Use of Provisional Mobile Phone Data in Regional Traffic Models: Experience from Highways England
Use of new sources of big data, such as mobile phone data, provide opportunities to better understand travel patterns across wide areas, but use of such data presents its own challenges in order to ensure the models are fit for the purposes for which they are intended. Highways England commissioned five Regional Traffic Models (RTM) covering the whole of England to provide a consistent evidence base to develop schemes defined in the Road Investment Strategy. The development of the RTM trip matrices has drawn heavily on mobile phone data. The RTMs have involved five different study teams across a number of companies and locations, so the approach adopted has been one of collaboration, to a level unprecedented in the industry. The use of mobile phone data in trip matrix development is a new technology and there are no existing guidelines or established practice; this represents a significant risk to a project of this scale. Highways England established Technical Consistency Groups, including the matrix development group, that span across the regional models to ensure that all elements of the work are undertaken in a consistent manner and that best practice is shared and developed across the RTMs. It is hoped that the lessons learnt can assist development of transport models elsewhere. This paper sets out the key considerations for matrix development and the lessons learned regarding its use. The paper discusses the strengths of trip matrices estimated from mobile phone compared to conventional sources of information. It also discusses and demonstrates the key weaknesses and uncertainties associated with trip matrices derived from mobile phone data, as the data are not collected exclusively for the purpose of transport modelling. The processes used to verify and adjust the mobile data are set out together with the rationale as to why each is necessary.
- Record URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- Alternate title: Use of Mobile Phone Data in Regional Traffic Models: Experience from Highways England. Abstract used by permission of Association for European Transport.
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Corporate Authors:
Association for European Transport (AET)
1 Vernon Mews, Vernon Street, West Kensington
London W14 0RL, -
Authors:
- Khorgami, Siamak
- Powell, Graham
- Tolouei, Reza
- Hanson, Paul
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Conference:
- European Transport Conference 2016
- Location: Barcelona , Spain
- Date: 2016-10-5 to 2016-10-7
- Publication Date: 2016
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; Tables;
- Pagination: 15p
- Monograph Title: European Transport Conference 2016: Strands
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Floating car data; Mobile telephones; Traffic data; Traffic models; Travel patterns
- Geographic Terms: England
- Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01620294
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS
- Created Date: Dec 30 2016 1:57PM