The past 12 months have been anything but ordinary for transportation. From the unprecedented decline in travel (and mode shifts) due to COVID-19, to unexpected natural disasters like hurricanes and wildfires, transportation experts are scrambling to make sense of it all and keep their communities safe. Luckily, thanks to advances in big data resources derived from mobile devices, innovative use of Census data, and extensive research, experts can both continue their normal work and conduct studies they’ve never had the capabilities to before, all from the safety of their home or office.
In this presentation, Juliet Hirni of StreetLight Data will show attendees how to leverage big data to gain insights into unexpected changes in travel patterns. The presentation will begin with an explanation of how location data derived from mobile devices is obtained and processed into transportation metrics, followed by examples of how to use these metrics to perform routine projects during transportation upheavals: deriving reliable volumes, turning movements, O-D, AADT, VMT, and other core metrics.
Juliet will also show how big data can be used to study the impact of events like COVID-19 on traffic, travel patterns, toll revenues, and more. For each example, the focus will be on the type of data that engineers use to accomplish their goals, and the specific insights planners glean from the data.
By the end of the session, attendees will walk away understanding how analytics derived from mobile devices can help transportation experts continue their work amidst unusual circumstances, and analyze the effects of the circumstance itself. We’ll wrap up the discussion by opening the floor for questions about using big data for transportation planning, with the goal of enabling attendees to conduct critical, comprehensive evaluations of big data resources for their own projects.
