Proposed Change in Delivery Format For Traffic Counts

Abstract

Typically, venders have provided Intersection and travel way count data most often in PDF document formats. Geographical information systems (GIS) and network modeling software use data in tabular and database formats. This then requires that PDF documents be restructured to create a format that is more readily used by automated analysis and processing, which is time consuming, and sometimes requires data to be manually input to form database records. A minor change in specification for delivery of traffic count products, involving how locations are referenced and guidelines on organization of traffic count spreadsheets, could be made available, and would introduce minimal, if any, additional work for venders. Online resources can be easily provided to facilitate a much improved, immediate incorporation of traffic count data into GIS and other analysis software. This memo discusses the issue and proposes new formats that may be used by vendors to deliver data in a more usable format, and touches on the importance of traffic movements as a fundamental element of transportation information systems.