Transportation Planning Uses of Commercial Data

For more than three decades, transportation planners have relied on survey data collected specifically for the development of travel forecasting models, which are expensive to collect and maintain on an ongoing basis. There is a plethora of data collected for other reasons that could potentially support transportation planning which is becoming more accessible through technological advances. Uses of such data could provide reliable, up-to-date travel information. There are three primary objectives for this research proposal: (1) to identify data sources to supplement or replace household survey data for travel models and transportation planning; (2) to evaluate specific data items in terms of geographic coverage, level of detail, and correlation with other data items, and their uses for travel model development and application; and (3) to develop specifications for innovative tools to access and utilize these data. Data sources will be evaluated in proportion to their ability to improve or maintain the reliability of travel models, while improving the cost-effectiveness of model development and application. The Phase I work plan will include a literature review, a review of potential data sources, data compilation and analysis, specification of data analysis tools and recommendations for Phase II.