Collecting activity-travel diary data : state of the art and a hand-held

computer-assisted solution

Bruno Kochan, Tom Bellemans, Davy Janssens, Geert WetsTransportation Research Institute (IMOB)

Hasselt UniversityBelgium

www.imob.uhasselt.bebruno.kochan@uhasselt.be

Universiteit Hasselt, Campus Diepenbeek, Wetenschapspark 5 bus 6, BE-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium

• Introduction to Activity Based (AB) data• Data collection• Functional description of a new data collection tool• Conclusion

Outline

• 1950: - Rapid increase in need for transportation - Several Transportation models were used to predict travel demand• Four-step models: Travel = result of 4 subsequent decisions, modelled separately

• Disadvantage of four-step models: No relationship travel <-> non-travel aspects

Introduction

• Solution: Activity-Based (AB) transportation models

• AB models predict interdependencies between several facets of activities

• Facets:

Introduction

- Which type of activity ?

- When ?

- For how long ?

- Conducted where ?

- Which transport mode ?

- With whom ?

• Data is collected by means of Activity-Travel diaries

• Diary consists of a sequence of activities and journeys

• Diary focuses on all the activities and journeys

• Diaries:

- Take time to fill out

- A lot of activity facets

Data Collection

Activity Based transportation models:

Heavy demands on data collection system

Data Collection

Paper-and-pencil

+

Con:- Prone to errors

- Complex

Pro:-Filled out any time and place

- Consistency

- Tedious

Data Collection

Computer aided self interview of activity-travel scheduling behaviour:

- CHASE (Doherty, 1997)

- VIRGIL (UHasselt, 2004)

Pro:

- Data quality

- User guidance

Con:- Filled out at specific time- Filled out at specific place- Portability

Data quality:

- Activity: e.g. Begin time before end time

- Activity and Journey: “Location continuity”

- Activity and Journey: No time gaps

- Journey: e.g. Duration journey must equal sum trip durations

Data Quality

Data Quality

Activity 1

Location A

Activity 2

Location B

Journey 1

Start Location A Start Location B

Data Quality

Activity 1

Location A

Activity 2

Location B

Journey 1

Start Location A Start Location B

Data Quality

Activity 1

Location A

Activity 2

Location B

Journey 1

Start Location A End Location C

!

Data Quality

Activity 1

Location A

Activity 2

Location B

Journey 1

Start Location A End Location B

Data Collection

Computer-aided self interview of activity-travel scheduling behaviour:

- CHASE (Doherty, 1997)

- VIRGIL (UHasselt, 2004)

Pro:

- Data quality

- User guidance

Con:- Filled out at specific time- Filled out at specific place- Portability

Data Collection

Internet-based self interview of activity-travel scheduling behaviour:

- iCHASE (Doherty, 1999)

- REACT (McNally, 1999- 2001)Pro:

- Filled out at different times

- Filled out at different places (e.g. work, home)

- Portability

Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Data Collection

- EX-ACT (Rindsfüser, 2003)

Pro:

- Filled out at any time

- Filled out at any place (e.g. work, home, bus)

Con:

- Battery autonomy

GPS-enabled Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Data Collection

- Doherty, 2001

Pro: - Respondent may forget to report journey

- Data can be used for checking consistency

- Enables capturing route information

Con:- GPS not always reliable - GPS accuracy (±30m)

- IMOB, 2005

- “Multipath”

• GPS not always reliable:

Disadvantages GPS

• GPS accuracy:

- Sattelites geometry

Disadvantages GPS

• GPS accuracy:

- Time spent on measurement

Disadvantages GPS

- Start location

- End location

• Autonomy:

Disadvantages GPS

GPSLogger

GUI AB Survey

GISModule

Data Integrity Checks

Trip Identification

Communication Module

GPSData

Activity Diary& Household Data

GUI Household Survey

Functional description of a new data collection tool

GPSLogger

GUI AB Survey

GISModule

Data Integrity Checks

Trip Identification

Communication Module

GPSData

Activity Diary& Household Data

GUI Household Survey

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Functional description of a new data collection tool

- Which type of activity ? - When ?

- For how long ?

- Conducted where ?

- With whom ?

Activity attributes:

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Functional description of a new data collection tool

Conclusion

• Different approaches and technology for AB data collection

• Data collection tool for a GPS enabled PDA