Data needs assessment for making transportation decisions in Virginia.

Details

• Creators:
  Khattak, Asad J. ; Wang, Xin ; Son, Sanghoon ; Liu, Jun
• Corporate Creators:
  Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research
• Corporate Contributors:
  Virginia. Dept. of Transportation ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Databases Decision Making Information Dissemination Needs Assessment Surveys Transportation System Management
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/VCTIR 15-R23
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Virginia
• Corporate Publisher:
  Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research
• Abstract:
  To better plan, operate, and maintain the transportation system in Virginia, this study identifies Virginia transportation
  
  professionals’ planning-related data needs, obstacles to fulfilling those needs, and potential solutions for overcoming those
  
  obstacles.
  
  Based on interviews with practitioners, a survey of 182 professionals, and a review of data management practices in the
  
  literature, the study finds that needs vary by organizational type: whereas only 41% of the Virginia Department of Transportation
  
  (VDOT) survey respondents have at least one unmet data need, this percentage climbs to 70% for metropolitan planning
  
  organization and local respondents. When all respondents were asked to name, out of 51 databases, those that were needed but
  
  not available, almost one-fifth of all respondents cited three databases relating to infrastructure, safety, and operations; in Virginia
  
  these databases are known as roadway network system (RNS), Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP), and data
  
  maintained by the Traffic Operations Center (TOC), respectively.
  
  A primary obstacle to meeting data needs is data availability: some proprietary data owned by VDOT cannot legally be
  
  shared with external agencies, some datasets are restricted in how they can be shared due to security concerns, and some datasets
  
  can be shared but are not known to external partners. Other obstacles include data quality, time required to access datasets, and
  
  database diversity as the survey suggested that planners need access to a wider variety of databases than do other types of
  
  transportation professionals.
  
  Potential solutions documented in the report are to increase user awareness through seminars or the creation of a
  
  transportation data map, improve ease of access for select users through the use of virtual private networks, improve ease of use
  
  through providing a single location as a starting point for acquiring some publicly available existing data, and integrate databases
  
  in instances where common data elements allow such integration. In the short term, two recommended courses of action appear
  
  feasible: (1) conduct a workshop to make external partners and VDOT staff aware of some of these diverse databases, and (2)
  
  conduct periodic meetings of planning, information technology, and research staff to identify ways to enhance data sharing.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  101730
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f20451f2cd67a45893c3a1d84d53cb9d834246ecb69d6f262d16ede262fdd0cd12614406a3b3b6d2692b0c4abca55570b8d64cca206f1f6f7a199888fbb6f7d8
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28965/dot_28965_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 861.10 KB ]