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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." Transportation Research Board. 2014. Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22370.
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N A T I O N A L C O O P E R A T I V E H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M NCHRP REPORT 775 Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests Jean Wolf Westat | Geostats services Atlanta, GA William Bachman Westat | Geostats services Atlanta, GA Marcelo Simas Oliveira Westat | Geostats services Atlanta, GA Joshua Auld University of illinois, chicaGo Chicago, IL Abolfazl (Kouros) Mohammadian University of illinois, chicaGo Chicago, IL Peter Vovsha Parsons Brinckerhoff, inc. New York, NY Subscriber Categories Highways • Data and Information Technology • Planning and Forecasting TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2014 www.TRB.org Research sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 775 Project 8-89 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 978-0-309-28402-8 Library of Congress Control Number 2014939657 © 2014 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transporta- tion Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individu- als interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S CRP STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 775 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Christopher Hedges, Manager, National Cooperative Highway Research Program Nanda Srinivasan, Senior Program Officer Charlotte Thomas, Senior Program Assistant Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Doug English, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 8-89 PANEL Field of Transportation Planning—Area of Forecasting Rebekah Anderson, Ohio DOT, Columbus, OH (Chair) Raj Bridgelall, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, Fargo, ND Ju-Yin Chen, Virginia DOT, Richmond, VA Christopher M. Puchalsky, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, Philadelphia, PA Richard Roisman, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Washington, DC Elizabeth Sall, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Francisco, CA Morteza Tadayon, Maryland DOT, Baltimore, MD Kermit Wies, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Chicago, IL Shuming Yan, Washington State DOT, Seattle, WA Elaine R. Murakami, FHWA Liaison Kimberly Fisher, TRB Liaison

F O R E W O R D By Nanda Srinivasan Staff Officer Transportation Research Board This report provides guidelines on the use of multiple sources of GPS data to understand travel behavior and activity. The guidelines are intended to provide a jump-start for pro- cessing GPS data for travel behavior purposes and provide key information elements that practitioners should consider when using GPS data. The report will be of interest to trans- portation planners, travel modelers, and travel survey practitioners. With the high costs associated with primary data collection, methods to improve the use and accessibility of newer sources of data such as Global Positioning System (GPS) data can benefit many transportation practitioners. GPS data can have multiple uses beyond traditional applications such as estimates of speed and travel times. GPS-related data that have been collected from automatic vehicle location systems, from highway sensors, as supplemental information to traditional travel surveys, and via passive technologies [e.g., Bluetooth, radio frequency identification (RFID), and smartphones] have shown promise for additional planning purposes. Some challenges to increased use of GPS data include addressing data bias; balancing precision, coverage, and confidentiality; resolving institu- tional issues such as data ownership; and addressing the complexity of combining these data with other sources to discern behavioral relationships. While it has been generally accepted that GPS data have a wide variety of uses, research was needed to assist in their use by trans- portation planners, travel modelers, and travel survey practitioners. The research under NCHRP Project 8-89 was performed by Jean Wolf, William Bach- man, and Marcelo Simas Oliveira of Westat | GeoStats Services, Atlanta, Georgia, in asso- ciation with Joshua Auld and Kouros Mohammadian from University of Illinois, Chicago, Peter Vovsha from Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., and Johanna Zmud from RAND Corpora- tion. Information was gathered via literature review and from interviews with practitioners, data providers, and researchers. The next stage of research explored a number of analytical approaches for extracting information from traces of GPS data. Only a few of those methods could be easily translated into clear and defensible methods (or standards) for processing GPS travel trace data. The research team selected the most promising and valuable analytical procedures for testing and evaluation within the scope of this research effort and applied these methods using datasets available from several GPS-enhanced travel surveys conducted within the past decade. The report is structured in two volumes. Volume 1 presents the methods used and results of tests conducted. Volume II translates the results of the tests conducted into guidelines for planners and researchers to implement these procedures.

C O N T E N T S ix Preface 1 Chapter 1 Literature Review and Industry Assessment 1 Overview of Literature Review and Industry Interview Process 2 GPS-Based Travel Behavior Data Collection and Uses 2 Overview of GPS-Enhanced Travel Surveys 7 Examples of GPS-Enhanced Household Travel Surveys 9 Use of GPS Travel Data in the Development of Transportation Models 13 Other Types of GPS-Based Travel Behavior Studies 15 Standards, Guidelines, and Common Practices for Travel Demand Model Data Collection 15 Evolution of Household Travel Survey Standardization 16 Relevant Travel Survey Standards Guidance from Other U.S. Federal Agencies 16 Guidelines in GPS Data Collection and Basic Processing for Travel Surveys 17 Imputation and Data Fusion of Travel Behavior Details 18 Trip End Identification 18 Determining Basic Trip Details 19 Travel Mode Detection and Processing 20 Route Identification 21 Trip Purpose Identification 22 Cell Phones, Personal Navigation Devices, Smartphones, and the Emerging Role of Consumer Technologies in Travel Behavior Research 23 Active Data Collection from Consumer Devices 24 Passive Data Collection from Consumer Products 30 Fixed-Location Sensors 30 Application of Fixed-Location Sensors to Transportation Data Collection 32 Managing Large Data Sets 34 Survey of Industry Experts 44 Chapter 2 Summary of Best Data Sources and Methods to Test 44 Introduction 44 Inventory and Discussion of Available Data Sets 46 Review of Data Fusion Methods 46 Data Fusion Methods 47 Data Fusion and Transferability 48 Applicability 48 Demographic Estimation Using GPS Traces 49 Identifying Behavior from GPS Traces

52 Chapter 3 Methods Evaluation 52 Introduction 52 Overview of Experiment A 52 Overview of Experiment B 54 Reference Data and Software Tools 55 Experiment A: Basic GPS Data Processing 55 GPS Data Cleaning Methods 57 Trip Identification Methods 58 Mode Transition Identification Methods 60 Experiment A: Classifier Data Fusion Methods 60 Travel Mode Identification Methods 63 Trip Purpose Identification Methods 63 Probabilistic Method for Identifying Trip Purposes 68 Decision Tree Method for Identifying Trip Purposes 69 Trip Purpose Identification Findings 70 Overall Findings 71 Experiment B: Demographic Characterization of GPS Traces 71 Introduction 71 Data Processing 72 Model Estimation 75 Model Application 79 Findings 81 References 87 Abbreviations 88 Appendix A Example Data Sets Delivered in Recent Household Travel Surveys 97 Appendix B Industry Expert Questionnaires 99 Appendix C Questionnaire Responses from Traffic Data Providers 117 Appendix D Experiment A Models 137 Appendix E Experiment B Models 141 Appendix F Using the Bundled Scripts and Code Note: Many of the photographs, figures, and tables in this report have been converted from color to grayscale for printing. The electronic version of the report (posted on the Web at www.trb.org) retains the color versions.

P R E F A C E NCHRP Report 775: Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior spans two volumes. Volume I includes the detailed literature review and industry assessment, an identification of best methods, a plan to perform some tests of these methods, and the results of these tests. Volume II is a guidance document that highlights key information for practitioners who are interested in using Global Positioning System (GPS) data for evaluating travel behavior. Since the inception of the GPS in the mid-1990s, potential applications of GPS data in transportation planning have been explored broadly and extensively, and the specific use of GPS data for better understanding of travel behavior has held a special interest for transportation modelers and planners. Applications of these highly accurate location and spatial data have been implemented in a wide range of transportation uses, including asset management and tracking, congestion management, and household travel surveys. However, the full potential of the GPS and similar location tracking technologies for providing travel behavior details is still unknown. Hardware, software, and processing tech- niques continue to evolve and will likely do so for the foreseeable future. For practitioners and researchers, specific questions still remain regarding the best methods for processing and using these data as a source for travel behavior analyses. Additionally, the availability of new data products that are based on archived consumer product trace data has greatly increased awareness of the need for guidance about these products so that practitioners can develop fiscally responsible and theoretically sound data collection programs. NCHRP Project 8-89 addressed these challenges by documenting the state of practice in 2012 and exploring techniques to extract travel details inherent in simple GPS-based trace data sets. There were two major challenges encountered and addressed while conducting this research. First, the increasing availability and promise of consumer product trace data has made practitioners anxious to evaluate these new population-based data sources as a replacement for conducting stratified travel surveys as well as other origin–destination studies. While certainly appealing, these data sources are processed and aggregated by pri- vate companies that maintain proprietary data management methods and are unwilling to share techniques and algorithms. Furthermore, these private firms are bound to protect the privacy of their data sources; consequently, they are unwilling or unable to release data at the individual data-source level. To address this challenge, the NCHRP Project 8-89 research team interviewed the primary data providers (who provided marketing materials), reviewed published studies that attempted to evaluate these data products, and then sum- marized key findings. Volume II contains descriptions of standard data product structures and formats and suggests key information elements that users should consider when evalu- ating these data products. The second major challenge was limiting the full range of analytic options to include for detailed analysis and documentation of methods. While the research community has

explored a number of analytical approaches for extracting information from traces of GPS data, there are few examples that can be easily translated into clear and defensible methods (or standards) for processing GPS travel trace data. The research team selected the most promising and valuable analytical procedures for testing and evaluation within the scope of this research effort. The methods used and results of these tests are described in Volume I. Volume II translates the results of these tests into guidelines for planners and researchers wishing to implement these procedures. The research team believes that the two volumes that make up this report will provide insight and instruction to the transportation community with respect to past and present uses of GPS data (from a range of sources) for travel behavior analysis, as well as sound guidance on processing GPS data to better understand travel behavior.

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 775: Applying GPS Data to Understand Travel Behavior, Volume I: Background, Methods, and Tests describes the research process that was used to develop guidelines on the use of multiple sources of Global Positioning System (GPS) data to understand travel behavior and activity. The guidelines, which are included in NCHRP Report 775, Volume II are intended to provide a jump-start for processing GPS data for travel behavior purposes and provide key information elements that practitioners should consider when using GPS data.

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