(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] More than 95% of adults
in the US own a cell phone.
Of those, over 80% use a smartphone.
With this portable technology literally in hand,
information about mobility patterns
can be collected much faster
than current methods.
The Center for Transportation Research
and the Texas Department of Transportation investigated
how to apply this data to maintain good levels
of service throughout the state's transportation system.
- This project is using devices
that we all now have access to, namely smartphones.
It's collecting a large amount of data passively
almost without us being aware,
and it's tracking general origin, destination,
travel patterns of individuals.
And our traditional analysis tools
for analyzing the movement of people
in goods were developed largely
prior to these new technologies.
So this project was needed to explore
how we could best leverage the data provided
by these new technologies
in our work in transportation planning.
- So this project was to look at what's out there,
kind of sift through everything
and begin to categorize it and figure out,
okay what's the current status of today?
Can it be used?
And how can it be fused with the current processes
and the current traditional data sources?
- Well, this project will enable us
to better understand
where we need to incorporate this ICT data
and where we can augment
our traditional data collection efforts
with these new passive data sources.
It also provides a mechanism
for us to select which data sources are the most promising.
And the fact is we need to consider
when trying to incorporate them
into our modeling processes.
- It will cost time
and money to process through that big, big, big, big data.
So our kind of main conclusion was,
yes, it'll be important in the future,
and yes, TxDOT needs to kind of be aware
of it and have it at the back burner
and start to introduce themselves,
but it's not gonna replace the current processes
and collection methods that are being used today.
- Our ultimate goal is to better understand person
and vehicle movement
so that we can calibrate our travel demand models
to reflect current travel patterns,
which can then be used to forecast impacts
to various demographic, technological
and transportation investment scenarios,
so that we can continue our goal
in providing a safe and efficient transportation system
and connect you to Texas.
- [Narrator] For more information
and to find the publications
for this project, please visit the TX Research Library
at the link shown below.