ABJ30 Committee Members and Friends,
We now have the final Data & Information Systems Section Retreat Report
(attached) and it is time to move forward with our combined support for
the Section Initiatives - and to get our own Committee priorities (also
attached) transformed into real Research Statements with funding
possibilities. The Annual Meeting is taking shape (see attached "Plans
in the Works" )- so far - we are supporting an ADUS Applications
Workshop, co-sponsoring the NHTS Workshop and a workshop on practical
ways to improve transportation-related data. We still need to get the
Census Sub Committee and the Joint ADUS Committee scheduled. National
Data is heading up the Travel Data Users Forum - more details soon.
Hopefully, some of the ideas below from Members and Friends will be
addressed in the "Practical Ways" Workshop - but I would encourage
everyone to provide feedback on moving these areas of interest so they
can reach the Research Statement stage - and we can start looking for
sponsors and funding!
Hope to see everyone at NATMEC!!!!!
Kate
Ideas from Committee Members --
Vladimir Livshits, Ph. D, M. Sc
System Analysis Program Manager
vlivshits(a)mag.maricopa.gov
I. Information systems
- GIS as an integration base: development of GIS-T and transportation
multi-year master networks. We are trying to integrate supply data with
TIP/RTP/LCP information; LRS-based systems - might be good for 1/2 day
workshop. The system integrates data flow across MPO business processes
from collection to modeling to Regional Plan.
- Data integration: One direction: supply data counts - travel time -
safety data (we are doing a project on this right now) Another direction
- integration along business processes in metropolitan planning (data
collection / acquisition - data management - data control and analysis -
forecasting/modeling - planning)
- Data accessibility/analysis - we still have a long way to go here.
Looks like private sector is leading now. Might be a good topic for a
workshop or a session. I mean web-based technologies and analytical
tools that will facilitate data utilization. Its related to the previous
two.
II. Possible items for cooperation with ABJ40 - where emerging
problems/issues with travel surveys can be addressed with new
technology:
- household surveys: changes in people's behavior and communication
technology resulted in ever dropping response rates and necessity to
look for different methods of data collection (cell phones surveys, GPS,
progress, issues) - They have some calls for papers on this, but it
seems like some important issues are still not getting enough attention,
how survey methodology affects applicability of the results, etc.
- household surveys: move to bigger samples - should we go back to this
direction? (that is still the approach in Canada, for example)
- Intercept surveys are under fire in some places (there is an excellent
TTI report on this) and we encourage advancements in automated data
collection (cameras, etc.) again, issues: cooperation with DOT on
license plate information, road closure permits for installations,
quality of the data, etc.
- Travel time and speed data: move from floating car technology to an
ongoing data collection by third parties - implications
- Transit surveys - struggle with low completion rates
- Truck travel surveys - low response rates, how new technology can help
us, how we can establish channels of cooperation with private sector,
place for the new collection techniques
- Luck of independent data sets for travel forecasting model validation
(survey data normally used 100% for estimation/calibration), supply data
can be used only for certain final validations
- Data requirements of the Activity-Based Models, how the movement
towards disaggregation and microsimulation in modeling affects data
collection
Ideas from Committee Friends
Ken Dueker (duekerk(a)aol.com)
One data area that Dick Lycan and I have been concerned with is working
(mandates or incentive) with Assessor's to gather accurate counts of
number of units housing units on parcels of land. An accurate count of
HUs is important to many demographic based transportation demand models.
Yet it is not counted with care by assessors and they have not incentive
or mandate to do so.
---
_____________________________
Catherine T. Lawson, Ph. D.
Director, MRP Program
Associate Professor
University at Albany
Geography & Planning
AS 218 1400 Washington
Albany, New York 12222
(518) 442-4775
(518) 442-4742 FAX
lawsonc(a)albany.edu
ABJ30 Members and Friends,
The preliminary schedule for NATMEC has the following information for
our Committee meeting (room yet to be assigned)
Urban Data Committee Meeting
Thursday, August 07, 2008, 7:00 a.m.-8:30 a.m.
Catherine Theresa Lawson, State University of New York, Albany,
presiding
Open meeting of the TRB committee interested in the design, collection,
analysis, and reporting of transportation supply and demand data needed
to support urban and metropolitan transportation planning efforts. In
particular, the committee is interested in developing the data
requirements of new and innovative techniques for measuring and
monitoring the performance of metropolitan transportation systems; and
in evaluating changes in demographic and urban travel characteristics.
In terms of household and other transportation surveys, the committee is
concerned with the analysis, reporting, archiving, and dissemination of
results and data products. The committee is interested in the effective
use of census and other federal, secondary data sources in metropolitan
transportation planning. The committee is concerned with advancements in
information systems and information technology for the improved
dissemination and sharing of knowledge about metropolitan transportation
systems and urban travel behavior.
I will need to find out the availability of a phone conference set-up -
Kate
---
_____________________________
Catherine T. Lawson, Ph. D.
Director, MRP Program
Associate Professor
University at Albany
Geography & Planning
AS 218 1400 Washington
Albany, New York 12222
(518) 442-4775
(518) 442-4742 FAX
lawsonc(a)albany.edu
ABJ30 Member and Friends,
Please plan to join us for the ABJ30 SUMMER MID-YEAR MEETING in WDC!
Our Committee mid-year meeting will be held at the 2008 North American
Travel Monitoring Exhibition and Conference, August 6-8, 2008, at the
Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. Online registration
(www.NATMEC.org <http://www.natmec.org/> ) is available ($50 Early Bird
savings by registering by May 6, 2008) and TRB special rate of $154 at
the Omni (per room, per night, plus state and local tax). This rate is
available until Tuesday, July 8, 2008, or until the block of rooms is
sold out. Rooms are subject to availability and may be at a higher rate
after this date.
I will be looking for volunteers prior to August 1st to help organize
our strategy for dealing with papers. We all have greatly appreciated
Ed Christopher's amazing paper review process and I hope we can
replicate his efficiencies - but it will take some planning to keep
things running smoothly. We also will need volunteers for the Annual
meeting agenda and a final version of our Goals and Objectives.
Thinking about an ABJ30 WORKSHOP at TRB?? We will need to prepare any
workshop ideas soon as the formal proposal needs to be submitted by June
1st. Here's what we will need to provide:
o Workshop Title
o Workshop length (Half Day/Full Day)
o Description (A paragraph description is sufficient)
o Sponsoring and/or Co-Sponsoring committees
o Committee Contact
I will be posting the summary report from the Data Retreat as soon as it
is ready (should be very soon). The excitement from this conference
should help us move forward on those areas where ABJ30 Members and
Friends have interests - and help us identify funding sources and
opportunities to work with other Committees as well.
I will be talking with Ed about how best to keep the news flowing to all
of you - including reviewing our website strategy - and working with
listservs.
Regards,
Kate
---
_____________________________
Catherine T. Lawson, Ph. D.
Director, MRP Program
Associate Professor
University at Albany
Geography & Planning
AS 218 1400 Washington
Albany, New York 12222
(518) 442-4775
(518) 442-4742 FAX
lawsonc(a)albany.edu
Thought you might be interested some good news floating around regarding
the NHTS.
NHTS Information Update
On February 19, 2008 the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS)
national sample reached a funding milestone. Sufficient funds have been
secured to ensure the continuation of this important national study on
the travel and transportation needs of the American public. Interviews
with 25,000 households across the United States will begin in March.
According to Heather Contrino, NHTS Program Manager in the FHWA Office
of Policy, "The information provided by the NHTS is so important to
programs, policy, and planning across the transportation community. I
cannot thank the entire user community enough for its overwhelming
support."
NHTS is the nation's flagship survey for obtaining information on how,
and why, the American public travels. Over the past four decades the
NHTS has grown from a single national level survey to one that allows
local areas to buy more data, or add-ons, for their areas. Up until
February 19th, it was uncertain that there would be a national survey
yet 18 areas were scheduled to be "in -the-field" with their surveys
March 1, 2008. The issue for the national sample boiled down to money.
During the last transportation reauthorization process which produced
transportation funding under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) legislation,
the discretionary research funding source for the NHTS was zeroed out
and a scramble to find money began. That scramble ended Wednesday, or
at least one major hurdle was overcome.
The NHTS has had a long history of struggling to get on a fixed
operating and revenue schedule. Surveys have been completed in 1969,
1977, 1983, 1990, 1995 and 2001--and now 2008. The issue of funding for
NHTS is somewhat ironic given its benefits in relation to its costs.
While the country is out debating on how to spend trillions of dollars
on transportation infrastructure and what we want our country to look
like 50 years from now, we have difficulty spending a few million on the
information that would help make wise decisions.
To conduct the NHTS a total of $6 million was needed. This represents a
bare bones approach to conducting the study. Interviews with 25,000
households allowed for detailed population group analyses (e.g. older
drivers, new immigrants, teen safety) and area specific reporting
including statewide performance measurement, urban/rural comparisons,
and analysis of regional trends. Funding for the study was provided by
the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and
the AARP.
In terms of the Add-ons, a total of 19 States and Metropolitan Planning
Organizations "ponied-up" $21 million for 128,000 additional household
samples. "Including state and metro participation, this is the largest
national household travel survey in the history of the program. We are
so excited to see new data and how recent events like gas prices, hybrid
vehicles, new immigrants, and baby boomers leaving the workplace are
impacting travel choices and overall transportation demand" remarked
Contrino.
Additional information about the NHTS can be found at:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/ohpi/nhts/index.htm
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
Attached are the notes and minutes from our recent annual meeting. I
owe Catherine Lawson a special thanks for her efforts in working on the
committee's strategic plan.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
If you are getting this you have been added to the "newly created" TRB
Urban Data Committee's "friends and members" list serve. Hopefully by
having a list serve we can do a better job getting information out to a
wider group of people. In the past, under my chairmanship, I will be
the first to admit that I did not do such a good job of keeping the
Friends email list up and functioning. The listserve should help with
that.
To post to the list the email address is ABJ30-friends(a)chrispy.net.
The software keeps an archive of all posts which can be found at
http://www.chrispy.net/pipermail/abj30-friends/. To subscribe or
unsubscribe just go to
http://www.chrispy.net/mailman/listinfo/abj30-friends. If you go to the
subscribe/unsubscribe page you will see that to log in you will need
your subscribed email address and password. The software passwords will
be automatically sent out every month and you will have the ability to
decide for yourself if you want a monthly reminder. You can always just
email me or Catherine Lawson (our new Chair at lawsonc(a)albany.edu) and
we can unsubscribe you.
Finally, if you post something over 40 meg, you will get a notice that
it is being held until the list administrator clears it. This is part
of our spam blocking mechanism. You will also get a held notice if you
post from an email address that is different from your subscribed email
address. Again this it is part of Spam control process.
If you have any questions, etc please give me a call or email.
--
Ed Christopher
708-283-3534 (V)
708-574-8131 (cell)
FHWA RC-TST-PLN
19900 Governors Dr
Olympia Fields, IL 60461