Implementing the Freight Transportation Data Architecture: Data Element Dictionary
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2015-01-01
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Corporate Contributors:National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ; National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board. National Cooperative Freight Research Program
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Abstract:NCFRP Report 9: Guidance for Developing a Freight Data Architecture articulates the value
of establishing architecture for linking data across modes, subjects, and levels of geography to obtain essential information for decision making. Central to the architecture is a catalog of data elements currently being collected and the definitions of those elements. Lack of a sound freight data dictionary can cause problems within and across organizations, with organizations calling the same freight data element by different names or different data elements by the same name. Worse, an organization may combine freight data elements it thinks are equivalent and make incorrect investment decisions from invalid data.
In NCFRP Project 47, The University of Texas at Austin Center for Transportation Research
was asked to (1) identify readily available databases associated with freight for inclusion in the dictionary, including their key characteristics; (2) organize and classify these databases (e.g., by type and level of aggregation, attribute definitions, and spatial and temporal characteristics); (3) organize and classify the elements into a typology (with rationale) across databases and provide terms and definitions used for each element, taking into account the intended uses (e.g., land use, planning, environmental impacts, economic development, supply chain analysis, safety, and security); (4) develop and test a user interface for a searchable and sustainable web-based freight data element dictionary and make updates based on findings from the testing of the user interface; (5) identify differences in definitions and assess whether crosswalks or other bridges are adequate and relevant; (6) recommend new harmonization or statistical bridges as appropriate for resolving differences in definitions; and (7) prepare a production-ready, BTS-hosted searchable and sustainable web-based freight data element dictionary, with full documentation (including data structures, data requirements, source codes, and maintenance and updating guidelines).
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