An Open Source Traffic Count Application Promoted Traffic Data Sharing and Increased Data Collection Efficiency for the Greater Philadelphia Region.

A Greater Philadelphia Region MPO Developed an Interactive Mapping Application using Surveys and Traffic Counts to Provide a User-Friendly Tool for Viewing Traffic Counts.

Date Posted
05/24/2021
Identifier
2021-B01562
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Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Innovative Traffic Data Sharing Practices

Summary Information

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), a metropolitan planning organization (MPO), has developed several interactive mapping applications to support planning and improve decision-making in the Greater Philadelphia Region. This case study introduces how DVRPC promotes traffic data sharing with the public and other state, county, and local governments through one of these applications, called Traffic Count Viewer, which provides open access to different types of short-duration traffic counts. DVRPC collects different types of travel data through surveys, counts (e.g., traffic counts in 5,000 locations), and uses them as input for their Traffic Count Viewer. This application allows users to view geographic features, query selective data sets, create custom maps, and access detailed reports for certain features. DVRPC can present geospatial information to the public without requiring special geographic information system (GIS) software. The Traffic Count Viewer was first developed in 2009 and updated in 2016 to add plugins and open-source code to be transferable to other agencies.

METHODOLOGY

The system extracts information from the database on all the counts that fall within the selected region and displays them on the map. The counts include information on its date, road name, count type, annual average daily traffic (AADT) value, and file number. In addition, the map displays the following by county and area:

  • Volume: the automated measurement of traffic volume collected and presented in hourly increments
  • 15 min volume: the automated measurement of traffic volume collected in 15 minute increment and presented in hourly increments
  • A vehicle count for which volumes are reported in 5 mph speed bins
  • Class: automated measurement of traffic volume by vehicle class (type)
  • Manual Class: Manual observation and measurement of traffic volume by vehicle class (type)
  • Turning Movement: Manual observation and measurement of intersection turning movement volumes
  • Loop: vehicle volume counts via fixed location inductive-loop counters
  • 8 Day: A weeklong volume count utilized by NJDOT
  • Crosswalk: Manual observation and measurement of crosswalk movement by pedestrians and bicycles.

FINDINGS

Traffic Count Viewer communicates with the regional traffic database, allowing users to view, filter, and download the count data. Furthermore, users can directly extract GIS layers and data in a tabular format for traffic, safety, and other types of analyses. This practice has benefited the MPO and stakeholders such as transportation engineers, planners, developers, market analysts, and the public. The main benefits involve:

  • Increased efficiency of the data collection in which users do not have to extract and process data from multiple remote data sources.
  • Elimination of duplicate data collection efforts which results in time and cost savings for data partners and users.
  • Easy access to data for those users without knowledge level in database administration and data management.
  • Improved relationships with external entities by offering no-cost access to a comprehensive data source.
  • Improved data transparency by allowing users open access to DVRPC’s ArcGIS server to download different types of traffic counts, GIS layers, and other metadata for analytical purposes.

 

GUI Screenshot

Figure 1. Main Webpage of Traffic Count Viewer (Source: http://www.dvrpc.org/webmaps/TrafficCounts)

 

Example Traffic Count Report

Figure 2. Example of Traffic Volume Count PDF File Retrieved from Traffic Count Viewer (Source: http://www.dvrpc.org/webmaps/TrafficCounts).

 

Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Innovative Traffic Data Sharing Practices

Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission’s Innovative Traffic Data Sharing Practices
Source Publication Date
02/10/2017
Author
Tsapakis, Ioannis; William Holik; Anita Vandervalk; Shawn Turner; and John Habermann
Publisher
Prepared by Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) for the USDOT Federal Highway Administration
Other Reference Number
FHWA-SA-17-033
Goal Areas
Results Type