Skip to main content

New report: technology is a game changer

For decades, planners and engineers have gathered traffic data using expensive, time-consuming surveys and processes. A new AirSage white paper, "The Future of Transportation Studies: A Comparative Review" looks at the emerging trends that are transforming the transportation planning industry and examines traditional traffic data collection methods and new complementary technologies at the forefront of the transportation industry.
September 18, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
For decades, planners and engineers have gathered traffic data using expensive, time-consuming surveys and processes.

A new 6178 AirSage white paper, "The Future of Transportation Studies: A Comparative Review" looks at the emerging trends that are transforming the transportation planning industry and examines traditional traffic data collection methods and new complementary technologies at the forefront of the transportation industry.

The traditional methods of compiling origin-destination data, household travel surveys, vehicle intercept surveys and licence plate surveys, are being supplanted by new technologies such as Bluetooth or data from from cell phones, tablet computers and laptops.

Interest in the new technologies is being driven by constrained research/study budgets, says the report, as well as the fact that new technology can deliver larger, more accurate data samples much faster, making the data more current than most other methods.

Increasingly, public agencies and commercial clients are studying and using new strategies, especially cellular data, to supplement or replace traditional traffic study methods.

Bluetooth and license plate surveys eliminate some of the drawbacks of traditional survey methods. Both can cost less and be completed more quickly than household and vehicle intercept surveys. However, because both require expensive equipment, they share the same restriction of covering only a limited geographic area.

Cellular technology eliminates many of the drawbacks of traditional surveys, Bluetooth tech¬nology and license plate surveys. The technology is relatively low cost, data can be collected and analysed in just weeks, and the size and scope of a cellular traffic study are virtually unlim¬ited.

Based on preliminary findings, a household travel survey augmented by a cellular survey provides the richest pool of data, but the length of time to complete the study is long and costs (due to the household survey) are high. Cellular surveys, which provide unprec¬edented amounts of current and historical data at a relatively low cost, offer an effective and affordable alternative for regions of any size.

The full report is available here. (link %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal http://airsage.com/Contact-Us/White-Paper/ Airsage false http://airsage.com/Contact-Us/White-Paper/#sthash.YgugSkMz.dpuf false false%>)

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ATS wants drivers to stop running red lights
    January 3, 2017
    US traffic safety camera provider American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has compiled a video (link https://www.atsol.com/2016-worst-red-light-runners/) from its red light cameras in operation in the US and wants drivers to see the collection of red-light running crash videos which it says are too dangerous to ignore. According to independent research, red light cameras have a measurable impact on traffic safety; in 2016, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety determined red-light cameras in 79 large US ci
  • Registration now open for ITS America 2016
    February 23, 2016
    Registration is now open for ITS America, 12-15 June 12 2016 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. It’s a new event with an exhibition, conferences, papers and demonstrations, where companies, public agencies, academics, engineers, researchers, regulators, lawmakers, app developers, infrastructure security agents, financiers and the media will meet to make new contacts, transfer knowledge and generate new ideas about what is next in a world where transportation is at the centre of the IOT. More
  • i-Game cooperative automation webinar
    March 23, 2015
    A webinar, "Cooperative Automation: Activities in the European Project i-Game”, to present a brief overview of the on-going and planned activities in V2X communications under the European project i-Game will take place on 26 March at 1600 CET. The main aim of this section of i-GAME is to develop interaction protocols and message sets in the context of cooperative automation. Next to the development activities in i-GAME, an international Grand Cooperative Driving Challenge (GCDC) will be organised in 2016. T
  • Bournemouth council urges residents to avoid social media ‘taxi’ service
    November 21, 2018
    People in the UK resort of Bournemouth are being warned not to use a ‘lifts-for-cash’ service which is operating in the town. A closed Facebook group called ‘Bournemouth & Poole town lifts’ has more than 7,000 members but council leaders say the service could be illegal. Members communicate via social media. Once accepted, they can ask for trips, talk to drivers or make money by using their vehicle as a taxi. But Nananka Randle, licensing team manager, planning and regulatory services, at Bournemouth Bo