a lot of attention for its ability to simulate automated vehicle fleets, and is also the progenitor of EpiSim with is used for studying COVID-19 virus propagation.

In 2023 I completed my Ph.D. dissertation from Technische Universität Berlin, under direction of Professor Kai Nagel at the Institute for Land and Sea Transport, Transport Systems Planning and Telematics. I have been teaching Data Science at the department since 2020.

Before coming to Berlin, I was Director of Data for the Puget Sound Regional Council in Seattle, USA. Our 22-person team managed all travel forecasting and land use / growth management in support of the Seattle metropolitan region’s planning goals.

I received my Masters in Civil Engineering from the Northwestern University Transportation Center and my undergraduate BSCE from Cornell University.

I am always looking for new interesting projects! Email me or find me on Twitter at @billyinberlin.

Billy Charlton
SimWrapper

SimWrapper is the culmination of my Ph.D. thesis research: an open data visualization platform for examining outputs from MATSim and ActivitySim transport simulations.

Demo Code Paper
COVID-Sim

Interactive visualizations of virus spreading through Berlin, plus dashboards for comparing results of hundreds of EpiSim simulations.

Demo Website Code Paper
TNCs Today in SF

Visualization of Uber and Lyft pickups/dropoffs in San Francisco, part of a larger effort to understand the impacts of shared mobility on SF Streets.

Demo Website Code
AVÖV

AVÖV (Demand Responsive Transit in German) - built website and data visualizations for exploring potential to serve rural transit trips with shared autonomous taxis (site in German)

Demo Website Code

Show More Projects

SimWrapper, an open source web-based platform for interactive visualization of microsimulation outputs and transport data Billy Charlton, Bhargava Sana. ABMTrans 2023: The 14th International Workshop on Agent-based Mobility, Traffc and Transportation Models, Methodologies and Applications, 2023. A Web-Based Data Visualization Platform for MATSim Billy Charlton, Janek Laudan. Transportation Research Record 2674.10, 2020. Dissertation: Web-based data visualization in support of agent-based microsimulation models William Charlton. , 2023. Using mobile phone data for epidemiological simulations of lockdowns: government interventions, behavioral changes, and resulting changes of reinfections Sebastian A. Müller, Michael Ballmer, Billy Charlton, et al. medRxiv, 2020. A GPS-based bicycle route choice model for San Francisco, California Jeffrey Hood, Elizabeth Sall, Billy Charlton. Transportation Letters 3, no. 1, 2011. Using an activity-based model to explore the potential impacts of automated vehicles Suzanne Childress, Brice Nichols, Billy Charlton. Transportation Research Record 2493.1, 2015.

Show All Publications

Recent Blog Entries

SimWrapper: what is it exactly, and how can I start using it?

Creating and visualizing a model of all traffic in Switzerland

Exploring Uber/Lyft pickups and dropoffs in San Francisco

Show All Blog Entries

Latest Personal News

  • Finished my Ph.D. magna cum laude :-)
  • SimWrapper now has users worldwide, both for MATSim and ActivitySim model users
  • Built the COVID-Sim infection portal tracking COVID-19 infections with EpiSim model
  • I moved to Berlin and started working at TU Berlin
  • Spent the summer in San Francisco building Uber/Lyft data visualizations for SFCTA
  • Left my position as Director of Data at PSRC in Seattle

Latest Travel & Conferences

Jun 17, '24 MATSim User Conference 2024, Helsinki, Finland
Jan 8–12, '23 TRB Annual Meeting, Washington DC
May 28, '22 MATSim User Conference, Leuven, Belgium
Oct 25–30, '20 IEEE VIS, Online
Jan 7–12, '20 TRB Annual Meeting, Washington DC
Oct 10–12, '19 PyData, Berlin
Sep 21–26, '19 hEART: European Assoc. for Research in Transportation, Prague
Jun 2–5, '18 TRB Applications Conference, Portland, OR
Oct 16–26, '18 IEEE VIS, Berlin