Evaluation of the accuracy and automation of travel time and delay data collection methods
Date
2010
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Travel time and delay are among the most important measures for gauging a
transportation system’s performance. To address the growing problem of congestion in
the US, transportation planning legislation mandated the monitoring and analysis of
system performance and produced a renewed interest in travel time and delay studies.
Current techniques for collecting travel time and delay data range from manual data
logging to completely automated, computer-aided record keeping. The techniques
employed by the University of Delaware have evolved into a semi-automated system, but
human and computer error still have the potential to create inaccuracies.
In order to eliminate opportunities for human and computer error, a new GPSbased
data collection technique was employed and compared directly with the currently
accepted data collection methods. By simultaneously collecting data using three different
techniques, the accuracy of the GPS positioning data and the resulting travel time and
delay values could be objectively compared for automation and statistically compared for
accuracy. It was found that the new technique provided the greatest automation requiring
minimal attention of the data collectors and automatically processing the data sets. Using
the Analysis of Means, Variances, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, and Pearson and
Spearman Correlation Analyses, overall results showed that all data collection methods
perform equally well for both travel time and delay time measurements.