Personal Travel Unit (PTU) Development and Initial Testing

Details

• Corporate Creators:
  Battelle Columbus Laboratories. Transportation Division
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bicycling Distance Global Positioning System Location Nonmotorized Transportation Personal Digital Assistants Route Choice Speed Time Travel Surveys Walking

  More +
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Abstract:
  The Federal Highway Administration has been conducting research on incorporating Global Positioning System (GPS) data (i.e., location and speed) as part of travel survey data since 1995. This report describes a research project to develop a small, lightweight person-based data collection device including GPS data that will allow recording of walk, bike, and other trips that do not involve using a motor vehicle. The biggest motivations to incorporate GPS data into household travel surveys are to improve data quality and to reduce respondent burden during the survey process. This research was spurred by the fact that GPS receivers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs, or hand-held computers) are becoming more affordable and more commonly used. GPS combined with PDAs offer the opportunity to capture accurate time, location, route choice, and travel speed, while simultaneously reducing the amount of time an individual spends completing a travel activity survey. U.S. statistics indicate that the average distances in 1990 were 0.6 miles for walk trips and 2.0 miles for bicycle trips. Average trip times are on the order of 10 to 15 minutes, assuming an average walking speed of 3 miles per hour and bicycle speed of 10 miles per hour. Respondent burden and acceptance during walk and bike trips is of critical importance and is reflected primarily in the weight and size of the data collection unit.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  Federal Highway Administration
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2d22428cfde6de3c4019eb9a479508bb17c73a1fe21eb5a1f169f00bae45b176ed638fded4c984bdc4d462ebebe344703ae60f65e98509eadbe4147554b62bea
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/85266/dot_85266_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 285.28 KB ]