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 “
Hope to see everyone at NATMEC!!!!!
Kate
Ideas from Committee Members --
Vladimir Livshits, Ph. D, M. Sc
System Analysis Program Manager
vlivshits@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
- 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@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
Geography & Planning
AS 218 1400
(518) 442-4775
(518) 442-4742 FAX
lawsonc@albany.edu