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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Comparison of Cell, GPS, and Bluetooth Derived External O-D Data – Results from the 2014 Tyler, Texas Study

This paper documents a first-of-its-kind study conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) in coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in the spring 2014. The study’s scope was to collect, analyze, and compare external origin-destination (O-D) data for the Tyler Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) study area in Texas using Bluetooth technology provided by TTI, cellular data provided by Airsage, and global positioning system (GPS) data provided by INRIX. The chief purpose of the study was to determine if cell and GPS data were viable for use in TxDOT’s external surveys so that TxDOT could resume collecting external data for Texas MPOs. The study focused on external-external (E-E) trips, but also provided some results related to external-internal/internal-external (E-I)/(I-E) trips. The paper discusses study design, conduct, and the results in terms of the comparison of external trip data derived from Bluetooth, cellular, and GPS sources. The paper describes the TTI Bluetooth data collection, the acquisition of private sector cellular and GPS data, and the sampling and analysis of each data type. The study design included the aggregation of the Tyler MPOs traffic analysis zone system into larger zones and the development of large ‘travel shed’ zones around the periphery of the study area to better accommodate cell data capture. It also included an approximate 10-mile buffer around the study area for GPS data capture. One month of cellular data was acquired for the study that included data for average weekdays and weekends, AM and PM peak data, and 24-hour totals. Three months of pre-processed GPS data from INRIX was acquired for the study. INRIX provided separate data sets for GPS data sources from cars, freight/commercial fleet vehicles, and mobile applications. TTI collected Bluetooth data at 20 external stations for a two-week period and used data from Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays to develop average weekday results. Based on TTI’s extensive use and experience with Bluetooth technology and E-E data collection, Bluetooth data were used as a benchmark comparison to the cellular and GPS data. The study found that Bluetooth and GPS E-E results were most similar and that cell data under-estimated E-E trips. It also found that GPS O-D data (at the time) had a commercial vehicle bias and researchers suspect that cell data has a non-commercial vehicle bias. The paper provides results of O-D comparisons by technology with the key results summarized in the areas of 1) general findings, 2) E-E trips, and 3) E-I/I-E trips.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ABJ30 Standing Committee on Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems. Alternate title: Comparison of Cell-, GPS-, and Bluetooth-Derived External O-D Data: Results from 2014 Study in Tyler, Texas.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Hard, Edwin N
    • Chigoy, Byron T
    • Songchitruksa, Praprut
    • Farnsworth, Stephen P
    • Borchardt, Darrell W
    • Green, Lisa L
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2017

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 16p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01629525
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 17-05678
  • Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 20 2017 9:23AM