Integrating Urban Air Mobility with Highway Infrastructure: A Strategic Approach for Vertiport Location Selection in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

TL;DR

The paper tackles optimal Vertiport location selection to integrate Urban Air Mobility with highway infrastructure in the Seoul Metropolitan Area. It introduces a data-driven framework that jointly considers air-operation feasibility, alternative ground-access options, destination reachability, and demand-driven desirability, operationalized through a convex-combination score. By applying the method to 148 highway facilities and 56 suitable Vertiport locations, the study demonstrates actionable guidance for urban planners, highlighting high-potential sites such as toll gates and EX-HUBs near dense bus networks. Key contributions include a grid-based constraint filtering approach, a transparent scoring mechanism, and practical insights into where highway-transfer UAM facilities could most effectively augment existing transportation systems. The work also identifies limitations related to real-time environmental data and MaaS integration, outlining directions for future research to enhance robustness and policy relevance.

Abstract

This study focuses on identifying suitable locations for highway-transfer Vertiports to integrate Urban Air Mobility (UAM) with existing highway infrastructure. UAM offers an effective solution for enhancing transportation accessibility in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, where conventional transportation often struggle to connect suburban employment zones such as industrial parks. By integrating UAM with ground transportation at highway facilities, an efficient connectivity solution can be achieved for regions with limited transportation options. Our proposed methodology for determining the suitable Vertiport locations utilizes data such as geographic information, origin-destination volume, and travel time. Vertiport candidates are evaluated and selected based on criteria including location desirability, combined transportation accessibility and transportation demand. Applying this methodology to the Seoul metropolitan area, we identify 56 suitable Vertiport locations out of 148 candidates. The proposed methodology offers a strategic approach for the selection of highway-transfer Vertiport locations, enhancing UAM integration with existing transportation systems. Our study provides valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers, with recommendations for future research to include real-time environmental data and to explore the impact of Mobility-as-a-Service on UAM operations.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: (a) The Location of the Seoul Metropolitan Area in South Korea (b) The Location of Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
• Figure 2: Methodology for Determining Highway-transfer Vertiport Candidates
• Figure 3: Illustration of Grid Setup and Filtering Process
• Figure 4: Illustration of Filtering by Alternative Mode of Transportation Availability
• Figure 5: Illustration of Measuring Location Desirability and Transfer Effectiveness