The Potential of Cellular Phone Positioning Technology in Travel Behavior and Traffic Impact Studies

Cellular phone positioning technologies have been used as traffic monitoring tools but focused on real-time auto travel time and speed measurements. This paper demonstrates the other potential of cellular phone technologies in traffic survey studies based on long-term observation of the Washington DC metropolitan area. Individual travel behavior tracking and characteristics identification algorithms were proposed and demonstrated by tracking cellular phones generated from the Reagan International Airport. The traffic dispersion distribution from the airport was also investigated. The technology analysis and demonstration process indicated that cellular phone positioning systems can provide acceptable location information and was feasible to track individual travel behavior and estimate travelers’ characteristics. It also can be used to realize the traffic impact or roughly determine truck volumes from a target facility. Furthermore, a long-term observation can increase the sample cellular phone size. A detailed land use and special objects database is needed to enhance the accuracy of travelers’ characteristics identification. Field data collection for verification and calibration of traffic tracking and classification is also essential for the further study.

• Corporate Authors:

  ITS Japan

  Tokyo,   Japan 

  ITS America

  1100 17th Street, NW, 12th Floor
  Washington, DC  United States  20036

  ERTICO

  326 Avenue Louis
  Brussels,   Belgium  B-1050
• Authors:
  • Wang, Ming-Heng
  • Schrock, Steven D
  • Mulinazzi, Thomas
• Conference:
  • 17th ITS World Congress
  • Location: Busan , Korea, South
  • Date: 2010-10-25 to 2010-10-29
• Publication Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: DVD
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p
• Monograph Title: 17th ITS World Congress, Busan, 2010: Proceedings

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cellular telephones; Floating car data; Probe vehicles; Traffic characteristics; Traffic control; Traffic data; Traffic distribution; Traffic flow; Travel behavior
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I70: Traffic and Transport;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01345281
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 21 2011 10:07AM