XStar: a software system for handling taxi trajectory big data

Advances in positioning and communicating technologies make it possible to collect large volumes of taxi trajectory data, quickly providing a complete picture of the ground traffic systems and thus being applied to different fields. However, there are still challenges for data users to handle such big data. In view of this, we have developed a software system named XStar to deal with trajectory big data. Its core is a scalable index and storage structure. Based on it, raw data can be saved in a more compact scheme and accessed more efficiently. A real taxi trajectory dataset is employed to demonstrate its performance. In general, XStar facilitates processing and analyzing trajectory data affordably and straightforwardly. Since its release in Jan. 2019, it has received downloads of over 4000 by May 2021. More analytical functions are being developed.