GIS Applications for OriginDestination Surveys

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GIS Applications for Origin-Destination Surveys
Greg Spitz and John Lobb Resource Systems
Group gspitz_at_rsginc.com jlobb_at_rsginc.com Daniel
Jacobs MTA Bridges Tunnels Wayne
Bennion Wasatch Front Regional Council
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Origin-Destination (OD) Data

• Critical basis of knowledge for transportation
  operations, modeling, and future planning
• Essential for all transportation modes
• Often collected by DOTs and transit agencies, but
  not (yet) often analyzed with GIS
• OD data are inherently spatial, and visualization
  is key to understand them, thus the need for GIS

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Origin Destination Surveys

• Provide insights to
• Who the customers are
• Why customers are traveling
• How long they are traveling, and
• Where they are traveling, etc.
• Labor intensive data collection efforts
• Used to understand current demand and plan for
  future demand
• Critical data for calibrating travel models

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GIS Tools in action

• MTA Bridges and Tunnels largest toll agency in
  US
• Wasatch Front Regional Council Utah Transit
  Authority transit on-board survey
• Two different agencies, modes, and application
  purposes
• GIS the common denominator to solve issues for
  these different purposes

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2004 MTA BT Origin Destination Survey

• Conducted roughly every 8-10 years
• 2004 Study
• 304,000 surveys distributed in CASH lanes
• 329,000 surveys mailed to E-ZPass customers
• Control Data collected in both CASH and E-ZPass
  lanes with Pocket-PCs
• E-ZPass sample from BT, PANYNJ, NYSTA, NYSBA,
  and NJRSC comprising 99 of all transactions
• Survey period 6AM to Midnight Weekday, Saturday,
  and Sunday

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MTA BT Survey TAZ Structure

• All zones are based on zip codes
• Geocoding of survey data only necessary to the
  zip code level
• Aggregations of zones used to form super zones

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GIS using static maps

• Static analysis with better presentation
• Easy to put together quickly
• Becoming more and more typical

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Survey Zone Map Close-up
DRAFT
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Super Zone Map
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Example of Static Map using super
zonesBronx-Whitestone Bridge Bronx Bound
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GIS Tool Purpose

• Take geospatial data and make it easier to
  visualize, analyze, and interpret
• Allow more in depth analyses beyond static
  reports
• Make the tool easy to use, so even a (skilled)
  monkey can use it
• Leverage GIS experts skills without taking too
  much of their time

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How was the tool made?

• ArcMap extension
• Access DB backend
• Currently developed to be a stand alone tool
  (could be made to be network/web enabled)
• Simple user interface created using VB
  development environment

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Income Distributions by Origin Zones
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Vehicle Occupancy by Origin Zone
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Specific Trip Analysis
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Travel Pattern Analysis
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2006 WFRC On-Board Transit Survey

• 3 surveys conducted in last 15 years
• Data primarily used for travel model development
  and forecast refinement
• 2006 survey
• Surveyed riders on 90 bus routes and the TRAX
  rail system
• Collected 5,600 surveys

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OD Data Mining is Cumbersome

• Survey database has over 100 columns and 5600
  rows (difficult to view all relevant variables at
  once)
• TAZ number and/or address text may not be
  immediately recognizable (data is spatial)

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GIS Tool Purpose (WFRC)

• Preliminary review of the data suggested that the
  2006 survey transfer rates were unreasonable
• Interest in examining individual survey records
  efficiently

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GIS tool (WFRC)

• Goals
• Local QA/QC
• Efficiently examine each record
• Easy data editing/entry
• Gain confidence in the data used for model
  calibration (e.g. transfer rates)

• Features
• Custom ArcGIS application
• Visualize transit path details for one record at
  a time
• Routes
• Origin/Destination
• Boarding/Alighting
• Data viewing/editing window

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Screen capture of GIS Tool
Reported data
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Survey Errors Identified

• People reported multiple paths they sometimes
  take, rather than simply their current path
  (question 7)
• Inconsistency between routes and OD pair
• Geocoding errors
• Illogical route sequence

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Example of Multiple Paths between same OD Pair
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Another example of multiple paths between same OD
pair
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Summary

• Application clearly identified obvious
  inconsistencies and errors, resulting in a more
  reliable database.
• Visualization of these records would also be
  extremely helpful in assessing survey design and
  reducing respondent error.

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User-friendly GIS tools developed for planners
and analysts

• GIS tools allow planners and others to drill down
  on the data
• Tool interface confines the problem (both a good
  and bad thing)
• Interface makes analysis much easier and doesnt
  require in-depth software/data knowledge
• Tools allow analysts to get more out of their
  data collection investment

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Questions ?

• Please use the Microphone.